Lemon meringue pie, crushed toffee, baked cinnamon-dusted apple. Dried mango, vanilla yogurt, pineapple upside-down cake. Peach cobbler, snickerdoodle cookie, and caramelized pear highlight an unabashedly ripe and decadent presentation playfully bolstered by notes of brown sugar, hazelnut, and toasted cashew. Impressions of jasmine and honeysuckle enthusiastically emerge to provide a pleasant floral imprint yet cannot match the confection-laden intensity of homemade whipped cream, sweet pastries, and crème brûlée. Beneath the layers of fragrant baking spices and dessert-like opulence mild earthy tones persist, notably sandy loam, crushed salt, and a hint of stony minerality. Strikingly flashy and unctuous while maintaining a sense of tart crispness on the palate that provides redeeming tension and balance. Full bodied and lush with moderate acidity. This 2017 Russian River Valley Chardonnay by Ramey Wine Cellars is a bold, beautiful, and delicious white from Sonoma County.

In the 1980's at a time when California was largely putting out awkward, underripe, and astringent Chardonnay winemaking pioneer Dave Ramey led the charge in bringing European production techniques to American cellars, and in the process he quickly re-defined how white wine was produced in the USA. This bottling, crafted by Ramey Wine Cellars using Chardonnay sourced from Sonoma's Russian River Valley, beautifully exhibits the style that Dave played an integral role in popularizing. Dave's belief in using riper grapes, native yeast, full malolactic and barrel fermentation, and sur lie aging have helped him create wines of unrivaled complexity and richness - qualities that this offering exhibits in spades. This appellation level bottling is an archetypal California Chardonnay that embraces sunshine and oak without any excessive or exaggerated buttery characteristics. A beautiful benchmark wine by a true California legend.