Just got the offer from Rochioli for their 4 2009 single vineyard chards: River Block, South River, Rachael’s, and Sweetwater. Rachaels is $72 - rest are $60.
Anyone have experience with these? I have Rochioli Pinots but haven’t had their Chards. CT notes from prior vintages seem very positive.
Thanks
I am an unabashed fan of their Chardonnay’s and all the wines in this offer are stellar IMO.
Tom
Twitter: @NWTomLee
minor correction Rachael’s is $72
Oops - scrolled down the page quickly. Corrected. Thanks
So - are you a buyer?
This is my first offer for the Rochioli SV list - signed-up in February of 2007 at the tasting room… Chardonnay is on the opulent side, and Parker seems to like these wines - big points for all.
I am, delicious Chardonnay.
Yes, buy, buy them all. These are fantastic wines. And the vintage is incredible. Huge scores from Parker.
really liked the wines, but i dropped the list last year 
. the pinots were getting to expensive relative to the others that i buy.
Will buying these help one/is necessary to get on the Pinot list? 
I am in for my allocation of Rachael’s
Can someone pm me the Parker ratings. Please.
yes, although not for the entire 2 cases offered.
I like all four of the wines, but recently have preferred the Rachael’s and Sweetwater.
We drink most of them ~4-5 years from the vintage date
The Pinots and Chards are amazing…i cannot wait to finally make their list.
when you’re offered the chards, you should expect a pinot offering in the summer. enjoy the ride!
Not sure of the vintage, but I think it was 2000. My friend bought a case of Riverblock. 5yrs later, the remaining bottles, about 6 or them where all deep yellow, completely oxidized! Premox of another kind, but pretty sad. Tried another @6yrs, same bad result, should have been drunk in the 3yrs after release.
I do recall drinking a '96 Rochioli Riverblock Chard, next to a '94 W-S Allen Chard in the early 2000’s (Allen vineyard being contiguous with Rochioli’s vineyards, but not owned by Rochioli…real estate magnate Howie /Howard Allen owned that) I did not care for the Rochioli, though the fruit flavors were not bad, nice riper style of fruit, but not much in the way of green apples. But it was the obtrusive oak that turned me off. The oak was even more pervasive than the W-S Allen, and just didn’t taste as nice as the W-S (known to be oaky, to many palates over-oaked), as I preferred the nice vanilla nuances from the Francois Freres barrels (med toast, not the yucky heavy-toast that Kistler was using on both Chard and PN for that ‘carmelized’ note I detest) Burt was using.
So, ordering the Chards is or is not necessary to get the summer pinot offering? In other words, if one passes on the Chard. offering, can he or she expect to receive the summer Pinot offering?
you have to order at least one bottle to stay on the list.
there are three offerings a year - svd chards, svd pinots, and the regular pinot/chard. i was told i had to purchase from 2 of 3 offers a year to stay on the list. when i did buy, it was the svd chards and svd pinots. they are very friendly and informative on the phone, so you may want to call to verify this policy.
Cool. Thanks for the replies. I will give 'em a call or send an email — I’ve been waiting too long to screw this one up.
[quote=“Gordon ZenMasterOfZin Ng”]Not sure of the vintage, but I think it was 2000. My friend bought a case of Riverblock. 5yrs later, the remaining bottles, about 6 or them where all deep yellow, completely oxidized! Premox of another kind, but pretty sad. Tried another @6yrs, same bad result, should have been drunk in the 3yrs after release. /[quote]
Fully agree eighths chards drink and drink them fast. I have had an 2006 river and two south rivers recently, they were meh. I’m usually a big Rochioli fan and yes pretty much the chard program is hostage for the pinots. Chard wise sick to the Rachael’s and if you like Rochioli and are not on the single vynd list got for Castalia label with is owned by Terry who has been with Rochioli for over 20 years, awesome juice. One more point I think that the Rochioli’s actually own the Allen ranch now, just something I heRs through the tape vine.