Reuling Vineyard, a Sonoma Coast-based producer of ultra-premium wines, announced the first release of its highly-anticipated Reuling Vineyard Chardonnay with a $70 suggested retail price (SRP).
The wine was pressed whole-cluster to barrel and was barrel-aged in oak (50% new, 50% used) for ten months. According to the tasting notes, the Chardonnay has subtle aromas of lemon oil with ripe melon, apricot and crushed rock. “On the palate, the wine shows an earthiness with notes of late-season stone fruit and a touch of umami,” describe the tasting notes. “The texture is beautifully balanced with focused acidity and weight, yet broad with an incredible finish that lingers on the mouth.”
Previous Chardonnay wines sourced from the Reuling Vineyard received some of the highest scores ever given to American Chardonnay from such influential critics as Robert Parker of The Wine Advocate, who twice bestowed 99-point reviews to wines from the site. Winemaker Matthew Taylor, who was previously winemaker and vineyard manager for Araujo Estates and has worked with Joseph Swan Vineyards and Domaine Dujac, considers the Reuling Vineyard to be one of the great vineyard sites in California.
The 2012 Reuling Vineyard Chardonnay, along with the 2013 Rosé of Pinot Noir (SRP $25) is currently offered to mailing list members, and will ship to consumers and select retail and restaurant accounts beginning in April. The Chardonnay production was limited to only 350 cases of 750 ml bottles and 18 bottles of 1.5L.
Proprietors Timothy and Jackie Reuling (see photo below) launched the Forestville, CA-based Reuling Vineyard label in 2013 with the release of a 2011 Pinot Noir (SRP $70) and 2012 Rosé of Pinot Noir (SRP $25). The Reulings purchased the 16-acre Reuling property in 1998 and planted 14.4 acres in 2000 to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. For over a decade, the vineyard was a source for producers including Aubert Wines and Peter Michael Winery.
The Reuling Vineyard is currently planted to 2.2 acres of Chardonnay clones from the Montrachet vineyard in Burgundy, and an additional 12.2 acres of the property are planted to Pinot Noir with three clones: Calera, and two different “suitcase” clones from the Vosne-Romanée region of Burgundy.
Winemaker, Matt Taylor (see photo below) was recently featured in the San Francisco Chronicle as a “Winemaker to Watch” and as one of Wine Enthusiast’s “Top 40 Tastemakers Under 40.” He describes his winemaking style as “weight without heaviness,” and has brought several of the Biodynamic principals used at Araujo Estate (where Taylor worked as both winemaker and vineyard manager) to the farming of the Reuling Vineyard.
Reuling Vineyard produces limited quantities of its wines, which are sold on an allocation basis. To purchase its wines, clients must sign up for its mailing list.
Additional information and mailing list sign-ups can be accessed on Reuling Vineyard’s website.
Photos courtesy of Reuling Vineyard
