2010 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard

David Ramey, one of California’s proven masters of Chardonnay, has compiled an admirable track record for making rich, complex wines with uncanny staying power, as a recent tasting of his Chardonnays from the Hyde and Ritchie vineyards made clear.

Once again, I tasted an amazing range of wines with David Ramey. The Chardonnays capture a beautiful middle ground of ripe, California fruit but treated to a long, Burgundy-inspired elevage that relies in natural yeasts and no filtration, among other choices, to bring out the personality of each of the sites Ramey works with. To me, the Ramey Chardonnays have a Chassagne-like richness that is quite appealing, yet they remain laid back in style by California standards. The Cabernets run the gamut price-wise, but I find a lot to like across the entire range. The Syrahs are in some ways the outliers, because they are made by a winemaker with a very Cabernet-influenced palate. As good as Ramey's Syrahs are, it is impossible not to notice a house style that emphasizes an overt expression of fruit over what might be termed more varietal character, especially in the regular bottling. As for the reds, the 2011 Cabernets are quite strong for the year. In 2011, Ramey bottled a far greater percentage of his juice into the entry-level Claret than normal, and saved only the best lots for the Cabernets, a decision that has paid off handsomely. The 2010s are just as fabulous as they were last year. At the end of the day, though, that is a relatively small critique for a winemaker who excels in so many ways. In my mind, Ramey is one of the top wineries in the United States. Readers who aren't familiar with these wines owe to themselves the check them out.

I tasted through the new Ramey collection with assistant winemaker Cameron Frey this year as David Ramey had to leave town suddenly to attend to family matters.David told me, "he's worked with me for ten years now and knows the drill better than anybody."Two thousand and ten was an especially successful vintage for the Napa Valley red wines at Ramey, and I was struck by their suave blend of opulence and structure from top to bottom.The 2010 Claret is perhaps the best rendition of that bottling I've had to date and the big guns are must-buys for serious California cab collectors, with the depth and energy to age effortlessly.Frey told me that a particularly interesting aspect of the 2010 reds is that "they were charming from the get-go, without the sullen character that you kind of expect right after bottling."Will they shut down soon?"Most likely," he said, "but who knows, because they're playing their fruit off their tannins so nicely that they may not."(JR)