Maritana Vineyards La Riviere Chardonnay 2018
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James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A pretty chardonnay with cooked-apple and pineapple character. Some vanilla and cream, too. It’s full-bodied and layered with lots of fruit and attractive, toasted-oak and yogurt undertones. Typical and luscious. Drink now.
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Wine Enthusiast
From a blend of sites, this appellation wine is robustly built and structured. Given time in 10% new oak, it combines clones as well as place, showing intensely layered elements of quince, fig and baked pear. Nutmeg and vanilla oak round it out further.
Other Vintages
2019-
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck
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James
Suckling -
Wilfred
Wong -
Wine
Enthusiast
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A standout region for its decidedly Californian take on Burgundian varieties, the Russian River Valley is named for the eponymous river that flows through it. While there are warm pockets of the AVA, it is mostly a cool-climate growing region thanks to breezes and fog from the nearby Pacific Ocean.
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir reign supreme in Russian River, with the best examples demonstrating a unique combination of richness and restraint. The cool weather makes Russian River an ideal AVA for sparkling wine production, utilizing the aforementioned varieties. Zinfandel also performs exceptionally well here. Within the Russian River Valley lie the smaller appellations of Chalk Hill and Green Valley. The former, farther from the ocean, is relatively warm, with a focus on red and white Bordeaux varieties. The latter is the coolest, foggiest parcel of the Russian River Valley and is responsible for outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.