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As a respected member of the international wine community, David Ramey is frequently called upon to deliver talks, lead workshops, give interviews and write papers sharing his dynamic vision and innovative philosophy with winemakers and wine lovers around the world.
David Ramey is among the wine industry’s most well-known and admired winemakers. When it comes to chardonnay, he could be the Archbishop. After obtaining a bachelors degree in literature at UC Santa Cruz, he decided, instead of pursuing a teaching…
The invitation from David Ramey was one that I couldn’t resist. “We’ll taste my Ritchie and Hyde Vineyard Chardonnays as far back as I still have bottles. And if we find a tired bottle, I’ll open more until we get a good one,” he said. “My Chardonnays need time in the cellar, and none of them should be over the hill, even at age 15. If we find a bad bottle, but then the next one is full of life, the problem has to be the cork. That’s the only variable.
– Stephen Tanzer, vinous, July 26, 2017
“I am a horribly stingy scorer. For a young, non-classic wine to get 18 points out of 20 from me is embarrassingly rare. So today’s wine really is exceptional in my view….”
– Jancis Robinson, August 11, 2017
“As always, my tasting with David Ramey covered a wide range of wines from both Sonoma and Napa counties….”
— Antonio Galloni, Vinous, March 2017
Great American Winery: Ramey Wine Cellars | Sonoma, California
– By
Ramey Wine Cellars | Reviews of Current and Future Release, 2015-2016
– by Ryan Koczara & Johannes Marlena
California Cabernet 2012: Top 10
– including our 2012 Pedregal Vineyards Cabernet
by Linda Murphy
Best Wines of the Year 2015 | White Wines of the Year
– by Charles Olken & Stephen Eliot
“It’s hard to know where to begin with these wines from David Ramey, as there are so many highlights…”
Top 100 Wines of 2015
– including our 2012 Ramey Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay and 2012 Rodgers Creek Syrah
by Virginie Boone & Linda Murphy
Thursday, October 15, 2015 | Life | Food & Drink | On Wine | by Lettie Teague
Click here to read the full story.
Every year, at the Wine Spectator Wine Experience, four chefs at the top of their game prepare dishes for a crowd of wine lovers. Then, they face off against Wine Spectator's Thomas Matthews in a battle of wits and palates to see who can pick the best wine matches. In this video, Emeril Lagasse presents cured yellowfin tuna on a buttermilk biscuit, while Eric Ripert tries his hand with the wine, including the 2012 Ramey Chardonnay, Russian River Valley.
Learn which match worked best and why, as Danny Meyer, Ripert and José Andrés also join in the fun.
Watch the video.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015 | FOOD | Wine School | by Eric Asimov
Click here to read the full story.
March 2015 | by Stephen Brooks
Click here to read the whole story.
Thursday, February 26, 2015 | FOOD | Wine School | by Eric Asimov
Click here to read the full story.
"It's hard to know where to start with this lineup, as David Ramey does so many things so well. The 2012 Chardonnays are beautiful, expressive and ready to go. This year sees the addition of a new Chardonnay, from Woolsey Road, a site farmed by Martinelli that replaces the Hudson in the lineup. Ramey also seems to have gotten the best of the 2012 and 2013 vintages with his Cabernet Sauvignons and Cabernet-based reds. The 2012s will drink well early, yet have the stuffing to age, while the 2013 are prototypical vins de garde, with all of the dark fruit and structure of this great vintage. Both the Chardonnays and Cabernets reflect a very Francophile sensibility. The Syrahs are a bit different, as they are quite explosive and intense, much like the Cabernets. It's pretty hard to go wrong with anything in this superb range. Best of all, it looks like Ramey's children will soon be joining the family business, which means the future is in good hands."
– Antonio Galloni, Vinous, February 2015
Vinography interview with David Ramey
– by Alder Yarrow
February 2015
David Ramey has one of California’s most impressive winemaker résumés and is a member of the small tribe of scholar-winemakers who systematically research and experiment how to make better wine.
Vineyard & Winery Management Magazine, November 2014
"David Ramey is both an artist and a craftsman, helping clients reach new heights in terms of quality and manage quantity, all while consistenly producing wines of great beauty and complexity under his own name," said wine writer Virginie Boone. "The fact that he's been doing this for so long and just keeps getting better at it is incredibly admirable and worthy of respect."
Click here to read the full article on the "20 Most Admired Winemakers in North America".
