2007 Syrah Rodgers Creek Vineyard

It's hard to know where to start with these wines from David Ramey, as the lineup is full of highlights. Among the Chardonnays, the Rochioli Vineyard, a new vineyard designate, is terrific. The Woolsey Road Chardonnay is also quite distinctive. Ramey gives his single-vineyard Chardonnays 19 months on the lees, a standard Burgundian aging regime that is far less common in California. The 2014 Cabernets have also turned out beautifully. Ramey's Cabernets are powerful wines that offer quite a bit of richness, but without being excessive. I have included notes on a few 2007s to give readers an idea of how the wines age.

"Syrah's image to American consumers, I hate to say, was seriously damaged by the Australians," David Ramey told me. "First, they didn't call it syrah. Then, they made it sweet, and after that they made it cheap. Now, it's an incredible struggle to get people to buy these wines for what they're worth so more and more people, growers and producers, are just giving up on the grape." Ramey himself has made his last Shanel Vineyard syrah (the 2006) and is now producing a SonomaCoast syrah that's intended for earlier drinking and priced at about one-third less than his Rodgers Creek bottling. He drew a comparison between 2007 in Napa and 1982 in Bordeaux, saying that although the wines have big immediate appeal he thinks they'll have a smooth aging trajectory and never really close up. As for 2008, he says that "it isn't an easygoing vintage. The wines are looking very direct and will need some time to gain breadth."