2024 Wood Family Vineyards Chardonnay – A Cornucopia of Luscious Fruit
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The Wine – “Wine is bottled Poetry” – Robert Louis Stevenson
Photo ©Michael Kelly
There is simply no simple explanation on how Rhonda Wood makes consistently great Chardonnay wine except that she is a perfectionist! She has for seven to eight years made Chardonnay wines that have been one of my favorites and annually makes the yearly listing of Best Wines Tasted in the year. So it is once again for her 2024 vintage for the Best Wines Tasted in 2025.
This wine comes from two different vineyards in Livermore, one on the valley floor and the other in the hills. The wine is barrel fermented in 100% French oak barrels with 35% new for 10 months. The stirring of the lees was every two weeks.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
First in the glass a slightly darker golden color that shimmers in daylight with brightness. A heavier than usual Chardonnay. On the nose a cornucopia of fruits rise to meet the imbiber with green apples and pears being dominant. Once on the palate the fruits of green apple and ripe pear swirl about merrily in the mouth. Additionally stone fruits of apricot and peach provide a secondary flavor and slightly shy quality, but welcoming. On the finish a brioche quality of “heaviness” provides a beautiful conclusion to each sip. Less sweet than the previous vintage with more fruits allowed to come into play.
This release for 2024 Chardonnay is targeted for mid-August. It comes in at 14.5% alcohol and list price is $36/bottle.
The Food and Wine Pairing – “Food without wine is a corpse; wine without food is a ghost. United and well matched, they are as body and soul: living partners” – Andre Simon
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Paired this evening with a new recipe called Grilled Chicken Kabobs. The chicken breast was cut into sizes to fit into a barbeque basket with fresh vegetables. The baskets were cooked for a total of eight minutes, rotating each basket after two minutes on each side.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The chicken pieces and vegetables were marinated for eight hours with olive oil, soy sauce, honey, minced garlic, Kosher salt, black pepper, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, zucchini slices, red onion and chopped parsley.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Served with long and short grain rice and fresh garden salad. The garden salad included pepita seeds, green onions, cherry tomatoes, pepperoncini with Champagne dressing.
The Winery
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Wood Family Vineyards, located in eastern Livermore Valley with Rhonda Wood owner & winemaker, has been producing award winning wines for over two decades. You can read more on Rhonda’s background from airline pilot to award winning winemaker at:
https://californiawinesandwineries.com/2016/02/10/wood-family-vineyards-2
Recently at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition (largest in North America), Wood Family Vineyards won the following awards and not all are listed:
2019 Cabernet Franc – Double Gold
2021 Malbec – Double Gold
2019 Cabernet Sauvignon “Clone 30” – Double Gold
2021 El Loco Rojo Red Blend – Double Gold
2021 The Captain Red Blend – Double Gold
The list of awards is extensive featuring all their wines on their website.
Sláinte,
Michael