2015 Ramey Wine Cellars Syrah Cole Creek Vineyard Russian River Valley 750 ml

David Ramey is one of the best-known winemakers in California. Trained at Bordeaux icon Château Petrus, he’s world-famous for his Chardonnays and Cabernets. Yet a few of the most astute collectors we know say they stockpile his explosive Syrahs more aggressively than anything else. 

In the magnificent 2015 vintage, he made just 147 cases of this single-site 2015 Ramey Syrah. From the low-yielding, gravelly, clay-loam soil of the Cole Creek Vineyard in Russian River Valley, it’s as dark and deep as the ocean floor—a peppery, granite-inflected homage to the Northern Rhône. 

Thanks to the warmth of the Russian River Valley balanced with the coolness of the Cole Creek Vineyard, this Syrah is California’s answer to Côte-Rôtie. Ramey borrows the Northern Rhône’s elegance, blending Syrah with a touch of Viognier to deepen the wine’s floral aromatics, just as top estates do in that famed appellation.

But he supercharges it with West Coast energy and ripeness, thanks in part to an early vintage that resulted in a tiny crop of BB-sized berries packed with intense flavor. A quarter of the grapes were fermented whole-cluster, stiffening the tannins and contributing herbal notes, before Ramey bulked the whole package up with 26 months in 43% new French oak.

We had the privilege of tasting this Syrah with Ramey in his cellars a few years ago, when the wine was still tight and falling into place. Even then, we wrote in our notes: “Come back to this wine in 5+ years—it will be unstoppable.”