The Search for Dutton Ranch
There's more than meets the eye to one of Sonoma's best names in Chardonnay
By MaryAnn Worobiec
Dutton Ranch is the source of some of the best Chardonnay in California, but if you want to find the vineyard, get ready for a major expedition--and don't forget your compass.
No tidy, well-defined parcel, the Dutton Ranch is in fact made up of 45 noncontiguous vineyards in the Russian River Valley, with Chardonnay planted in 30 different locations. You would have to traverse plenty of asphalt, cross a major stream or two and be prepared to climb from sea level to 1,200 feet to take in its full extent.
This doesn't diminish the power or significance of the Dutton name on the bottle, however. Dutton Ranch started out as a single vineyard when Warren Dutton purchased 35 acres of apple trees and grapevines in Sonoma's Russian River Valley in 1964. Dutton's neighbors thought he was a little crazy when he started planting Chardonnay in 1967. "No one did anything like that back then," Dutton explains, "But it turned out to be a good thing."
Dutton's action proved out to be one of the biggest coups in the history of California Chardonnay. The Dutton Ranch moniker on a bottle of Chardonnay is one of the most widely recognizable of all vineyard designations. Wineries such as Kistler, Rutz and Sebastiani have all used Dutton grapes for years, resulting in high quality Chardonnay.
Dutton recalls that he planted Chardonnay because he wanted a variety that ripened earlier than the French Colombard grapes that were originally on the property. The son of a California farmer who grew plums and hops, Dutton, now 55 years old, knew he wanted to own some land of his own. Today, Dutton manages about 1,000 acres--400 of which he owns, 350 of which he leases but considers his own, and 250 acres that he manages for other wineries. The majority is Chardonnay (600 acres), but Dutton also oversees Pinot Noir, Merlot, Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel. So far, none of these have been as successful as Kistler's Dutton Ranch Chardonnay.
All of these grapes do share a common origin: They are grown in the Russian River Valley, mostly west of the small town of Sebastopol. However, for terroir purists who prize a single vineyard's expression through a wine, trying to pinpoint Dutton Ranch is like following a bouncing ball. Beyond the name and the Russian River appellation tie, the concept of Dutton Ranch quickly becomes ambiguous.
But it wasn't always that way. Kistler Vineyards was the first to bring attention to Dutton Ranch, and has continued to do so for 20 years with its Chardonnay from Dutton's five-acre Shop Block vineyard, created well before the trend of single-vineyard wines was popular. "We felt strongly that the correct way to represent this vineyard was to not blend it away," says winemaker Steve Kistler. As Dutton Ranch grew, more wineries were able to use the name on their labels, profiting on the success of Kistler and others. Chasseur, Patz & Hall, and two labels started by Warren Dutton's own sons, Sebastopol Vineyards and Dutton-Goldfield Winery, now all refer to the famous property.
We reviewed six different Chardonnays from the difficult 1998 vintage that bear the name Dutton on their labels. These Chardonnays range in score and style from very good wines with rich flavors of pear, spice, and apricot--like the Dutton-Goldfield Russian River Valley Dutton Ranch 1998 (88 points, $28, 350 cases made) and the Fritz Russian River Valley Ruxton Vineyard Dutton Ranch 1998 (87, $28, 690 cases)--to less successful efforts that are muted, earthy and simple, like the Fritz Russian River Valley Shop Block Dutton Ranch 1998 (78, $30, 700 cases). Not surprisingly, the best current Dutton Chardonnay bottling is the late-release '97 Dutton Ranch from Kistler (92, $55, 1,868 cases)
As more wineries use Dutton Ranch, Chardonnay drinkers may think that all Dutton Ranch fruit is from the same place. Marketing for other wineries is leans heavily on Kistler's shoulders. Not every winery that produces a Dutton Ranch Chardonnay can make a wine like Kistler's, and not every winery is getting grapes from the lot that Kistler is. Dutton does sell his grapes with contracts tied to specific blocks, but only Fritz Winery refers to which blocks of Dutton Ranch they use--including grapes from the Shop Block, just like Kistler. Despite the growing list of Dutton wines, Steve Kistler has no complaints about the quality of the grapes, and Dutton farms in a way that pleases Kistler. "What makes our relationship with Dutton work is that he's been very receptive to our input," says the Chardonnay master.
From Dutton's perspective, the use of his name is legitimate and not confusing. "I love it," he exclaims, referring to the spread of Dutton Ranch on wine labels. But from a consumer's perspective, Dutton Ranch on a bottle from Kistler means something different than Dutton Ranch on another winery's bottle, and when you buy a Dutton Ranch Chardonnay, that's worth knowing.
--M.W.