100% Chardonnay

Food pairings: Lobster and crab, shellfish, roast chicken or turkey, pasta in a cream sauce, salmon, mushroom dishes, roast pork and roasted root vegetables.

Winemaking: Ravines aims for a balanced style of Chardonnay that expresses the vibrancy of its cool-climate grapes and their underlying minerality. The wine is fermented in oak, including French oak barrels, and kept on its lees, and a full malolactic fermentation softens the acidity and gives a supple, round texture, while a firm acid backbone keeps it fresh. In some vintages Ravines also uses its own adaptation of the traditional passito method, naturally drying a fraction of the grapes to concentrate their flavors. 2022 was a warm, ripe vintage for the Finger Lakes.

Vineyards and terroir: Estate grown on the slopes around Seneca Lake, where Ravines farms one vineyard on each side of the lake: the east-facing Limestone Springs Vineyard (formerly White Springs) near Geneva, with Honeoye loam over limestone and excellent drainage, one of the few limestone sites in the region and the source of the wine's mineral intensity; and the west-facing 16 Falls Vineyard on the eastern shore, with clay and loam over shalestone and a lyre trellis that intercepts more sunlight.

Family and history: Ravines is the family winery of Morten and Lisa Hallgren. Morten, Danish by birth, grew up at his family's Domaine de Castel Roubine in the Côtes de Provence, earned his enology and viticulture degree in Montpellier and worked at Château Cos d'Estournel in Bordeaux before becoming chief winemaker at Dr. Konstantin Frank in 1998. With Lisa, a chef, he founded Ravines on a parcel between two deep ravines on the slopes of Keuka Lake; their first vintage, 2002, included Chardonnay alongside Riesling, Pinot Noir and a Bordeaux-style red, all made dry in a classical, European style. The Hallgrens later bought the historic White Springs Farm near Geneva, today the home of their winery and tasting room.

In the pictures: Owners Morten and Lisa Hallgren (photo courtesy of Ravines Wine Cellars via Skurnik Wines); and the 16 Falls Vineyard on the eastern side of Seneca Lake from the air (photo courtesy of Ravines Wine Cellars).