2017 Ramey 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 made his name in Napa at Dominus, Rudd Estate, and Chalk Hill, and is world-famous for his Chardonnays and Cabernets.

But the most astute collectors we know stockpile his explosive Syrahs more aggressively than anything else. 

In 2017, Ramey made not even 150 cases of this single-site 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. 

Cole Creek is one of just two sites that Ramey taps for his Sonoma Coast Syrah, and his ‘17 earned a staggering 95 points from Wine Enthusiast. With such a minute production—about 1/6 of his Sonoma Coast bottling—this wine didn’t get scored, but anyone who gets a taste will recognize one of the finest Syrahs made in California. 

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 115 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 28 months in new French oak.