Reviews

OFS ("Our Finest Selection") presents DeLoach's best lots of the vintage. For the 2012 chardonnay winemaker Brian Maloney drew on nine vineyards throughout the Russian River Valley, from 40-year-old vines at Ritchie and Heintz to DeLoach's own young, biodynamically farmed vineyard in front of their winery. Generous and powerful, this draws energy from a fresh, earthy current running underneath the fruit, layering the wine's Rainier cherry and wildflower honey aromas with veins of firm, sandstone-like structure. It has the mineral, baroque, yellow-fruited clarity of classical Russian River chardonnay, bold at the outset, cool and complex in the finish.
 

Here there is enough reduction present to recommend decanting your bottle if you plan to try one young in the interest
of “science”. There is excellent size, weight and power to the vibrant flavors that possess excellent mid-palate
concentration and while the supporting tannins are relatively fine there is some of the hallmark rusticity of
Mazoyères present on the otherwise strikingly long finish. This should thoroughly reward mid to longer-term cellaring.

There are background touches of wood spice adding breadth to the floral,and exceptionally ripe mix of various red berries,
earth and subtle sauvage hints that include a note of prune. The overtly powerful and big-bodied flavors possess fine
mid-palate density as there is an abundance of dry extract that helps to buffer the very firm tannic spine on the
succulent and mouth coating finish. This is very Corton in the sense that it’s a big and powerful wine but at present it seems
to lack a bit of vibrancy and the note of prune on the nose is never an encouraging sign. My score offers the benefit of the
doubt that the freshness will pick up with a few years of bottle age in the same fashion as have a number of 2003s and 2009s.