2014 Syrah Cole 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.

As always, my tasting with David Ramey covered a wide range of wines from both Sonoma and Napa counties. The 2014 Chardonnays are a bit more reticent than they usually are at this stage. I am not sure if the wines are going through a closed phase, or if the decision to pick a bit earlier than in the past has resulted in Chardonnays that are a bit shy in the early going. Regardless, in this tasting, the 2014 Chardonnays are a bit muted. The Cabernet and Cabernet-based wines are also quite strong, especially in 2014 a Napa Valley vintage I think will surprise a lot of people down the road. Most of the Syrahs I tasted had not been bottled, while the nascent Pinot program is a work in progress. In my view, those wines will never be as interesting as they could be with the existing fruit sources. Lastly, there will be no more wines from Platt, as Ramey, like all of his colleagues who were in that vineyard, have moved on.

It's hard to know where to begin with these wines from David Ramey, as there are so many highlights, but one common theme is the quality of the entry-level wines. The appellation-level Chardonnays, Pinot, Syrah and Claret all deliver serious quality for the money. As always, the Chardonnays are made in a rich, Burgundian-leaning style that emphasizes relatively long aging in barrel by California standards. The reds all capture a highly attractive stylistic middle ground that offers plenty of New World, California fruit wedded to an Old World sense of structure. In addition to the wines reviewed here, I also tasted a number of wines that were in an awkward stage of their elevage, just before bottling, including the 2014 Claret, 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Pedregal Vineyard, 2013 Syrah Cole Creek Vineyard and 2013 Syrah Rodgers Creek Vineyard. I will report on those wines once they have had time to settle down after bottling. Lastly, Ramey has a new range of entry-level wines, Sidebar, that features varieties such as Kerner, Sauvignon and red Rhône grapes that are not already in the Ramey portfolio. The Sidebar wines are a work in progress at this stage, but there is good potential here as well.