RAMEY CELLARS
I am truly grateful to Claire for spending so much time with me, having a true heart-to-heart discussion of the whole industry, and especially for digging a number of treasures out for us to taste together. I also asked her my double-ended question. The one thing she’d say to her 20-years-younger self would be “you’re not guaranteed to figure anything out with age–process is not a finish line, it’s a journey” She’d hope that if her 20-years-from-now self came back to talk to her today, that she heard she was happy that the trust she had in herself was justified.
2021 Ramey Charles Chard
Martinelli-owned vineyard, it’s always been a part of the overall blend. 1982 plantings, 18-20 months in 25% new, they use Taransaud and Francois Freres for this. Shortbread a little, dips of cumin and pear. Oak is here, but there is plenty of creamy pear and maybe some citrus and plantain too. Plenty going on even at this early stage.
2009 Ramey Platt Chard
23.7 Brix, likely over 50% new. Back then they were picking fairly ripe. Hyde’s old Wente clones for this. intoxicating bouquet–an evocative wealth of tropical fruit and honey. Still has acid, still has some oak bypass, but the fruit is in ascendancy. Both Claire and I get beeswax here. This does fade in the glass a little with time and might just be starting on the downside of things, though still with plenty of time.
2009 Ramey Hudson Chard
Pick time for this was Sept 9-19 and checked in at, I believe, 25 Brix and about 15% converted. Also old wente. On the nose, it starts out a bit reductive with ginger and flint, and maybe some idea of wet clay? Toast too. This curls around the mouth really nicely–structured, plenty of focus, and loses no verve with glass time—actually comes more into focus, I think. Fascinating to try these side by side!
2002 Ramey Hudson Chard
So how about this? a 22 year old Chard! Caramel, honeycomb, sweet apple and orange blossom all make their way into the sniffer. This is definitely tertiary now, but it sits nicely in the midpalate and runs down the throat. Backbreathe of caramel and honey.
Claire reports that they’ve been affected by the red blotch blight/virus as well. It’s clearly a problem to track in Napa.
2019 Ramey Rodgers Creek Syrah
I’ve had PN from here but not Syrah to my knowledge. 10-12% of viognier in the vineyard too, checked in at 23.9 brix. 2 years in 77% new oak. Immediate sultriness–chocolate and espresso. Meats and a very tiny menthol element come to the tongue, lots of carry. Balance and not overbearing.
2020 Ramey Template Red
83% merlot and 17% cab, the merlot is from Mt. Veeder and the Cab from Oak Knoll. This was picked before the fires, the vineyard got lightly singed during the fires. Tobacco and cigar thing to me, Claire notes it encapsulates the full stress of the vintage. Open fruit, plum and bing cherry, tannins are fairly gentle for this youngster. Not a vin de garde by any means, but it’s authentic-tasting to me, expressive.
I asked Claire what excites her these days–she said that every vintage and year is different and calls out having friendships with the sites for their wines. 20,000 cases is the floor for total production, SVDs are 200-900 range.
2005 Ramey Cab
Cooler vintage, their first vintage of Napa cab. Mostly valley floor fruit. Evolved a little, riper plum and cherry here in aroma. (2020 is their last vintage of Napa Cab). There’s a type of ripe softness to still-expressive red and purple fruit.
2003 Ramey Diamond Mountain Cab
Super-grateful to try this, as there’s only about a case left. This was about their 5th or 6th year making cab. Really beautiful nose, violets, red berries, tiny little bit of clove. And just wow. It’s truly marvelicious to taste, absolutely captures complexity and elegance in a glass. It is a for-sure reward for leaving some of these to age. Truly stunning wine.
BOHEME
I was happy to have a chance to see Kurt Beitling, who I had met previously at FallTacular in the past. This time, we had a couple hours to really get into things and he did me the exceptional favour of driving me out to his and other vineyards. This is my 7th or so trip into the area and I’ve never spent any time in Occidental. It was great to get to see where Occidental Ridge, Thieriot, Summa and his own vineyard sites of Stuller, English Hill, Taylor Lane and Taylor Ridge are and what they look like. Some breathtaking places here. Boheme is named for Bohemia road in Occidental. Kurt comes from a long farming heritage. He thinks often in terms of a colour palette, like an artist, and he likens some of what he does to piano playing (which I brought up) in terms of a type of “muscle memory” piece. There is still the sense of always thinking about the vines, fermentation, etc. He does still love what he does and has built a good team to help with the other facets of a wine business.
When I asked Kurt what he’d tell his 20-years-ago self, he would tell that person not to ever take making wine for granted—be intentional about your approach and the work you do. If Kurt from 20 years from now came back, the one thing he’d want to hear is that he kept listening to his core and instincts.
He’s at about 2500 cases now.
2021 Boheme Taylor Ridge Chard
05 was his first vintage for Chard. Oct 11 pick from Wente clones. 16 months in 10% new oak, Damy barrels and Francois Freres. Hints of apple blossom mingle with sweet lemon and a dab of gingerbread. Real focus dans la bouche, core of identity and character with yellow fruit in the main role. 14.5%. this does remind me of the Rivers-Marie Thieriot in some ways.
2021 Boheme Taylor Road PN
Smells lifted, sort of potpourri nuance. Maraschino cherry and some crabapple. Palate has more precise strawberry and raspberry. Uses Remond and Francois Freres for barrels, and he’s bringing some Taransaud and Damy online. 16 months for all. A very pretty wine already.
2021 Boheme English Hill PN
Southmost vineyard, the first one they bring in. 115, 667,VR selection, calera and a little suitcase make up the clonal blend. Tighter, berry-driven nose, rhubarb also here for me. Kurt identifies fennel and tomato leaf. There is polish to come, youthful but already composed. Kimono is hiding dark berry fruit. 33% whole cluster.
2021 Boheme Stuller PN
darker, rootier wine for me, a little red licorice to go with earth and forest. Another wine that presents quite poised. Kirsch and raspberry. Tight but also pretty and should be long-lived (Kurt sees his wines easily making it out 10 years or more).
I wish I’d had a recorder on, I loved the organic discussion we had. Thanks so much, Kurt!
Kwa Heri
Mike