Wine Spectator:  Rated as "Outstanding - a wine of superior character and style."

"Combines richness with an elegant, delicate mouthfeel, showing deep layers of ripe fig and green pear, honeydew melon and smoky oak. Balanced, focused, pure and lingering. Drink now through 2013."  Wine Spectator, June, 2009. 

Wine & Spirits:  Designated as 2007 "Top 100 Wines". 

"Plump and tender, this is a polished chardonnay that yields its richness seamlessly. It's both round and. completely dry, a sleek, high-altitude white that should develop flavor detail as it ages. If you open it now, match the smokiness to roast veal."

Winery:  "After whole-cluster pressing, the juice was racked to barrel for natural primary fermentation. Lees were stirred weekly through April, maintaining freshness and adding texture. We blind-tasted the lots, choosing the most elegant and approachable for this fine chardonnay. Once assembled, it settled for five months and was bottled without filtration. The wine shows complex fruit, firm acidity, and mineral elements. It will be at its best over the next five to seven years."

Wired For Wine:  If you're a Chardonnay lover, then the Ridge is our gift to you. For its beautifully balanced fruit and smokey velvet, we say bring on the seafood.  Crab, white fish, lobster and scallops will make this wine sing.  Salmon too.  Pair them with butter or cream sauces.  Crab cakes with a mustard aioli or broiled lobster with warm lemon butter for dipping will win every time.  Another favorite is seared sea scallops on a bed of creamy polenta, garnished with julienned, crisp leeks. The elegant balance of this wine's flavors is compatible with many spices, so the possibilites for making the perfect meal are almost endless.  Thyme, tarragon, saffron, garlic and  ginger will all work well with the Ridge.  How about a grilled piece of salmon with a side of linguine with a creamy garlic sauce?  While you're deciding, pour a glass and enjoy this diva with half a dozen oysters...

Size:  750 ml
Vintage:  2007
Varietal:  100% Chardonnay
Alcohol:  14.6%
Barrel aging:  16 months in air-dried oak (29% new, 43% one and two years, 28% three, four and five years old)
Sixteen months.
Region:  Monte Bello Ridge, overlooking San Francisco from the Santa Cruz Mountains, a unique appellation separating the North Coast from the Central Coast but not a part of either.
Production:  4,000 dozen