Wine Recommendation
  Sign In
Subscribe to our newsletter
Bookmark and Share  
print this review   PDF version of review     

Wine Recommendation

Raymond Vineyard & Cellar 2006 Chardonnay Reserve  (Napa Valley)

Raymond Vineyard & Cellar

2006 Chardonnay Reserve
(Napa Valley)



Raymond makes some of the best value wines coming out of the Napa Valley these days. Its Reserve Chardonnay is a perfect example. If this were 10 years ago, when Chardonnay still held much sway, the wine would be double the price. So, thrifty consumers, pay particular attention to this Chardonnay.

The nose is full of ripe Comice pear and sweet Crenshaw melon; while on the palate, everything’s here for a well-made, extremely satisfying wine. It’s balanced, possesses ripe, juicy fruit, and has a goodly wash of acidity. It’s fairly light and crisp and very food friendly, particularly with citrus-based salads.

The grapes primarily come from Raymond’s Jamieson Canyon estate vineyard near the Napa airport in the southern part of the valley, not far from the cool Carneros. To its credit, Raymond opted out of going with the malolactic fermentation regime and only 70 percent of the juice was aged for just three months in new French barrels. The 18,000 case production has a stated alcohol of 14.1 percent, while the pH is 3.61.

Reviewed March 19, 2008 by Alan Goldfarb.

The Wine

Winery: Raymond Vineyard & Cellar
Vintage: 2006
Wine: Chardonnay Reserve
Appellation: Napa Valley
Grape: Chardonnay
Price: 750ml $20.00

Review Date: 3/19/2008

The Reviewer

Alan Goldfarb

Alan Goldfarb has been writing about and reviewing wine for 17 years. His reviews have been published in the St. Helena Star, San Jose Mercury, San Francisco Examiner, Decanter, and Wine Enthusiast, among others. Not once has he used a point system, star system, or an iconic symbol to quantify a wine. What counts in Mr. Goldfarb’s criteria when judging a wine is: how it tastes in the glass; is it well-constructed; its food compatibility; and presence of redeeming regional attributes.