Rivers-Marie Chardonnay Purrington Rued 2023

This comes across as the most Chardonnay of all the Purrington Rueds so far. I know that doesn’t make a lot of sense since they are all Chardonnays but the character of this has always made its varietal somewhat hard to guess. The aromatics were what made this difficult to place in years past, but here they veer away from some of the tropical more Alsatian leanings. This is much more citrus, focusing on the lemony current that shoots through the 2023 Chardonnays. There’s one small note of salted pineapple at the very end of the aromatic note that ties this back to past vintages. White flowers, spice box, ginger and tangerine complete the nose and lead into a palate that turns a little more exotic with a mix of crushed citrus, white peach, pepper and jasmine. There’s very nice palate weight without any sense of heaviness owing in large part to the low yielding, 55-year-old vines. A little salinity kicks up at the end giving the finish a nice savory feel.