Sublime & Complex: 2018 Ramey Syrah Sonoma Coast

Greg Martellotto | 03 October, 2022

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Sublime & Complex: 2018 Ramey Syrah Sonoma Coast

There's a shortlist of pioneering California winemakers who have blazed their own trail, raised the bar for all, and influenced the next generation of great winemakers. David Ramey is of these rare individuals. Ramey's wines have become the benchmark for Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast. Today we have one of these unprecedented benchmarks.

Introducing the 98-point 2018 Ramey Syrah from Sonoma Coast. Wine Enthusiast tells us this wine is "sublime in texture and complex in structure" and that "this is an outstanding vintage of this wine." The only thing more impressive than the 98-point review is the modest price tag.

When you can find Northern Rhone quality Syrah with aromas of smoked meat, cracked white pepper, green olives, grapefruit pith coupled with a silky smooth and savory finish for less than $45 a bottle and a 98-point score, bringing home 6 to 12 bottles is a no-brainer.

If you're wondering how such a high-scoring wine can be had for such a comparably inexpensive price tag you need to look no further than the spectacular 2018 vintage. Wine Spectator wrote the perfect description of this flawless vintage: "a goldilocks vintage with a flawless growing season that allowed winemakers to craft impressive wines." You can't have great wine without great fruit and you can't have exceptional wine without exceptional fruit. The fruit cultivated from the 2018 harvest was the latter.

Exceptional fruit isn't all it takes to craft an exceptional bottle of wine. David Ramey's expertise in the vineyard and in the cellar is what brought these "goldilocks" conditions together. You see, before founding Ramey Wine Cellars in 1996, David helped establish a number of preeminent wineries including, Chalk Hill, Dominus Estate, and Matanzas Creek. David also learned under the tutelage of the Moueix family at the renowned Château Pétrus.

David utilizes his UC Davis graduate degree along with time-honored French winemaking methods (learned while working at Pétrus) to create wines that are rich, lush, and silky smooth. Leave it to this California icon to deliver a 98-point Syrah for under $45 a bottle. It doesn't get any better than this.