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Tag: David Ramey

Alex MacGregor, a former bartender, is the head winemaker at Saracina Vineyards. No, his actual skin tone does not veer toward magenta.

Alex MacGregor and Saracina: An Unfinished Novel of Craft and Passion

May 10, 2021 / / 0 Comments

I love to talk about wine with people who share my passion for it. We open bottles, we trade stories about travel and soil types, terroir and residual sugar, and we talk of taste and food and restaurants. We recommend wines to one another, we drink, and we learn a lot.

In Wine Talk, I introduce you to friends, acquaintances, and people I meet as I make my way around the world, individuals who love wine as much as I do, who live to taste, who farm and make wine. You’ll appreciate their insight, and I hope you’ll learn something from them as well. 

It was a good virtual tasting, the one with Saracina Vineyards in which I participated back in early April. We opened a few bottles, including a 2019 unoaked Chardonnay that I liked very much, and the conversation was witty and engaging.

Alex MacGregor, the winemaker at the Mendocino County-based estate, a man I had never met before the tasting, is now someone with whom I want to share a table, a table reserved for a long meal, because the conversation would, I am confident, be a wide-ranging, eclectic, gratifying adventure. And the wines we open would be just as moving.

MacGregor is a fine conversationalist, an individual who knows how to convey a lot without relying on the feeble crutch of logorrhea. (In addition, David Ramey had a hand in teaching him winemaking, so there’s that.)

He’s a Canadian, and he fell into wine while working at a restaurant in Toronto, one with a stellar list. (His career in the Canadian city included stints at Olivier’s Bistro and Le Select Bistro; he also worked under Héctor Vergara, Canada’s only Master of Wine at the time.) And though he hails from Canada, Mendocino is his home, the land in which he thrives. He made his way to California in 1989 and took a job as an enologist in the Dry Creek Valley. In 2001, John Fetzer and Patty Rock founded Saracina Vineyards, and MacGregor was hired as the first winemaker there (Ramey was consulting with Saracina at the time).

The entrance to Saracina Ranch, in Mendocino County, is a welcoming sight.

MacGregor’s enthusiasm and passion for old vines and family-owned estates is palpable, and there was definitely no reason for Marc Taub (of Palm Bay International and Taub Family Selections), who purchased Saracina from Fetzer and Rock in 2018, to make any changes to the winemaking personnel at the 250-acre property, which, by the way, is Certified California Sustainable. MacGregor is in charge, and I imagine he will be for a long time.

Let’s see what he has to say in Wine Talk.

James Brock: How has COVID-19 changed your work and life?

Alex MacGregor: It’s been unpleasant and stressful on both counts. I’m hopeful we will have learned from this. 

JB: Tell us about three wines you think are drinking well at the moment. What makes them worthwhile? How about a food pairing for each one? 

AM: I’m going local value here. Skylark 2019 Pinot Blanc Orsi Vineyard, Mendocino County ($20). Streamlined, austere in all the right ways. Shellfish city. It’s in limited distribution and direct from their website. 

McGregor recommends Skylark.

Saracina 2019 Unoaked Chardonnay, Mendocino County ($20). Cleansing, pure, unadulterated Chard, stone fruits. Great value if I do say so myself. Pair with anything you want (maybe your significant other), though BBQ might be a stretch. It’s in distribution and available on our website and at the winery.

Boonville Road 2018 Mourvedre Alder Springs, Mendocino County, around $30? Super cool, nervy, slightly green, delicious. I’ve had a few bottles paired with owner Ed Donovan’s smoked brisket (his smoker has a license plate, that’s how serious it is). Amazing pairing. Available direct from the website. 

JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why.

AM: 1998 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Ermitage Cuvée Cathelin. It’s transcendent, beyond wine. I was speechless. 

Not much of this is made. If you can afford a bottle, and find one available, do not hesitate.

JB: What is your favorite grape variety, and why?

AM: Old-vine field blends, like Casa Verde in Mendocino County; Grenache, Carignane, a mystery red and French Colombard, head pruned, 76-year-old dry-farmed vines grown organically. Sum is greater than the parts, crunchy wines. (Plus no trellis or wires so I can walk in any direction I please,which suits me)

JB: How about one bottle that our readers should buy now to cellar for 10 years, to celebrate a birth, anniversary, or other red-letter day? 

