2005 Kent Ritchie Chardonnay (Current Releases) -- Tandem Winery Shopping Cart -- Chardonnay Ritchie Kent 2005

<H1>2005 Kent Ritchie Chardonnay -- Tandem Winery Shopping Cart</H1> $42.00 <IMG SRC="https://store.nexternal.com/tandem/images/05RitchieChard1.jpg" ALIGN=right ALT="2005 Kent Ritchie Chardonnay" NAME="2005 Kent Ritchie Chardonnay" BORDER=0 HSPACE=10> The Ritchie vineyard is now storied and celebrated, replete with herds of world-renowned winemakers prowling the vineyard rows during harvest. But we still know Kent as a down-home guy who likes to throw a great party at the vineyard lake, complete with dogs, grandmas, beer, canoes zipping along the water powered by enthusiastic 10-year-olds, billowing BBQ smoke, lots of teenagers swinging from the trees (literally) into the lake, a guitar or two being twanged to the (sometimes off-key) encouragement of a few Canadians while eating red cherry tomatoes and more dogs and even some wine. Kent Ritchie is our kind of grower! And it doesn’t hurt that he grows some of the very best Chardonnay in the U.S. of A! No, make that the Universe!! We’ll put any of Kent’s Chards up against any vineyard, anywhere! You listening, Andromeda? You want a viticultural piece of us, Beetle juice? One word: Tandem Ritchie! Tasting notes: As befitting of the vineyard, this wine is an intensely rich, satisfying, fun, pleasure-filled experience (what better way can a hedonistic winemaker expresses him/herself?). All that you have come to expect in the rich, deep, texture-laden expression of the Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay is here, with the added dimension of the zippy acid of the 2005 vintage. Pleasure in a bottle... Technical Data: • Vineyard: planted in the late 1960s, most of the oldest vines have been pulled out. There are still plenty of veteran vines still on AXR from the early 1970s, including right across the road from Kistler’s Splan Vineyard that are still moderately productive and showing the declining signs of Phylloxera. Kent has therefore taken cuttings from the original 3 clones of Wente, Robert Young and See (Musque) clones that were scattered throughout the site and propagated pure strains of each which we are showcasing in our 2005 vintage. • Harvest: A cool, we and long vintage, the harvest was on the late side of late. The young vines came in first, finishing fermentation even before the old vine grapes came into the winery. The crop was about half of what was expected, primarily due to small berries and fewer berries per cluster, meaning more open clusters. Acidity was crackling, with a high degree of malic acid due to the cool year. • Fermentation: Both primary and secondary fermentation were completed with native or “wild” populations. Uncharacteristically, we had no laggards or sluggish ferments, with all barrels going dry by the end of November. All fermentations were in barrel, with juice going to barrel “dirty”, with no cold setting after pressing. • Barrel aging: We used about 1/3 new barrels to complement this late, cool year. All of the barrels were of French coopers and forests, with the primary wood coming from the Allier forest. Battonage (barrel stirring) was practiced with sur lies for a total time of 9 months. • Bottling: of 800 cases bottled unfined and unfiltered: o pH: 3.30 o TA: 7.02 g/L o 14.9% alcohol o Appellation: Russian River Valley <LI>SKU: T705CHKR Other products in the category <A HREF="http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Category1" TITLE="Current Releases">Current Releases</A>: <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product73 TITLE="2005 Aldine Zinfandel">2005 Aldine Zinfandel</A> -- New Release! <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product74 TITLE="2006 van der Kamp Pinot noir">2006 van der Kamp Pinot noir</A> -- New Release! <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product71 TITLE="2005 Porter-Bass Chardonnay">2005 Porter-Bass Chardonnay</A> <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product51 TITLE="2005 Sangiacomo Chardonnay">2005 Sangiacomo Chardonnay</A> <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product69 TITLE="2006 Lorenzo Chardonnay">2006 Lorenzo Chardonnay</A> <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product66 TITLE="2006 Manchester Ridge Chardonnay">2006 Manchester Ridge Chardonnay</A> <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product67 TITLE="2006 Sangiacomo Chardonnay">2006 Sangiacomo Chardonnay</A> <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product47 TITLE="2005 Lorenzo Chardonnay">2005 Lorenzo Chardonnay</A> <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product42 TITLE="2004 Porter-Bass Chardonnay">2004 Porter-Bass Chardonnay</A> <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product39 TITLE="2004 van der Kamp Pinot noir">2004 van der Kamp Pinot noir</A> <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product65 TITLE="2005 van der Kamp Pinot noir">2005 van der Kamp Pinot noir</A> <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product68 TITLE="2006 Auction Block Pinot noir">2006 Auction Block Pinot noir</A> <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product72 TITLE="2006 Sangiacomo Pinot noir">2006 Sangiacomo Pinot noir</A> <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product70 TITLE="2006 Silver Pines Pinot noir">2006 Silver Pines Pinot noir</A> <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product62 TITLE="2006 van der Kamp Pinot Meunier">2006 van der Kamp Pinot Meunier</A> <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product50 TITLE="2005 Chris Lee Pinot noir">2005 Chris Lee Pinot noir</A> <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product54 TITLE="2005 Auction Block Pinot noir">2005 Auction Block Pinot noir</A> <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product56 TITLE="2005 Peloton Red Wine">2005 Peloton Red Wine</A> <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product60 TITLE="2004 Gabrielli Sangiovese">2004 Gabrielli Sangiovese</A> <LI><A HREF=http://www.nexternal.com/tandem/Product40 TITLE="2004 Aldine Zinfandel">2004 Aldine Zinfandel</A> <A HREF="http://www.nexternal.com/tandem" TITLE="Tandem Winery Products">Tandem Winery Products</A> <A HREF="http://www.tandemwinery.com">Tandem Winery</A> Tandem Winery <A HREF="http://www.nexternal.com" TITLE="ecommerce software">ecommerce software</A> powered by Nexternal