Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley is spicy and lifted with cinnamon and dried roses, fresh with wild raspberry fruit and blood orange. The palate is medium-bodied and softly textured, characterized by elegance and finesse. Drink over the next 10 or so years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley has a medium ruby color and aromas of cranberries, pomegranate and burnt orange peel with wafts of woodsmoke and dusty earth. Medium-bodied, soft and silty, it has a concentrated core of fragrant red fruit and a long finish layered with spicy accents. This 2018 vintage offers exceptional quality at an appellation level.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2021 Ramey Russian River Valley Pinot Noir is rich and tangy on the palate. TASTING NOTES: This wine offers aromas and flavors of rustic spices, dried earthiness, and bright red fruits. Pair it with pan-fried lamb chops. (Tasted: May 11, 2023, San Francisco, CA)
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Tasting Panel
After being tank-fermented with native yeast (25% whole cluster) and undergoing secondary malolactic fermentation in barrel, this wine aged sur le for 13 months in (39% new) French barrels with monthly batonnage. Bright, high-toned cranberry melds with red-tea tannins and kola nut before rose petal and earth forge a path to a cherry-jam finish.
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Wine Spectator
Well-framed, with rich savoriness to the dried cherry and berry flavors. The juicy finish shows mineral and cooking spice notes that linger with forest floor accents.
David Ramey is among a distinguished group of pioneering American vintners who revolutionized modern-day winemaking and elevated California to the forefront of the international wine community. Hailed as “Professor Chardonnay” by Wine Spectator, David's groundbreaking work with indigenous yeasts, sur lies aging and malolactic and barrel fermentation yielded a new California Chardonnay style that was richer, more lush and silky smooth. Ramey Wine Cellars crafts exceptional expressions of Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Pinot Noir from top vineyards in Sonoma and Napa.
After earning a graduate degree at UC Davis, with his thesis on how aromas evolve in wine, David Ramey pursued a hands-on education in Old World winemaking traditions. He worked at Chateau Pétrus and would later apply these time-honored methods to California’s premier vineyards. In California, David led winemaking for Matanzas Creek, Chalk Hill, Dominus Estate and Rudd Estate. In 1996, David and his wife Carla founded Ramey Wine Cellars with the vision of crafting classically styled, elegant and balanced wines that age beautifully.
Still exclusively owned by the Rameys, the next generation, Claire and Alan Ramey, became co-presidents of the winery in 2021. Claire and Alan began working at the winery in 2013 and have been cross-trained in all aspects of winery operations. Decanter greeted the news of Ramey’s status as a multigenerational winery by saying: "its reputation as a touchstone for world-class Chardonnay remains firmly in place… The Ramey family is expected to go from strength to strength." The vision is unwavering: to make classic wines from Sonoma and Napa that belong amongst the world's best. Tastings are offered by appointment in Healdsburg.
While the Russian River Valley is a large appellation with multiple climate zones and soil types, it is best known for cool-climate varieties, with Pinot Noir as the most celebrated. The grapes benefit from a reliable late afternoon flow of Pacific Ocean fog through the Petaluma Gap and along the Russian River Valley that ensures slow and steady ripening and the preservation of grape acidity. Today many of California’s most highly regarded Pinot Noir vineyards are in the Russian River Valley, along with its sub-appellation, Green Valley.
Historically Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs had bright red fruit and delicate earthy, mineral notes. But changes in viticultural and winemaking practices have led to stylistic changes in some of the region’s wines. Adjustments to canopy management, among other techniques, have resulted in riper fruit and bolder wines as well. These show flavors of black cherry, blackberry, cola, spice and darker, loamy earth tones, accenting traditional Pinot Noir notes of strawberry, raspberry and light cherry.