AM: The 2019 Saracina Sauvignon Blanc Lolonis Vineyard will be neat in 10 years. Oldest Sauvignon Blanc in the country, planted in ’42. Tons of depth with acid and length. Our older SBs from this vineyard go to a great place with age.

A 2019, and at least one individual recommends that you cellar this until 2029. Give it a go.

JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside of your home and workplace)?

AM: With my good friends John Lancaster (wine director at Boulevard) and Robert Perkins (artist, Skylark Wine Co.) in either of their dining rooms. They are both generous, knowledgeable and charming (most of the time). Raveneau, Leflaive, Chave, Huet, Alban, Sine Qua Non, Le Pergole Torte, Quintarelli, always great bottles.

JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?

AM: Buy more?

JB: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?

AM: Sailing (floating?) down the Guadiana between Spain and Portugal, 1986. We would get our flagon filled at the local bodega after throwing anchor, mostly great fino, buy some fresh fish, good to go. Lovely, simple food and wine experience nightly. I remember it like it was yesterday.  

Allen Ginsberg took this photo, in 1996, in North Beach San Francisco.

JB: Your favorite wine reference in a work of literature?

AM: Cliché: War, “Spill the Wine”
Cooler: Lawrence Ferlinghetti, “Drinking French Wine in Middle America”

Bought a bottle of Vouvray
and poured out its bouquet
of the French countryside
on the plains of Middle America
and that fragrance
floods over me
wafts me back
to that rainy hillside
by the banks of the Loire
Vouvray tiny village
where I sat with rucksack
twenty-eight years old
seafarer student
uncorking the local bottle
with its captured scent of spring
fresh wet flowers
in first spring rain
falling lightly now
upon me-

Where gone that lonesome hiker
fugace fugitive
blindfold romantic
wanderer traumatic
in some Rimbaud illusionation-

The spring rain falls
upon the hillside flowers
lavande and coquelicots
the grey light upon them
in time’s pearly gloaming-
Where gone now
and to what homing-
Beardless ghost come back again!

How to Paint Sunlight: Lyric Poems and Others (New Directions).

Want more wine? Read on:

Bouchaine’s Chris Kajani Tackles the Challenges of a Pandemic
A Bosnian Winemaker Finds a Home in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA
From a Michigan Backyard Vineyard to Sonoma
Paul Hobbs Knew She Had Talent
Ian Cauble: From ‘Somm’ to SommSelect
Eric Sigmund is High on Texas Wine
Jeff Cole, Sullivan Estate’s Winemaker
Jon McPherson Talks Tokay and His Mentor Father
Two Reds From Chile
An Italian Chardonnay From the Cesare Stable
Mi Sueño’s 2016 Napa Valley Syrah
Joshua Maloney on Riesling and Manfred Krankl
Brothers in Wine
Two Bottles From Priest Ranch
A Derby Day Cocktail
Nate Klostermann is Making Some Great Sparkling Wines in Oregon
Matt Dees and the Electric Acidity of Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay
Baudelaire, Pinot Noir, and Rosé: Kathleen Inman’s Passions
Colombia, France, and California: This Winemaker is a Complex Woman
Michael Kennedy Talks Sailing and Zinfandel
Spain Opened the World of Wine for Spottswoode’s Aron Weinkauf
Alta Colina’s Molly Lonborg Wants a Bottle of Château Rayas
Mumm Napa’s Tami Lotz Talks Wine and Oysters
James MacPhail on Pinot Noir, White Burgundy, and Russell Crowe
A Very Proper Sparkling Wine
Talking With David Ramey
A Merlot That Your Snob Friend Will Love
French Couple Make a Sauvignon Blanc in California
A Perfect Afternoon Chardonnay
Terry Theise Talks Reisling
A New Wine Wonderland
Paris Wine Goddess Tells All
Rice Village Wine Bar Has a Cleveland Touch
A Texas White Blend for Your Table
A Pinot Noir Full of Flavor
This Pinot Gris From Oregon Pairs Well With Cheese
Willamette, Dammit!
A Value Rioja
Drink Pink!
Underbelly Veteran Goes for Grenache
A Man of Letters and Wine
Ms. Champagne Wants a Nebuchadnezzar
The Wine Artist Goes for Chardonnay
This American Loves Spain and Its Wines
Houston’s Wine Whisperer Has a Soft Touch
Blackberry Farm’s Somm Pours in Splendor
Mr. Pinot Noir: Donald Patz of Patz & Hall
A Cork Dork Wants to Spend More Time in Tuscany
Sommelier Turned Restaurateur Daringly Goes Greek
Texas Master Sommelier Debunks Wine Geeks
A Bottle From Gigondas Changed This Houston Man’s Life
Oil Man Falls in Love, and the Rest is Good-Taste History
Ryan Cooper of Camerata is a Riesling Man
Mixing It Up With Jeremy Parzen, an Ambassador of Italy
Sommelier at One of Houston’s Top Wine Bars Loves Underdogs

