Medium gold color; apple, pear, vanilla on the nose; yellow apple, pear, white peach, pineapple, lemon, toasty oak on the palate.
Dry; soft and creamy in the mouth. Vanilla and oak notes abetted by illusion of some pats of butter from malolactic fermentation. Light body. Drives straight down the middle of the road. It is not an oak monster butter bomb. It is not unoaked, sharp, vivid fruit effort—Ron Rubin’s Pam’s Unoaked checks off that box. The result is a tasty enough chard without distinctive feature, but that likely is the feature Rubin was going for. Inoffensive. Just enough acidity to keep this fresh. Interesting squeeze of citrus—mostly lemon—on the finish. 13.7% ABV
Ron Rubin dreamed of a career in wine while at UC Davis in 1971, but spent 22 years working with his family’s business, Central Wholesale Liquor in Mount Vernon, IL. In 1994, his career took a sharp turn when he purchased The Republic of Tea, a California-based tea business, which set him on “ a mission to seek and procure the most exquisite teas from world premier tea gardens, making them accessible to everyone.”
Changes were not over. The Ron Rubin website notes: “40 years after Ron’s entry into the beverage industry, his dream came true. He purchased River Road Family Vineyards and Winery, in the Green Valley of the Russian River Valley, in the heart of California’s Sonoma County. Finding himself in the prestigious Green Valley made this ‘dream come true’ even more meaningful.”
Rubin is involved in philanthropy. He is president of the board of directors for Sonoma State University’s Wine Business Institute, advising on the University’s curriculum. In 2015, Rubin became a major donor in support of the Wine Spectator Learning Center’s state-of-the-art education complex, and home of the Wine Business Institute.
Joe Freeman is the winemaker. He has worked in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley since 1997 in a variety of positions at several wineries before joining River Road Family Vineyards in 2004.
Ron Rubin Chardonnay Russian River Valley 2018 delivers bright core of fruit, led by yellow apples. Fresh, creamy, buttery. Mainline California chardonnay. Pair with seafood, especially those with butter sauces; shellfish; sage butter chicken; backed, fried, grilled chicken; grilled and roasted salmon; pork; buttery popcorn; hard cheeses. $18-20
