Ramey: A family focus on Californian Chardonnay

David Ramey is known as a consummate producer of Californian Chardonnay, though he is no slouch when it comes to red wines either, as his spell at Dominus in the late 1990s confirmed.

Recently presented new releases from the 2019 vintage demonstrated once again his mastery of the variety.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 10 Ramey wines

Ramey’s genesis

Ramey has had a classic Californian winemaker’s career: graduating from UC Davis in 1979, working stints in Australia and at Petrus. He returned to California in the early 1980s to work with the legendary Zelma Long at Simi, and then it was Matanzas Creek.

From there, Ramey went to Chalk Hill winery where he cemented his reputation as a Chardonnay producer, conducting many experiments in vinification.

Later in the 1990s, he moved to Dominus, where I first met him, and in 1998 he joined the new Rudd winery in Napa. While focusing on its red wines, he was allowed to develop his label as a side project.

Ramey’s first own-label vintage was in 1996, but after he left Rudd in 2001, it became a full-time business.

Like many California wineries, Ramey initially owned no vineyards but sourced grapes from top growers. Then in 2012, he bought the 22ha Westside Farms vineyard flanking the Russian River.

Buying grapes from celebrated growers such as Larry Hyde in Carneros brings a prestigious name to the label but also requires a tricky balance. A winemaker like Ramey wants to fashion his house style in terms of ripeness, acidity and oak-ageing, but top growers also like doing things their way.

David Ramey’s son Alan, who joined the company in 2016, views this: ‘We work closely with our growers, but we try to engage rather than impose. Our block in Hyde is next to Steve Kistler’s, but the two parcels are farmed differently to respect our individual styles.’

The Ramey signature

Ramey makes all his Chardonnays the same way: after whole-cluster pressing, fermentation occurs with wild yeasts, and the wines go through full malolactic fermentation. The wines are aged without racking.

Alan recalls that his father conducted a ten-year experiment, making the exact wine in two ways: one with conventional racking, the other staying on the lees without racking but with occasional stirring.

The latter, they felt, gave more textured and complex wines. The wines used to spend 20 months in two-thirds new oak, but these days the proportion of new wood is reduced to around 20%.

During a visit to the Ramey winery in Healdsburg many years ago, I mentioned to David that while his wines never showed overtly high alcohol, they did tend to be around 14.5%. ‘Don’t you think,’ he replied sharply, ‘that if growers in Meursault or Puligny could achieve that kind of ripeness each year, they’d be thrilled rather than dismayed?’

It’s a fair point. David and Alan both stress that they’re not making white Burgundy but white Chardonnay in Sonoma, so the wines are bound to have a different profile.

Yet they never seem excessive or clumsy: ripe, yes, but also supported by fine acidity and stylish oak. ‘When it comes to alcohol,’ says Alan, ‘we follow the vintage.’ Indeed, most of the 2019 wines are a modest 13.5%.

With his wealth of experience, endless curiosity about his craft, and intuitive sense of balance in making wine, David Ramey has long been one of California’s most respected and admired producers.

Alan, who worked at Méo-Camuzet in Vosne-Romanée, and studied at Oxford, will undoubtedly enhance the label’s reputation. The Ramey family is expected to go from strength to strength.

See Stephen Brook’s tasting notes and scores for 10 Ramey wines

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