Our second vintage of Syrah from a vineyard belonging to Gary and OJ Shansby, up Sonoma Mountain behind the Durrell Vineyard and Sonoma-Cutrer’s Les Pierres Vineyard. Working with our viticulturist Daniel Roberts, we designed this vineyard from the ground up. We included 5% Viognier in the planting, and this wine was co-fermented with it, along with a portion of whole clusters and stems. Those for whom we’ve sampled this wine have uniformly commented on how much Rhone-like Syrah character it shows, coupled with the ripeness of California’s golden climate.

Highlighted Reviews: 2005 Vintage

91  Steven Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar May/June
Deep ruby. Pungently aromatic, with textbook syrah aromas of cassis, smoky bacon, graphite, violet and olive. Full and deep in dark berry flavors but there's impressive energy, too. Spice notes build on the finish, adding even greater complexity. This is livelier than the 2004 version.

93-95  Robert M. Parker Jr.'s The Wine Advocate December 2007
Even better is the spectacular 2005 Syrah which, like its predecessor, was co-fermented with 5% Viognier. The good news is that there are 540 cases. Ramey used around 20% whole stems in the winemaking, and aged it in one-year-old Francois Freres except for a small percentage that were new. This black wine shows notes of tapenade, acacia flowers, wonderful, sweet, rich blackberry fruit, and a super finish. It is concentrated and has obvious but sweet tannins. This is a stunner that should drink well for a decade or more.

Highlighted Reviews: 2004 Vintage

90  Steven Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar May/June 2006
Ramey’s first syrah comes from a vineyard in the northwest corner of the Carneros appellation; includes 5% co-fermented Viognier. Saturated ruby. Varietally accurate aromas of dark raspberry, chocolate, smoked meat and brown spice. Dense, big and rich if a bit youthfully unrefined. Highly concentrated berry flavors complicated by brown spices and suggestions of coffee and chocolate liqueur. Finishes with big, broad tannins. A very strong first effort.

90   Robert M. Parker Jr.'s The Wine Advocate 12-22-06
David Ramey has started to make some very impressive Syrahs although admittedly they are very limited in production. There are less than 200 cases of the 2004 Syrah which is showing better than last year. Meaty, blackberry, and cassis notes interwoven with some smoke and underbrush arise from this inky purple-colored wine. It is peppery, full-bodied, with hints of tapenade and spice. It is very French, but the ripeness is clearly Californian. This wine should drink well for 7-8 years.

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