David Ramey helped design the plantation of Syrah in the Cole Creek Vineyard, in the Sonoma Coast, in 2006. About six percent of the site is Viognier, and he harvests all of this fruit together and co-ferments, as in the Northern Rhône. This vintage, the wine spent 26 months in mostly new French oak barrels and was released unfiltered in February 2017. Its fragrance mingles sweet red fruits, stone fruits, and baking spice with murmurs of rare and cured meats. The palate is a wash of dark and bright: bacon fat but also apricot, black spice but also black cherry, earth but also olive. The finish is refulgent.
It’s delicious and drinkable now, but five or more years of bottle age will burnish the shiny edges and allow the spice to season its fruit and meat. Try it with roasted beef or game, charcuterie, or aged and blue cheeses.
2014 Ramey Syrah Cole Creek Vineyard Russian River Valley
14.5% abv | $65 (sample); 135 cases made
