2011 Rivers-Marie Chardonnay Thieriot Vineyard

The 2011 Chardonnay B. Thieriot Vineyard is gorgeous in this vintage. Lemon, almonds, savory herbs andnectarine all burst from the glass. Rich, layered and strikingly beautiful, the 2011 stands out for its pure balance. A touch of botrytis-inflected sweetness adds an exotic flair on the close. This is a highly representative example of Sonoma Coast Chardonnay. The Rivers Marie Chardonnay is unfined and unfiltered, so the color can sometimes be a little cloudy relative to more commercial wines, but that is in no way a negative, just a characteristic of the wine. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2018. Rivers-Marie stands out for many reasons, not the least of which is the exceedingly fair prices set by owners Thomas Rivers Brown and Genevieve Marie Welsh. Like all of his colleagues, Brown struggled to achieve normal levels of ripeness in 2011. The crop set was poor, and there was no heat to speak of the entire year. The Pinots were harvested in October, exceedingly late by Pinot standards. Yields came in at a tiny. 75 to 1 ton per acre. As for the wines, they are quite pretty, if naturally a bit more slender than normal. Tel. (707) 341-3127