David Ramey Talks Moueix, Mexicali, and Hemingway

May 4, 2020 / / 0 Comments

I love to talk about wine with people who share my passion for it. We open bottles, we trade stories about travel and soil types, terroir and residual sugar, and we talk of taste and food and restaurants. We recommend wines to one another, we drink, and we learn a lot.

In Wine Talk, I introduce you to some of my friends, acquaintances, and people I meet as I make my way around the world, individuals who love wine as much as I do, who live to taste, who farm and make wine. You’ll appreciate their insight, and I hope you’ll learn something from them as well. 

The first time I drank a wine made by David Ramey was epiphanic. I recall that I took a few sips, then put down the glass, savoring the whole of the moment. “This stuff is quality,” I said to myself. It was probably early in 2003, in Brooklyn, during dinner at home. A friend had brought the bottle of Chardonnay with him, and we were cooking flounder. It was a perfect wine, a perfect fish, and a perfect evening.

I love these wines.

Since then, I have opened and enjoyed many bottles produced by Ramey Wine Cellars, and they’ve never disappointed. Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays, Cabernet Sauvignons, Syrahs … not one was lacking.

I have written about Ramey and his wines, and I’ve read a lot about him and his approach to winemaking. This past September I met him at his winery, in Healdsburg, California. Angela, my wife, and I walked the short distance to the facility from the house in which we were staying, and Ramey, who was out front with members of his team, invited us to share their harvest-lunch food and wine. Sitting there, my mind went briefly back to that evening in Brooklyn, and the Chardonnay. It was as if a journey 17 years in the making had reached its destination.

Claire and David Ramey

After lunch, we went upstairs to Ramey’s office and had a comprehensive tasting. Ramey talked about his relationships with growers and other winemakers, and he enthusiastically took us through the bottles. It was a productive afternoon.

David Ramey is a generous and inspiring winemaker.

Ramey founded Ramey Wine Cellars with his wife, Carla, in 1996, and before that worked with Matanzas Creek, Chalk Hill, Dominus Estate and Rudd Estate. He holds a graduate degree from U.C. Davis — his thesis, written in 1979, is a seminal one, and if you want to learn how aromas evolve in wine, read it.

And Ramey Wine Cellars is a family affair; Carla and the couple’s children, Claire and Alan, are integral to the enterprise, and more than a few Ramey employees have been with the winery for nearly two decades.

Ramey’s demeanor is relaxed but exact; while he guided us through the tasting that afternoon he answered my questions with directness and clarity. He is a man who clearly loves what he does for a living, and what he bottles is a delicious demonstration of that love.

We left Ramey that afternoon with a recommendation for dinner that evening, Baci in Healdsburg. The man has great taste.

Let’s see what Ramey has to say in Wine Talk:

James Brock: Tell us about three wines you think are drinking well at the moment. What makes them worthwhile? How about a food pairing for each one?

David Ramey: Well, I assume you’re asking about our wines, so I’ll answer to that:  1)  2017 (or 2016) Fort Ross-Seaview Chardonnay, $42, widely available — or directly from us, www.rameywine.com.  2)  2017 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, $50, somewhat available, or from us.  3)  2015 Napa Valley Cabernet, $62, fairly available, or from us.  Foods, in sequence:  Chard — any seafood — salmon, crab, lobster, shrimp, scallops, halibut, sea bass.  Pinot — almost anything!  Cab — you know the drill — beef, lamb, chicken. For all three, nothing spicy hot or sweet (except the Pinot, which goes great with Thai). 

JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why?

DR: A 1989 Petrus, because Carla and I were married in Montagne-Saint-Émilion while working chez Moueix, and she picked those grapes.

JB: What is your favorite grape, and why?

DR: I’m loving cool-climate Syrah these days … (plus the odd bottle of Brunello).

JB: How about one bottle that our readers should buy now to cellar for 10 years, to celebrate a birth, anniversary, or other red-letter day? 

DR: Our Pedregal Vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet, any vintage.

JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside your home and workplace)?

DR: Baci in Healdsburg (closely followed by Campofina, Barndiva, and Willi’s Seafood & Raw Bar).

JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?

DR: Just as when you (or at least I) buy a car —stretch just a little — spend a little bit more than you thought you should.  

JB: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?

DR: The long drive from Mexicali to Hermosillo in 1974, wondering what I was going to do next: The inspiration came to me, “Why not make wine?”

JB: What has been the strangest moment or incident involving wine that you have experienced in your career?

DR: I was monitoring the top of a 12,000-gallon tank of fermenting Chenin Blanc at Simi Winery in the early ’80’s, and we wanted to mix it, so a cellar worker put a propeller mixer into the racking valve down below.  We turned it on and off slowly several times — no reaction.  So we left it on longer … disaster!  The overflow went for minutes; the aisle was 6-inches deep in wine.  We lost a thousand gallons and learned that you don’t do that to a tank of fermenting wine.

JB: What is your favorite wine reference in a work of literature?

DR: “Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing.”

And:  “I drank a bottle of wine for company. It was Château Margaux. It was pleasant to be drinking slowly and to be tasting the wine and to be drinking alone.  A bottle of wine was good company.”

Both from Hemingway.

Want more wine? Read on:

A Merlot That Your Snob Friend Will Love
French Couple Make a Sauvignon Blanc in California
A Perfect Afternoon Chardonnay
Terry Theise Talks Reisling
A New Wine Wonderland
Paris Wine Goddess Tells All
Rice Village Wine Bar Has a Cleveland Touch
A Texas White Blend for Your Table
A Pinot Noir Full of Flavor
This Pinot Gris From Oregon Pairs Well With Cheese
Willamette, Dammit!
A Value Rioja
Drink Pink!
Underbelly Veteran Goes for Grenache
A Man of Letters and Wine
Ms. Champagne Wants a Nebuchadnezzar
The Wine Artist Goes for Chardonnay
This American Loves Spain and Its Wines
Houston’s Wine Whisperer Has a Soft Touch
Blackberry Farm’s Somm Pours in Splendor
Mr. Pinot Noir: Donald Patz of Patz & Hall
A Cork Dork Wants to Spend More Time in Tuscany
Sommelier Turned Restaurateur Daringly Goes Greek
Texas Master Sommelier Debunks Wine Geeks
A Bottle From Gigondas Changed This Houston Man’s Life
Oil Man Falls in Love, and the Rest is Good-Taste History
Ryan Cooper of Camerata is a Riesling Man
Mixing It Up With Jeremy Parzen, an Ambassador of Italy
Sommelier at One of Houston’s Top Wine Bars Loves Underdogs

“It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it… and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied… and it is all one.” ― M.F.K. Fisher, The Art of Eating

Grace Amid Discord and Despair: We Talk Ramey, Cline, ‘Sideways’, Riesling, Zinfandel, Syrah, and More

August 19, 2018 / / 6 Comments

Fires out west, Twitterreah in D.C., and collapsing infrastructure in Genoa: The woes continue unabated (it’s always been that way, of course), and as summer progresses toward the autumnal equinox, despair and dismay seem the manners of the day. What to do?

Well, once you’ve checked on your friends and acquaintances in wine country, those dealing with the deadly fires, once you’ve donated to relief efforts there, after you’ve made sure your friend in Genoa is OK, after you’ve read the latest piece from Maggie Haberman about the goings-on in the White House (has there ever been a leakier bunch at 1600 Pennsylvania?), it’s time to cook and drink and eat and give thanks for the solace that can be had in those activities.

