INSIDER CASE PRICE $480.00 ($40.00 per bottle) with free shipping
Let’s face it. David Ramey knows a fair bit about making wine. From his earliest days establishing Matanzas Creek as the Sonoma County destination for Sauvignon Blanc and cementing Chalk Hill’s reputation as one of the country’s preeminent Chardonnay producers, to stints making big reds at both Dominus and Rudd Estate, David has established a track record of excellence as enviable as any winemaker’s in the country. And, after establishing Ramey Wine Cellars in 1996 with his wife Carla, he’s managed to parlay those early relationships into sources for some of the best wine grapes in California. With names like Platt in Freestone, Ritchie and Rochioli in the Russian River Valley and Hyde and Hudson in Los Carneros already mainstays of Ramey’s Chardonnay portfolio, he also makes two over-achieving blends featuring these vineyards and others like Martinelli and Dutton. David is now taking it easy as his kids Claire and Alan now run the joint. David says they’re chips off the old block and, if anything, are making better wine that him!
The flagship here is the Ramey Russian River Valley Chardonnay. Comprised of fruit from the Rameys’ own estate vineyard as well as a who’s-who of those other Russian River Valley superstar sites, it’s a masterpiece of understatement with a beautifully elegant, silky palate and a mélange of quince, pear, wintergreen, skinned nut and lemon crème brûlée aromatics. Davi traditionally ferments naturally and keeps the new wood on this cuvée dialed back to around 10%, so the barrel regimen adds a bit of texture and weight to the wine without any heavy wood tannins or vanilla. But that doesn’t mean it’s light! Anything but!
And while we hate touting a wine by telling you what it’s not, the Ramey Russian River Chardonnay is really a beautiful wine that we think offers up an extraordinary amount of pleasure for a very reasonable price. We remember the 2022 version of this wine was the Wine Spectator’s #10 ‘Wine of the Year’, but we like the raciness and verve of the 2024 even more. Our advice is to get some before it gets hard to get!
Very highly recommended.
Wine Spectator, 95 points: Delicate but not short on detail, with crisp apple, pear and citrus flavors that expand into a complicated mix of lemon sorbet, ripe pear, kiwifruit and quince. Offers details of sesame seed and lemon thyme, with whiffs of sage and fennel seed that provide plenty of complexity on the long finish. A vibrant thread of acidity keeps the flavors fresh and in focus. Drink now through 2039.
James Suckling, 94 points: Pretty, elegant and sleek, offering subtle pear, citrus, toasted-almond and brown-butter accents. Medium-bodied and nicely balanced, showcasing green-apple, lemon-zest and subtle vanilla-bean flavors that linger in the finish. Drink now or hold.
Jeb Dunnuck, 94 points: A bright yellow/silver-toned color, the 2024 Chardonnay Russian River Valley is attractive and floral with restraint and has a pithy chalkiness to its texture, with notes of white peach, white pepper, and youthful reduction on the nose, alongside melon rind and crushed stones. It will age well over the coming 20 years and probably be even better than the 2006. Drink 2026-2046.
