WINDSOR, Calif., May 22, 2023 – Today, California pioneer Sonoma-Cutrer, announces the release of Dutton Ranch Chardonnay, part of its highly-anticipated annual Winemaker’s Release series. Sonoma-Cutrer’s Winemaker’s Release is a series of wines that showcases the brand’s commitment to artisan craftsmanship and showcases their unique, high-quality production practices. By blending the best elements from the art of winemaking with innovation, Sonoma-Cutrer is able to offer elegant, premium wines that are worth sharing vintage after vintage.
Known for their consistent and flavorful Chardonnay fruit, Dutton Ranch has been a long-time grower partner of Sonoma-Cutrer. When planning for this year’s Winemaker’s Release, the winery invited Dutton Ranch to be the first designated grower vineyard to be featured in the series. Members of the Dutton family have been working the land in Sonoma County since the 1880s, and today, the family is farming approximately 1,200 acres of sustainable wine grapes in the Russian River Valley, Green Valley, and Sonoma Coast appellations.
“For this year’s Winemaker’s Release, we wanted to celebrate one of our favorite Russian River Valley growers,” said Director of Winemaking Cara Morrison. “Six generations of Duttons have been growing high-quality fruit in Sonoma County for nearly 60 years and Sonoma-Cutrer has been partnering with them for nearly 20 years. We hope you enjoy the wine as much as we enjoyed making it!”
To create this wine, chardonnay grapes were harvested in late September from two Dutton Russian River Valley Vineyards – Gerboth and Alpers. After hand-sorting, the grapes were whole-cluster pressed to avoid bitter tannins from the skins and grape seeds. The cool, golden-green, free-run juice was sent directly to French barrels for fermentation. The wine was then aged sur-lies in French oak that were exclusively procured by Sonoma-Cutrer’s forester from the Orleans region of France.
Dutton Ranch Chardonnay is vibrant and aromatic with scents of lightly baked apple, pie crust, melon, nectarine, clove, oak spice, and toasted sourdough bread with butter. Rich flavors of peach, oak spice, and baked apple appear on the palate. It is an elegantly structured wine with citrus-laced acidity and a lengthy, toasty oak finish.
Sonoma-Cutrer’s Winemaker’s Release Dutton Ranch Chardonnay (14.2%) is available for an SRP of $39.99. The wines will be available at select retail locations as well as direct from the winery at www.sonomacutrer.com.
About Sonoma-Cutrer
Sonoma-Cutrer has been crafting wines since 1981 in the esteemed Russian River Valley growing region of Sonoma County, California. Our flagship wine, Russian River Ranches, was built in the on-premise and for over 30 years has dominated the Most Popular Chardonnay Wine & Spirits Annual Restaurant Poll. Our winemaking process, led by a female-driven team, is designed specifically to preserve the highest quality grapes, and the wines are aged in barrels made of specific French oak trees that are selected to fit the winemakers’ needs. Sonoma County is the first wine region in the world to be 99% sustainable. As a leader in this initiative, Sonoma-Cutrer prioritizes protecting the environment in all viticultural and winemaking processes. All Sonoma-Cutrer wines can be purchased at the Sonoma-Cutrer winery, as well as, through the wine club, Club Cutrer. For more information about our wines, how to purchase, or to join Club Cutrer, please visit www.sonomacutrer.com or visit Facebook at www.facebook.com/
