Ranch 32 Chardonnay 2024

Our Chardonnay is bright, crisp and balanced. The nose delivers pear, citrus, tropical fruit and toasted vanilla beans. The palate is rich and concentrated with notes of pineapple, butterscotch and minerality. This versatile wine can be served as an apéritif or as an accompaniment to your favorite fowl and seafood dishes.

On the west side of the Salinas Valley, directly in the path of Monterey’s relentless afternoon winds, sits Ranch 32. This is the place where we first planted vines back in 1972. Ranch 32 is about highlighting the natural characteristics of the terroir and conveying the taste of the place. Each vintage, we produce small lots of wine from these sustainably farmed estate vineyards that represent the best of the appellation.

Harnessing the breezes that blow through the Salinas Valley daily, our entire winery operation is 100% powered by wind. Our estate vineyards are certified by the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance.

Our Chardonnay grapes come from one of our estate vineyards in the Arroyo Seco AVA of Monterey County. This site is located just south of the Santa Lucia Highlands. The climate is heavily influenced by the cool afternoon winds that come off Monterey Bay and sweep down the valley each afternoon. With nutrient-rich shaly loam soils, this is renowned terroir for both Chardonnay and PinotNoir.

The grapes were picked at optimum ripeness during the night and brought to the winery in the early morning hours. Upon arrival, the grapes were gently whole-cluster pressed, chilled, and racked clean to a refrigerated stainless steel tank. The juice was slowly fermented at a cool temperature to enhance the varietal aromatics. A portion of the blend was aged in stainless steel in order to retain the bright fruit flavors and crisp acidity. The rest of the blend was aged with French oak to enhance a buttery-creamy quality and add complexity, richness and texture to the finished wine.

Located 120 miles south of San Francisco lies the deep Monterey Submarine Canyon.  This submarine canyon brings a constant upwelling of cold, nutrient rich waters to the surface of Monterey Bay, making it one of the richest and most biodiverse marine habitats in the world.  This cold, upwelling water also chills the air, which creates fog that flows down from Monterey Bay into the Salinas Valley, cooling the vineyards and giving Monterey County the longest growing season of all of California’s famed viticultural districts.  This cool fog often lingers over the vineyards until mid-day.  Then as the sun warms the valley floor, the fog burns off and the warm air rises, drawing in a cool, reliable ocean breeze over the vineyards and preventing the grapes from overheating the hot California afternoon sun.  The cooler temperatures and longer growing season allow the grapes to ripen slowly and develop rich and intricate fruit flavors while preserving crucial acidity.  Ranch 32 vineyard sits in the middle of this viticultural sweet spot, and the result is perfectly balanced, food friendly wines at very cool prices.