Our 2020 Chardonnay has notes of baked peach, pie crust, and hints of brioche. Bright acid on the palate leads to flavors of lemon curd and citrus cheesecake with hints of fresh sage and brown butter on the finish.
Aromas & Flavors: The 2020 Chardonnay is classic, elegant, and food-friendly: 100% Chardonnay with aromas and flavors of ripe pear, Golden Delicious apple, citrus, and spice.
The 2020 Growing Season began with heavy rains, which enriched the soil with an abundance of nutrients. Fruit set was on course during the spring, just in time for the brief heat spike in June and the remaining summer warm weather. Harvest began in mid-August, when only the finest fruit was harvested.
Our 2020 Chardonnay is from the Carneros appellation. With winds blowing in from the San Pablo Bay, Carneros temperatures are generally cooler and more moderate than regions further north, making it ideal for cultivating cool-loving Chardonnay grapes. Chardonnay is sourced from a single vineyard in the appellation, the family’s newest estate property.
Food Pairing: This Chardonnay is a beautiful complement to an apple spinach salad, chicken piccatta or (our favorite) lemon poundcake.
Specs
Blend: 100% Chardonnay
Appellation: Napa Valley
Aging: Dry, full-bodied wine fermented and aged in a combination of stainless-steel tanks and French and American oak barrels.
TA: 0.54 (g/100mL)
pH: 3.49
Alcohol: 14.5%
Aging Potential: Drink now and through 2031
What’s Included
6-bottles:
6x 2020 Rutherford Ranch Chardonnay, Napa Valley Case:
Three Generations Committed to 100% Sustainable Viticulture and the Crafting of Fine Wines.
Rutherford Wine Company is family-owned and managed with a portfolio of wines representing the rich diversity of California’s outstanding appellations. Today, the portfolio includes Rutherford Ranch Winery (Napa Valley), Round Hill, Scott Family Estate (Arroyo Seco), Lander-Jenkins Vineyards, Predator (Lodi), Rhiannon, Silver Buckle, and extensive Private Label offerings.
The company is based at Rutherford Ranch Winery, in Napa Valley’s Rutherford District - one of the region’s most renowned sub-appellations. The winery and estate vineyards are certified sustainable by the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance. The critically acclaimed wines have been characterized as one of Napa’s great values by noted wine writer Robert Parker.
The winery received the ‘Family Owned Winery of the Year’ Award at the 2012 New York International Wine Competition. Rutherford Ranch Winery was named ‘Napa Winery of the Year’ at the 2013 NYIWC.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Casemates, you impress me!! How did you find me on vacation? Thank you for this Rutherford Ranch 2020 Napa Valley Chardonnay! Chardonnay is my fav and perfect during Summer time! As a LabRat, it can’t get better than this!
I love Mediterranean food and this Chardonnay paired perfectly!! Out of the bottle, I found aroma’s of apple and citrus with a hit of minerals. Same on the palate - a zing of grapefruit/citrus forward, followed by the the crispness of apple. The finish engulfs with a buttery crispness, with hints of apricot and peach and a tad bit of oak to help balance out the acidity.
With my Mediterranean grilled chicken falafel salad, I was wanting more, of that Rutherford Ranch chardonnaynay!! “Please mother, may I have another?”
Beautiful golden color, it’s a crisp chardonnay with a beautiful balance with a perfect finish. Spoil yourself and your taste buds…Grab this!!!
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations.)
2020 Rutherford Ranch Chardonnay - $30 = 21.42%
Lab rat #2 here, though you might be better off sticking to the first report TBH. This bottle is a puzzler (and – TL;DR – we probably just got a bad one). It looks like a napa chardonnay. On the nose, it smells like one. (Lightly fruity, I don’t disagree with the label’s description which is “bright apple, citrus, and pear aromas,” although Mrs. Z doesn’t really detect much nose at all.) On the front of the palate as you take a sip, it tastes just like a napa chardonnay (i.e. loads of malolactic so it feels buttery and silky, you know the drill).
But then… wooo, bang! Something seriously funky happens on the back of the palate. To me it tastes like mushrooms and forest floor. Mrs. Z disagrees and calls it “minerally.” Either way, we both found it rather intense and not at ALL like a bog-standard Napa Chardonnay. Is it intriguing and unusual? Yep. Is it… pleasant? Um, if I’m honest, not really. Nor do either of us think it matches the label description at all (“vanilla and subtle toasty spiciness”).
