Tasting Note                         

95     2005 Ridge Home Ranch Santa Cruz Mtns Chardonnay     12/24/08 ($50)

14.6% alc
Color: Medium deep gold. (3.0) Bouquet: Elegant butterscotch and buttered toast complementing concentrated honeysuckle and kiwi. (3.0) Body: Light heavyweight with excellent acidity and fruit. Very elegant for its size. (3.5) Flavor: Parallels bouquet with even more intensity. The honeysuckle-kiwi combo is mesmerizing. This has power. (4.0) Finish: Parallels bouquet with outstanding length, more than 30 seconds. (3.5)
Overall: Beautiful elegance combined with ageworthy structure and a very solid core of fruit. This is so pretty and delicious right now, no need to wait, but may become even more interesting with 2-4 years of bottle age. Hard to decide whether this or the regular SCM bottling is better. Only time will tell, but this strikes me as a little fatter and more developed at present, probably due to the extended oak treatment. (17.0)