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Continuation of interview with David
Ramey
APJ: What are you trying to achieve here? DR: Balance, harmony...deliciousness. APJ: And what would you say you’re trying to avoid? DR: Heaviness, coarseness, clumsiness. APJ: You’ve got a lot of structure here for such a ripe vintage as 2001. How do you achieve that? Do you acidify your whites at all? DR: I’ve found that, ideally, good vineyard sites don’t require acidification. Hyde doesn’t require it. But I will acidify if necessary -- only the juice. If you do that right, you never need to acidify the wine. APJ: You don’t seem to be afraid of alcohol. These are plenty big. DR: That’s right and I think it’s a misconception that great
Burgundy doesn’t achieve these alcohol levels. White Burgundy will get
up to 15% alcohol -- in great years. And why should we care about the average
year in Burgundy? We should care only about the great years and the great
sites. Part 3. "Man makes wine, APJ: The wines are all very clear. Did you do a polishing filtration? DR: No, they’re all unfiltered. I know there’s a non-interventionist trend that’s resulting in low-acidity, cloudy wines. But that's not necessary -- these wines are all natural yeast, sur lees, unfiltered. APJ: How often do you stir the lees? DR: We stir the lees weekly, between the finish of primary and the finish of malolactic fermentation. APJ: And how long does that usually take? DR: Well, we don’t innoculate for malo [Editorial note: this means he doesn’t add yeast to trigger the malolactic fermentation], so it often doesn’t happen until spring or even summer. As a result, the wines could receive batonnage for six to eight months. APJ: So how do you clarify them? DR: The polished look comes not from filtering, but from fining right before bottling. APJ: Can you explain for our readers what that involves? So much is being said about filtering these days, and hardly anyone gets into the pros and cons of fining. DR: Well, filtration is a modern phenomenon, but fining has been done for centuries. We use either milk casein or isinglass. The protein is positively charged -- and the tannins in the wine are negatively charged. So if you do it correctly, it takes out both the solids and the excess tannins. That means you get a silky texture on the wine. APJ: That’s a fascinating point. The way it’s usually discussed when it’s mentioned at all, you’d think fining was just a cosmetic thing. DR: You know, there’s an old saying -- man makes wine, God makes vinegar. There is a role for the winemaker to intervene and do positive things! APJ: How about your oak program? [Editorial note: I noticed an unusual richness of mineral flavors in these Chards and wondered if that might be connected with less new oak.] How long do the wines stay in barrel, and how much is new? DR: The appellation wines get 35% to 40% new oak and about a year in barrel. The single-vineyard wines receive 65% to 75% new oak and spend 20 to 21 months in barrel. I haven’t seen the need to use 100% new oak so far. APJ: What do you do for fun when you’re not making wine? DR: Hmm. I like to goof off with my kids. I like eating and drinking! I like cooking. Part 4. "Chardonnay is the red wine of whites" APJ: What got you so focused on Chardonnay? DR: It’s the major white grape in California. Chardonnay has more flavor, texture, complexity, more going on. I know there’s a lot of anti-Chardonnay talk these days. But that's silly. I mean, Sauvignon Blanc is great -- but you never open a second bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, do you? APJ: [laughs] Can't say I have very often! DR: But with the right menu, you can open three different Chardonnays -- you can build up. Chardonnay is the red wine of whites. APJ: You've certainly got your own style of Chardonnay. Very different from Kistler, for example, which I also happen to love. DR: A critic once told me "Kistler tastes like a Boterro, compared to Ramey, which tastes like a Modigliani." I like that comparison. That's the intent. I'd like to find a Modigliani print to put up there on the wall. Part 5. Now about those reds... Again, these are sensational. Prices for the single vineyard cuvées aren't cheap, but they may be less than what you're paying for similar (or lesser) quality -- and if you're hunting down great 2001s for your cellar, the Jericho Canyon is a must. Everything's relative when you're wine-crazed. If you paid $100 for the 2000 Rudd Jericho Canyon, maybe you'd agree that $80 for the 2001 Ramey Jericho Canyon is a decent deal:
APJ: So where is Jericho Canyon? DR: It's northeast of Calistoga, at the base of Mt. St. Helena and the Palisades. It was planted around 1990-91. APJ: I wish my knowledge of that area was a little more precise. Anywhere near Château Montelena? DR: Close. It's east of there, up the Lawley Toll Road. APJ: Rudd bought their grapes in 2000, right? DR: Right. I found the vineyard for Rudd and made their Jericho Canyon wine for 3 years. Now it's the same winemaker, same vineyard, different label. APJ: You know, you made some terrific wines for Rudd, in the toughest vintages of the decade. Would you call 2000 tougher than 1998? DR: Similar, I guess. And 1999 wasn't that easy either! I'd say the 1999s are really vins de garde. The 1998s are friendlier, and the 2000s are drinking very well right now. APJ: How long do you think you could you cellar your 2001s? DR: Well, if I had to point, I'd say 10 years for the Claret, 20 years for the Diamond Mountain and 30 years for the Jericho. APJ: I know some of my readers will want to pull a cork as soon as they get their stash. How soon could I open the Jericho and really enjoy it? DR: I'd drink a bottle right away--within two months--and see for
yourself. The deal with supple tannins is that, like the '82 Bordeaux
vintage, it's the quality of the tannins, not the quantity, which creates
the suppleness. In fact, the 2001 Jericho is the most tannic wine I've
ever bottled -- yet it tastes great now, especially with meat of any sort
or cheddar-type cheese. APJ: Would you decant it? DR: Yes, I'd do so an hour or even right before service, since it's a young wine and will benefit from being opened up. In addition, as it's both unfined and unfiltered, you may find a small amount of sediment which would be good to leave behind. APJ: Tell me about the Diamond Mountain wine. How old are the vines? DR: They're young vines. This is their fourth leaf, first harvest. Part 6. Okay, how did you do it? APJ: It's got tannin, this is a whole lot juicier than young reds from Diamond Creek. What are you doing here? DR: Picking ripe, basically. It is a very tannic wine, but the ripeness makes them round and supple. APJ: And then what do you do? DR: It's the same basic vinification for both the Diamond Mountain and the Jericho Canyon. One important step is that there's no press wine in either of them. Don't need it -- they're naturally dark. These grapes give everything up so easily! So the press wine goes into the Claret. APJ: And then? DR: Let's see. Cold soak, natural yeast. Then it heats up and we pump over for about 2-3 weeks. You don't need to push it with these grapes. You get all the fruit pretty easily. APJ: And what goes into the Claret besides the press wine? Kind of unusual to save the press wine for that. DR: The Claret gets the declassified free run, plus all the press wine. Yes, the old way would have been to save the press wine for the good stuff. APJ: How much new oak did you use? DR: The 2001 Jericho was aged in 50% new Taransaud oak. The Diamond Mountain got 40% new oak, same type. The 2001 Claret received no new oak -- the barrels were two to four years old -- but it spent the same time in barrel. APJ: Before we wrap up, what would you say is being done WRONG with California red wine? DR: At the high end, I don't have much criticism. I think Bob Parker has been a very good influence on red wines -- he's spot on. There was an Atlantic Monthly article that celebrated Parker for breaking the Bordeaux cartel. I think that's right. What he's done is shine a spotlight on wines with real substance and real lushness. That's very valuable. For more information about Ramey wines, |
