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  • Country ranking ?

    460
  • Producer ranking ?

    19
  • Decanting time

    1h
  • When to drink

    now to 2040
  • Food Pairing

    Marinated Scallop Salad with Fresh Pear

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The Story

All of our ten vineyard designate Chardonnays are marked first and foremost by regional characteristics. Beyond that lies the personality of each of the vineyards from which they hail. All of the sites are planted to the same clone, a California heritage selection that we have been using for close to thirty years. Each wine is produced in the same fashion, with the focus being on the traditional techniques that elicit the earth driven, complex noble sulfides and resulting minerality inherent in the fruit from each site.

Each of our Chardonnay vineyards exhibits characters unique to the site, and hence unique to the wines bottled as vineyard designates. The bottling of wines of site is not a process we take lightly, as it is the main focus of our efforts.  We often take years to assess the quality and individual personality of a site prior to deciding to bottle it on its own. We have been working with many of these sites for well over twenty five years.

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Vintage 2008

The year 2008 reminded Napa Valley producers of the climate conditions their European colleagues often battle. The wild weather put the vineyards to the test and required more measures than usual to ensure an optimal harvest. Due to the exceptional weather conditions, the terroir played a significant role in shaping the character of the resulting wines. Some of the influencing factors were soil quality, vineyard-specific weather patterns, the age of vines and the farming methods used

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After the extensive 2008 Napa Cabernet tasting, there were no great qualitative differences, however, as the wines at the tasting all represented some of the best that these top producers have to offer. Although the scores ranged between 86 and 96 points, the differences will even out through longer ageing, as the wines will reach their optimum drinkability within 10–15 years. It was wonderful to note that a great deal of the wines were characterised by a seductively succulent fruitiness, which made many of them enjoyable already – more than half of the wines have scored 90 or more points, despite their young age. Whereas the great 2007 vintage contains very refined and long-lived wines, the 2008 wines charmed tasters with their open and generous style, even though their best days are still far in the future.

 

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

<10 tasting notes

Tasting note

ending

Long

flavors

Toasty, New-oak, Nutty, Buttery and Spice

nose

Open

taste

Medium-bodied, One-dimensional, Fresh and Sweet

Written Notes

Dutton Ranch Chardonnay 2008 Open nose with predominantly toasty notes of roasted nuts, chestnuts and sweet spice over tropical fruit and golden apples. Develops an intriguing Comté cheese aroma with air which ads interesting nuances. Medium bodied with fresh stone fruit flavors and tropical fruit notes with hints of butter and oak spice. Quite long but a bit hollow in the mid-palate and feel a bit one dimensional. Give it a couple of years to flesh out. 91p Drink 2014-2018
  • 91p
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Information

Origin

California, California

Vintage Quality

Above Average

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