So, look, there’s one of three things going on here. Either (a) this is a mighty peculiar wine, like something Clark Smith would do as a side project, and we just aren’t sophisticated enough to understand it. Or (b) we drank a couple of beers and ate schnitzel last evening, our palates are shot, and we tasted this at the wrong time. (As a check against this possibility, we’ll try it again this afternoon and see what we get.) But, to me, the likeliest possibility of all here is c): we just got a bad bottle. The cork was fairly crumbly when I opened it, and it was 100 degrees outside when the brown truck came, so this seems quite possible. Especially since this is from a well known Napa winery, I just sorta doubt that they really intended to make a wine this “interesting.”
Perhaps someone from the winery can chime in to confirm or refute my suspicions. Either way, I don’t know how helpful our review really is here. But hey, it still makes an okay spritzer!
Wine delivered today. Very thankfully our experience upon the first tasting is the first labrat is pretty close to spot on. Unfortunately sounds like the second bottle was compromised.
2020 Rutherford Ranch Chardonnay, Napa Valley
Tasting Notes
Specs
What’s Included
6-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
$360.00/Case for 12x 2020 Rutherford Ranch Chardonnay, Napa Valley at Rutherford Wine Company
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Sep 8 - Wednesday, Sep 10
Casemates, you impress me!! How did you find me on vacation? Thank you for this Rutherford Ranch 2020 Napa Valley Chardonnay! Chardonnay is my fav and perfect during Summer time! As a LabRat, it can’t get better than this!
I love Mediterranean food and this Chardonnay paired perfectly!! Out of the bottle, I found aroma’s of apple and citrus with a hit of minerals. Same on the palate - a zing of grapefruit/citrus forward, followed by the the crispness of apple. The finish engulfs with a buttery crispness, with hints of apricot and peach and a tad bit of oak to help balance out the acidity.
With my Mediterranean grilled chicken falafel salad, I was wanting more, of that Rutherford Ranch chardonnaynay!! “Please mother, may I have another?”
Beautiful golden color, it’s a crisp chardonnay with a beautiful balance with a perfect finish. Spoil yourself and your taste buds…Grab this!!!
2020 Rutherford Ranch Chardonnay
6 bottles for $69.99 $11.67/bottle + $1.33/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $109.99 $9.17/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations.)
2020 Rutherford Ranch Chardonnay - $30 = 21.42%
Lab rat #2 here, though you might be better off sticking to the first report TBH. This bottle is a puzzler (and – TL;DR – we probably just got a bad one). It looks like a napa chardonnay. On the nose, it smells like one. (Lightly fruity, I don’t disagree with the label’s description which is “bright apple, citrus, and pear aromas,” although Mrs. Z doesn’t really detect much nose at all.) On the front of the palate as you take a sip, it tastes just like a napa chardonnay (i.e. loads of malolactic so it feels buttery and silky, you know the drill).
But then… wooo, bang! Something seriously funky happens on the back of the palate. To me it tastes like mushrooms and forest floor. Mrs. Z disagrees and calls it “minerally.” Either way, we both found it rather intense and not at ALL like a bog-standard Napa Chardonnay. Is it intriguing and unusual? Yep. Is it… pleasant? Um, if I’m honest, not really. Nor do either of us think it matches the label description at all (“vanilla and subtle toasty spiciness”).
So, look, there’s one of three things going on here. Either (a) this is a mighty peculiar wine, like something Clark Smith would do as a side project, and we just aren’t sophisticated enough to understand it. Or (b) we drank a couple of beers and ate schnitzel last evening, our palates are shot, and we tasted this at the wrong time. (As a check against this possibility, we’ll try it again this afternoon and see what we get.) But, to me, the likeliest possibility of all here is c): we just got a bad bottle. The cork was fairly crumbly when I opened it, and it was 100 degrees outside when the brown truck came, so this seems quite possible. Especially since this is from a well known Napa winery, I just sorta doubt that they really intended to make a wine this “interesting.”
Perhaps someone from the winery can chime in to confirm or refute my suspicions. Either way, I don’t know how helpful our review really is here. But hey, it still makes an okay spritzer!
With this price and pedigree, I’ll take a chance and hope I get the flavors from the first review!
@mattykillpatty Likewise, I - especially since I’m low on whites.
/giphy charismatic-musical-observation
@mattykillpatty @rpstrong I want to turn on the sound!
Anyone want to share a case? SO. NH/Boston area.
Oh well…
/giphy elegant-bubbly-hyena
Wine delivered today. Very thankfully our experience upon the first tasting is the first labrat is pretty close to spot on. Unfortunately sounds like the second bottle was compromised.