The Gray Report, by W. Blake Gray
David Ramey has been a major figure in California wine for several decades. After graduating from UC Davis, he did a stint at Château Pétrus in Bordeaux and worked at Matanzas Creek, Chalk Hill, Dominus Estate and Rudd Estate before going out on his own with Ramey Wine Cellars in 2002. I think of him as a Chardonnay specialist, making wines with the generosity of California fruit yet without going overboard. But he has also spent a lot of his career making Cabernet. My wife and I met David and his wife Carla for lunch at Bistro Ralph, their favorite Healdsburg restaurant, and talked over a delicious bottle of 2005 Ramey Hyde Vineyard Carneros Chardonnay.
Some of the wines made in Napa Valley, California are often compared to those from Bordeaux. Top wineries in the area can fetch exorbitant prices at auctions for their Bordeaux-style cabernets. Across the Mayacamas mountain range is the Sonoma Valley, which, in the past, was considered the poorer cousin to Napa. This has changed, as wine producers have discovered the quality potential of Sonoma.
David Ramey, winemaker and proprietor, shoveled his first grapes in 1978, after attending UC Santa Cruz and then later to Davis for a masters in enology.
Robb Report Magazine's "FrontRunners: Cellar Notes"
by Brett Anderson, May 2014
Well Placed
Owing to the concept of the rock-star winemaker, those who imbibe are more apt to recognize the name of the individual in charge of the winery than the name of the place where the grapes were grown. Still, location is everything in the world of fine wine, as David Ramey, founder and winemaker at Ramey Wine Cellars, illustrates with his Ramey 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Pedregal Vineyard ($185, www.rameywine.com), which comes from a vineyard on the eastern slopes of Oakville. “I increasingly think of [Oakville] as the Pauillac of Napa Valley, because of the concentration of great wines which derive from there,” says Ramey. The vineyard’s name is Spanish for “rocky,” and this aspect of the site is reflected in the intense mineral core, which is lightened by lyrical essences of blackberry, anise, cola, and rose petals.
– Click here to see more
"David Ramey is recognized as belonging to a short list of pioneers who helped increase the quality and profile of California wine."
The HoseMaster Visits Ramey Wine Cellars
Posted: 10 Mar 2014 08:00 AM PDT
The first time I met David Ramey, it was 1987, and I was attending the Sonoma County Wine Auction. In those days, the Sonoma Auction was attempting to emulate the Napa Valley Auction, with winery dinners and lunches, a barrel tasting, and a barrel auction. It was something of a four-day drunken brawl for me. I was still pretty new to the wine business. I’d studied wine for many years, but had just begun to work full-time in the business. Remarkably, I don’t think I understood how hard wine…
Antonio Galloni's Vinous
"Sonoma and Beyond: New Releases -Part 1", February 2014
"David Ramey doesn't get anywhere near the attention he deserves. Today, it seems the focus is on extremes as the wine world is increasingly about a polarization of so-called 'very ripe' wines versus the more 'restrained' style. Ramey's wines are neither, but rather bring together the best of both schools of thought. The Chardonnays combine distinctly Californian expressions of site with Burgundian concepts of aging where the wines spend a full 18 months in barrel, something that is rarely seen in this country. The results speak for themselves. These are among the very best Chardonnays being made in California. The Syrahs and Cabernets present super-rich textures backed up by tons of structure. As for the reds, well, they are terrific. Not surprisingly, the 2010s have shut down a bit post-bottling. The 2011s, from a very difficult vintage in which Ramey lost a full 50% of his crop, are among the wines of that vintage. The 2012s show plenty of promise in the racy, sexy style of the year. Best of all, prices remain exceedingly fair by California standards."
Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate, #210
December 2013
"David Ramey has long had one of the most impressive resumes for any California winemaker. He worked at Chateau Petrus in Bordeaux and for Christian Moueix at Dominus. He also consulted and worked for a number of high end Napa Valley wineries. Of course, his first love is Ramey Wine Cellars, and he has built an extensive empire of Chardonnays, Cabernet Sauvignons and more recently Syrahs as well as a tiny quantity of Pinot Noir (talk about going to the dark side)…"
It is Five O’Clock Somewhere and welcome to Meet your Maker. Join us for a spontaneous conversation while wine or other beverages are free flowing as we explore the opinions, passions and pastimes of three of today’s top tastemakers in 20 minutes.
Tonight: Aaron Pott POTT WINE, Dave Ramey RAMEY WINE CELLARS, and Helen Keplinger KEPLINGER WINES
Sponsored by 55 Degrees – Premiere Wine Storage in the Heart of Napa Valley.
