Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains ‘Home Ranch’ Chardonnay 2005
So I have tasted and raved about the 2005 Santa Cruz Estate chard from Ridge. This one is a level up in price and comes from a single vineyard in the same area. Loving the basic estate chard so much I was very excited when I saw this at a downtown San Francisco shop – and I am super glad I picked it up. Of a different ilk from the Nickel and Nickel below, this is just as good if not maybe a little better with a nose of subtle spices, lemon, and maybe even a little loam. The palate was absolutely brilliant with hazlenut, almond, toffee, pineapple, lime, passionfruit and guava.
While extremely flavourful, this was not so fruit forward as to be disgusting – it managed to restrain its opulence while remaining beautifully textured and deep. Nonetheless, it is really the complexity and excitement of the flavour profile that makes this a great wine. You are lucky if you can pick this up.
Excellent to Excellent+
$45 in California
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