A few weeks ago, I was at State of Grace in Houston, drinking Rosé and enjoying some oysters. Matt Crawford, the restaurant’s general manager and beverage director, stopped by and poured us a Mezcal, and we talked briefly. Matt’s a great guy, and he just happens to be the subject of my latest Wine Talk. Give it a read, and next time you decide on oysters, pair them with Mezcal.

Drink Mezcal with your oysters. (Brockhaus photo)

Briny heaven (Brockhaus photo)

Continuing with wine, we move to Germany (my favorite wine country), and a great cause. (Drink Riesling every day!) But first, let’s hear from Mark Twain on Deutschland:

My philological studies have satisfied me that a gifted person ought to learn English (barring spelling and pronouncing) in thirty hours, French in thirty days, and German in thirty years. It seems manifest, then, that the latter tongue ought to be trimmed down and repaired. If it is to remain as it is, it ought to be gently and reverently set aside among the dead languages, for only the dead have time to learn it.
– “That Awful German Language,” Appendix D of A Tramp Abroad

Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth.
– A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

…mastery of the art and spirit of the Germanic language enables a man to travel all day in one sentence without changing cars.
– Christian Science

A dream…I was trying to explain to St. Peter, and was doing it in the German tongue, because I didn’t want to be too explicit.
– Mark Twain’s Speeches, 1923

The Germans are exceedingly fond of Rhine wines; they are put up in tall, slender bottles, and are considered a pleasant beverage. One tells them from vinegar by the label.
– A Tramp Abroad

Twain’s sarcasm and humor set aside, if you read this today (Sunday, the 19th of August, 2018) before 4 o’clock in the afternoon or so, and if you are in Houston, Texas, hightail it to Camerata and drink some fine German wines and contribute to a good cause. (Click here for more details.)

All of this talk about German wines takes me back to a fine summer day a few years ago; my friend Holger and I took a journey that included a stop at Schloss Vollrads. We drank and ate well.

A fine setting for Riesling.

I enjoy a Riesling at Schloss Vollrads.

Drinking Rielsing with Holger on the Rhine near Bingen.

Finally, there’s Zinfandel and Syrah, and Cline and Ramey. Two bottles we opened recently, two vintages that I recommend highly and that will pair with everything from hamburgers to beef stew and grilled ribeye or lamb. David Ramey and Nancy and Fred Cline are the names behind these two bottles, and you’ll want to add both wines to your inventory.

Zinfandel from old vines is in this bottle.

The harvest at Fattoria Selvapiana (Courtesy Fattoria Selvapiana)

Chianti and California on My Mind (Plus, Edna Lewis’ Chocolate Cake and Cheese Straws)

March 17, 2018 / / 0 Comments

A noble grape it is. (Courtesy Social Vignerons)

A noble grape it is. (Courtesy Social Vignerons)

Chianti Rufina has been on my mind lately, and while I can’t travel to Italy at the moment, I can drink some wine from the small subregion, which accounts for around 4 percent of Chianti DOCG production. I have been sampling wines from Fattoria Selvapiana, a solid producer whose properties include the famed Bucerchiale vineyard. In short, I loved what I tasted. Sense of place is strong with these wines, and the acidity is outstanding.

The 2013 Vigneto Bucerchiale is 100 percent Sangiovese, and is young, not fully formed, could easily benefit from at least another five years in the bottle (and eight would not be a bad thing at all). The vines from which it was produced vary in age (the oldest were planted in 1968, the youngest in 1992). This wine is bottled only in the best vintages (they skipped 1980, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2005, 2008, to name a few recent omissions). Look for this (but know that there is not a lot out there) for around $30, and drink by 2026.

In addition to the Bucerchiale, the 2014 Chianti Rufina was at the table, and for $17 you cannot go wrong with this wine. It’s 95 percent Sangiovese (Chianti Rufina must be at least 75 percent Sangiovese) and 5 percent Canaiolo Colorino and Malvasia Nera. If you are seeking the perfect pairing for your favorite pasta dish, this is it.

Read more here about these wines from Selvapiana, and about a Prosecco and Sauvignon Blanc that I recently tasted — and that cake and those cheese straws — by clicking here.

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