February 2006 Over the last twelve months, Wine & Spirits tasted 697 chardonnays. The following 10 wines received the strongest praise from our critics. A list of all chardonnay wines tasted, with the recommended wines highlighted, is available on www.wineandspiritsmagazine.com.

Chardonnay
94 I Ramey $56 2002 Russian River Valley Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay The Ritchie Vineyard was planted 30 years ago, just outside Forestville on Gold Ridge soils. It's the old Wente selection of chardonnay, and it tastes vinous, the wine's complexity based on fruit flavors, its alcohol completely integrated so it tastes substantial rather than weighty or warm. Spices hover at the edges, melding cardamom, vanilla and cinnamon scents into the fresh lime flavor. It grows more crystal clear with air, the clean lines of the wine well suited for age. Or drink it now with Friulian-style braised polpo. (323 cases) (W&S 04/05) Ramey Wine Cellars, Healdsburg, CA
93 I Melville $30 2004 Santa Rita Hills Clone 76 Inox Chardonnay Winemaker Greg Brewer has made it his ambition to produce top-flight chardonnay without oak. This '04 is his best effort yet, remarkably graceful and integrated for a wine matured in stainless steel. The pear and apple flavors have the brisk feel of a sea breeze, gaining a brioche-like richness and minerality from the lees. The smooth, clean finish has a savor that will match poached prawns. (454 cases) (W&S 02/06) Melville Winery, Lompoc, CA
93 I Patz & Hall $55 2004 Russian River Valley Zio Tony Ranch Chardonnay Creamy-rich, this has the integration of flavors of a fine Champagne. Aged on the lees with weekly stirring, it has a leesiness that melds with its golden apple flavors. And its mouthwatering acidity has a briskness that will heighten the taste of grilled hen-of-the-woods mushrooms and wood-roasted game birds. (W&S 02/06) Patz & Hall Wine Co., Rutherford, CA
93 I Hartford Court $40 2003 Sonoma Coast Stone Cote Vineyard Chardonnay From a block in the Durrell vineyard on a flank of Sonoma Mountain, this chardonnay feels gentle and sure. The flavors follow an elegant line, nothing overstated. It's cool and generously long, the fruit and acidity incorporated in a flavor of lemon and kumquat, the oak reading as light spice, cinnamon and caraway. Suited to age, or to grilled bluenose bass. (340 cases) (W&S 02/06) Hartford Court Winery, Forestville, CA
93 I Tandem $38 2003 Sonoma Coast Sangiacomo Vineyards Chardonnay Made by Greg La Follette and Greg Bjornstad, this elegant and beautifully structured wine needs air to bring out all its showy complexity. The dry, leesy flavors fan out into scents of apple blossom and fresh heirloom apples, the texture complex from a wild yeast ferment. It finishes firm, balancing oak and apple flavors that last. For Dungeness crab, or a tuna steak seared rare. (W&S 02/06) Tandem Wine Co., Sebastopol, CA
92 I Clendenen Family $50 2001 Santa Maria Valley Le Bon Climat Chardonnay Grown at the Clendenen family vineyard, this first release is clean as rainwater. Completely dry, the wine has a richness and fleshy apple fruit that make it savory and juicy at once. It's fragrant with granny smith apple and pear-butter scents, leesy and tight. Age should build on the wine's complexity, as will roast salmon with frizzled leeks. (140 cases) (W&S 04/05) Jim, Morgan, Isabelle and Knox Clendenen, Santa Maria, CA
92 I Stephen Ross $25 2002 Santa Maria Valley Bien Nacido Vineyard Chardonnay Stephen Dooley preserved the fresh complexities of Bien Nacido fruit in this chardonnay, in scents of apple blossom, in flavors of pear and peach, in the satisfying contrast between an austere structure and rich texture. All the dry, gentle fruit would fill in the grain of a thick cut veal chop; or age this and let the flavors develop further. (94 cases) (W&S 04/05) Stephen R. Dooley, San Luis Obispo, CA
92 I Peter Michael $75 2002 Sonoma County Ma Belle-Fille Chardonnay The first release from Peter Michael's newest vineyard, Ma Belle-Fille comes from the highest point on the estate, a southeast-facing slope. The vines, from four different selections of chardonnay, grow above the fog line at 1,800 to 2,000 feet. Their fruit from 2002 balances the full, toasty, caramelized influence of oak with scents of fresh yellow herbs and corn silk. Fresh apple holds in the end, integrating the oak and lees and finishing clean. Built to age. (881 cases) (W&S 04/05) Peter Michael, Calistoga, CA
92 I Hanzell $55 2002 Sonoma Valley Chardonnay James Zellerbach founded this winery, planting chardonnay on the hills above Sonoma in 1953. Those vines now give an elegant wine, its fruit textured by oak aging rather than flavored by it. There's a waxiness and creaminess to the wine, the fruit simple at first, then developing flavors of fresh apple and peach. It tastes generous and clean, best decanted if opened now and served with blanquette de veau. Or cellar it through 2010. (W&S 12/05) Hanzell Vineyards, Sonoma, CA
92 I Flowers $38 2003 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay Rich and lemony from the first taste, this takes time to show its briny, coastal character. Flowers blends this wine from vineyards on the far coast as well as in the Russian River Valley, using a smaller percentage of estate fruit than is used in Andreen-Gale (also recommended in this issue). Several days after it's been opened, the wine still tastes brisk and clean, its briny mineral flavors beginning to develop. Cellar it several years, then serve with arctic char. (2,851 cases) (W&S 02/06) Flowers Vineyard & Winery, Cazadero, CA