Ron Rubin grew up with the wine industry, as his family owned a wholesale liquor business in Illinois. Ron followed a love of wine to UC Davis in 1971 and 1972, studying viticulture and enology. Another 40 years would go by before Ron would realize his dream of owning and operating his own winery. In 2011, he bought the River Road property in the Green Valley, a subzone of Sonoma’s Russian River Valley. Here he has about 9 acres of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Ron Rubin Winery also makes additional wine from grapes purchased from nearby vineyards under the previous River Road range.
We have three wines from Ron Rubin in for review. These are made with the traditional grapes of Burgundy, and that is an inspiration for the winemaking. Let’s see what’s in the bottles.
2018 Ron Rubin Winery Un-oaked Chardonnay – this is made with grapes from several different cool, coastal vineyards, all of
which are family owned. The challenge here is to keep everything in proportion. There is no oak treatment, and a lower alcohol level to keep the fruit vibrant. A tiny touch of effervescence helps keep things fresh. They recommend you drink this wine at refrigerator temperature to maintain that vibrancy. Our impressions:
The wine is brilliant, and the nose is full of pear and apple aromas. There is some citrus as well. On the palate, the fruit is ripe. This juice is silky smooth, and has some viscosity and mouthfeel. There is a touch of sweetness. Riesling lovers will like this wine a lot. We had it with some spicy chicken chili and that worked really well. At $14 this is really value priced.
2018 Ron Rubin Winery Russian River Valley Chardonnay – the wine is made from a blend of Chardonnay clones, with 
consistently productive UC Davis developed clones forming the base, and the Dijon clone added for a Burgundian touch. Grapes are hand picked and whole cluster pressed. The wine ages for six months in barrel, with another six months in the bottle. Our thoughts:
This juice is pale yellow, with a nose full of peach, tropical fruit, some spice and cut hay. The palate is really clean, with more tropical fruit, as well as some blood orange. It has good acid and balance, and a long finish. The oak here is a light touch. This is a nice wine, and very reasonably priced for a Russian River Chardonnay at $20.
2017 Ron Rubin Winery Russian River Valley Pinot Noir – this wine is made from mostly Green Valley fruit. It is fermented
in open top fermenters, allowing more surface area and greater grape extraction. It is aged in 20% new French oak. Here’s what we thought:
The juice is a vibrant, brilliant purple red, with a nose of rasberry, savory notes and earth tones. It is a rich aroma profile. On the palate it is medium bodied, with raspberry fruit and some cherry underneath. With some air time the fruit tends toward a black cherry, and the nose gains some smoky, charred wood notes. This is well balanced, with nice acid to keep things fresh. It finishes long. We did get a tiny hint of something brett like in this wine, but whatever it was it did not detract. Another solid wine and value priced for Russian River Valley Pinot Noir. $25
These wines prove that Ron Rubin has achieved his goal of bringing value driven, Burgundian inspired wines to the consumer. They are all worth trying.
A votre santé!
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