2018 Ram's Gate Chardonnay Sonoma Coast 750 ml

Joe Nielsen knows a thing or two about making top-tier wines. A true wunderkind, he was named winemaker for Donelan wines before his 30th birthday—and proceeded to earn a 99- and 98-point score from the Wine Advocate in his very first vintage in charge.

What he's doing at Ram’s Gate has made industry insiders sit up and take notice. He’s pushed the estate vineyards to holistic farming, improving the microbiome of the soil to allow vines to better uptake nutrients. He’s implemented the use of “pressure bombs”—aka Scholander chambers—to precisely measure the hydric stress level of the vines. The results are certainly coming through in the wines, as Jeb Dunnuck called recent releases “exceptional” and “brilliant.”

For the 2018 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, Joe tapped five different sites to build this blend. Two of them are in Russian River Valley, and they bring rich fruit and texture. Three of the vineyards are in the south Sonoma Coast proper, giving a bit more verve and briskness. They work with a number of clones, most notably old Wente selections that have lots of “hens and chicks,” where berry size is quite varied and there’s extra character and intensity as a result. 

After one of the greatest growing seasons in Sonoma history—one that Wine Spectator declared delivered “nearly ideal conditions”—the grapes were pressed gently and fermented carefully before aging in French oak. But only a quarter of that oak was new, and malolactic fermentation was mostly inhibited as well—only about 25% of the lots went through it. The result is a wine that balances the naturally rich fruit of the region with elegance and polish.