2013 Ramey, Rodgers Creek Syrah, Sonoma Coast, California, USA

2013 Ramey, Rodgers Creek Syrah, Sonoma Coast, California, USA

Product: 20131337323
 
2013 Ramey, Rodgers Creek Syrah, Sonoma Coast, California, USA

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Description

Co-fermented with 10% Viognier, the 2013 Syrah Rodgers Creek Vineyard has a medium garnet color and notes of jasmine and lavender over a black pepper and tar cor, with fruit notes of blackberries and black raspberries. The medium-bodied palate is earthy/savory in character, with a solid frame of chewy tannins and plenty of spice layers on the finish.
Lisa Perrotti-Brown - 01/03/2017

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Wine Advocate92+/100
Co-fermented with 10% Viognier, the 2013 Syrah Rodgers Creek Vineyard has a medium garnet color and notes of jasmine and lavender over a black pepper and tar cor, with fruit notes of blackberries and black raspberries. The medium-bodied palate is earthy/savory in character, with a solid frame of chewy tannins and plenty of spice layers on the finish.
Lisa Perrotti-Brown - 01/03/2017 Read more

About this WINE

Ramey Wine Cellars

Ramey Wine Cellars

David Ramey built his reputation at such luminary wineries as Matanzas Creek and Dominus before he and his wife Carla established Ramey Wine Cellars in 1996.

From his earliest experiences in wine, David has been inspired by European styles. Having worked in France at Château Pétrus, he dedicated himself to applying the old-world techniques he absorbed to the perfectly ripe fruit of Napa and Sonoma. At a time when technical winemaking, straight out of the textbook, was the norm in California this made David something of a pioneer on the west coast. He remains one of the most influential winemakers in North America.

David and his wife Carla started small, their first two wines were Chardonnays from the Hyde and Hudson vineyards. To tell the story of their terroir David vinified each in the same fashion, leaving only the quality of the fruit to express the personality of the vineyards. This is a practice continued today across the range of Chardonnays.

In common with most Californian wineries, the majority of grapes are bought in rather than from estate-owned vines. David’s deep understanding of the region and its vineyards have ensured that he only works with great vineyards farmed by great people. His long-standing relationships allowing for a collaborative approach to get the best quality from each site and exemplify their character.

Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon play the leading roles at Ramey, with most of the Chardonnay coming from the cool Sonoma where proximity to the coast gives more exposure to the morning fogs. The Cabernet is all classic Napa. A Sonoma Syrah was added in 2004 and they have subsequently diversified the range with parcels of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir which David could not resist trying his hand at.

David believes that better farming is the key to California’s continued and growing success. They manage vineyards they lease themselves using organic methods and work hand in hand with their growers to promote sustainable and low intervention methods.

In the winery David’s approach is recognisably Burgundian. Grapes are pressed without crushing to avoid skin contact. Alcoholic fermentation takes place in barrel followed by aging on fine lees and battonage. Malolactic fermentation is allowed to happen. David’s view is that the answer to flabby over-oaked Chardonnay’s once popular with the critics is not to go 180° but to take a balanced approach. This is precisely what he has always done – making wines for critics has never been part of the mantra.

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Sonoma County

Sonoma County

North Coast's Sonoma County is California's largest AVA with 19,800 ha (2005) of vines. It has forever been the home of the meek and mild small grower as compared to the grandeur and might of neighbour Napa; more picturesque too, as much of the sandy, gravely loam land belonged to true orchards and fruit farms until the 1970s.

Sonoma Valley covers a small part of Sonoma County but its wines often outshine its illustrious neighbours in Napa County. Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon are cultivated here with much success. Sonoma Valley has long enjoyed a special place in the history of California wine. The first vineyards in the valley were planted by Franciscan monks in 1823. In 1857 Agoston Haraszthy, one of the founding fathers of California's commercial winemaking, opened here the highly successful Buena Vista Winery.

Closer to the coast are the region's top producing AVAs for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay: Russian River, Sonoma Coast and Green Valley, while the slightly warmer Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys have earned a reputation as a hotspot for Cabernet, and increasingly, Zinfandel and Merlot.

Recommended producers
Ridge, Teira, Williams & Selyem, Rochioli are definitely worth investigating.

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Syrah/Shiraz

Syrah/Shiraz

A noble black grape variety grown particularly in the Northern Rhône where it produces the great red wines of Hermitage, Cote Rôtie and Cornas, and in Australia where it produces wines of startling depth and intensity. Reasonably low yields are a crucial factor for quality as is picking at optimum ripeness. Its heartland, Hermitage and Côte Rôtie, consists of 270 hectares of steeply terraced vineyards producing wines that brim with pepper, spices, tar and black treacle when young. After 5-10 years they become smooth and velvety with pronounced fruit characteristics of damsons, raspberries, blackcurrants and loganberries.

It is now grown extensively in the Southern Rhône where it is blended with Grenache and Mourvèdre to produce the great red wines of Châteauneuf du Pape and Gigondas amongst others. Its spiritual home in Australia is the Barossa Valley, where there are plantings dating as far back as 1860. Australian Shiraz tends to be sweeter than its Northern Rhône counterpart and the best examples are redolent of new leather, dark chocolate, liquorice, and prunes and display a blackcurrant lusciousness.

South African producers such as Eben Sadie are now producing world- class Shiraz wines that represent astonishing value for money.

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