2024 Ridge - Chardonnay Santa Cruz Mountains Estate (750ml)
2024 Ridge - Chardonnay Santa Cruz Mountains Estate (750ml)
Ridge Vineyards preserves its Monte Bello Chardonnay heritage with the 2024 vintage, drawn from estate-grown Monte Bello vineyard grapes. The cool-climate site, with fractured limestone subsoils, has long proven ideally suited to Chardonnay, and Ridge’s Estate designation has highlighted this tradition since 2009. The younger vines planted in the 1970s now provide the majority of the fruit, continuing a lineage that began with fully mature vines in the late 1940s and a storied lineage of vintages since 1962.
- Hand-harvested from estate-grown Monte Bello vineyard grapes
- Whole-cluster pressed
- Fermented on native yeasts
- Full malolactic fermentation occurs naturally
- Aged in oak
- Minimal intervention winemaking philosophy — let fruit and site speak for themselves
In the glass, the wine presents a medium straw color with aromas of dried spices and rustic earth. The palate is full-bodied and layered, dry with balanced acidity, revealing chalky, earthy flavors that add depth and structure through a firm, composed, and persistent finish. Critics have noted a pure, lifted bouquet backed by tastefully judged oak, broad and textural in the mouth while retaining a taut, focused core.
This mountain-grown Chardonnay pairs beautifully with roast chicken, wild mushrooms, or other savory, earthy dishes, and rewards a year or so of bottle age to fully integrate.