Tom Cannavan's wine-pages.com
June 2013
"David's approach to winemaking leans on a European model."
Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar
Issue 170, November 2013
– Howard Kaplan
"As it always does, our 2013 version of "California's Finest Chardonnays" showcased a stellar group of chardonnays representing the state of the art from the Golden State. The premise behind this blind tasting was simple. We gathered 14 chardonnays released within the past few years that were loved by the wine critics and/or were long-time favorites of EWS."
Peg Melnik
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
September 24, 2013
"Healdsburg vintner and wine consultand David Ramey in know for challenging the staus quo."
Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate, #206
April 2013
"Once again, I tasted an amazing range of wines with David Ramey…In my mind, Ramey is one of the top wineries in the United States. Readers who aren’t familiar with these wines owe it to themselves to check them out."
The Wall Street Journal
April 5, 2013
California's versatile white-wine grape is escaping from its syrupy reputation with lighter, brighter varieties untouched by oak, says Lettie Teague.
Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar
Issue 10138, April 2013
– Howard Kaplan
"For this blind tasting, the EWS team assembled 13 of the most successful cabernets from the 2009 vintage for our tasting pleasure and intellectual scrutiny. All 13 of these wines came with great reviews and high ratings from the wine press."
WineBusiness.com
January 29, 2013
David Ramey, owner of Ramey Wine Cellars in Healdsburg, California was elected Chair of Family Winemakers of California for 2013.
International Wine Review Blog
July 10, 2012
David Ramey has one of California’s most impressive winemaker resumés and is a member of the small tribe of scholar-winemakers who systematically research and experiment how to make better wine.
Wine Spectator
April 5, 2012
California Chardonnay detractors were legion in recent years, but the versatile grape is still king of the hill
Huffington Post
July 27, 2012
Chardonnay is a perfect wine to pair with summer and there's nothing quite like a high-quality luxury selection!
The Wall Street Journal
June 18, 2011
David Ramey was driving on a dusty road through the land of tequila and mezcal when he had what he describes as his "coup de foudre"—otherwise known as his road-to-Mexicali moment—and realized, improbably, that he wanted to make wine.
Wine Spectator
October 31, 2009
David Ramey has helped to shape California winemaking for nearly three decades
Sunset Magazine's Western Wine Awards
September 2008
2008 Winemaker of the Year
DAVID RAMEY
He's worked at Chateau Pétrus (the world's most expensive Bordeaux), Dominus, and Rudd. Now, in Healdsburg, Ramey's making his own Chardonnays and Cabernets every bit their equal. And through his consulting, he's improving hundreds of thousands of cases of West Coast wine.
Wine Geeks
By Sunny Brown
David Ramey is a sharp guy. He knows more about the process of fermenting wine than anyone I have ever met.
Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate, #174
Dec 2007
"One of Northern California’s most successful winemakers/consultants, David Ramey’s personal winery continues to go from strength to strength. Ramey has had the best of both worlds, working in Bordeaux for the Moueix family, and in California at Dominus, Chalk Hill, and Rudd Estate. Ramey has two hierarchies of Chardonnays, his generic appellations as well as his single vineyard cuvees."
Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate
EWS Blind Tasting
April 10, 2007
"Once again we say that dollar for dollar, nobody makes more delicious Chardonnay in California than David Ramey,"
June 7, 2005
David Ramey: In search of California terroir
Which renowned winemaker began his career as assistant to Zelma Long at Simi in the 1980s? Need another clue? The man in question has also been in charge of winemaking at Matanzas Creek, Chalk Hill, Dominus and Rudd, some of California's most prestigious estates
November 8, 2003
He’s been making some of California's best wines for more than two decades, and at last he’s got his own winery. How does David Ramey make his Cabs and Chards so big, yet so full of finesse? Here he is. Let’s ask him…
Wine Spectator
March 23, 2002
David Ramey, a highly regarded winemaker whose wines have frequently appeared in Wine Spectator's Top 100, has left Rudd Estate in Napa Valley to concentrate on his own label.
January/February 2001
“Winemaker of the Year”
We are pleased to name David Ramey RESTAURANT WINE© Winemaker of the Year award for 2001.
Wine Spectator
January 31, 1999
The Master's Touch David Ramey's New Blockbuster California Chardonnay He's been a winemaker for 20 years, has placed several wines in Wine Spectator 's Top 100, and now, finally, David Ramey has his name on the front label.
