Claypool Cellars
Gustafson Family Vineyards
Healdsburg, CA 95448 • (707) 433-2371 (let it ring)
www.gfvineyard.com
Case Production: 2500 (in 2008); permitted for 4000
Planted acres: 20
Grapes used: Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling
Employees: 2
“If you think you’ve gone too far, you’re probably almost here.” So says Emmett Reed, winemaker at Gustafson Family Vineyards. At 1,800 feet, Gustafson Family Vineyards is the highest elevation winery in Sonoma County (“though there are some higher vineyards,” qualifies owner/self-proclaimed “cellar rat” Dan Gustafson).
A landscape architect from Minnesota, Gustafson began his quest for a vineyard after vacationing a few times at The Sea Ranch on the Sonoma Coast during the late 1990s. In 2002, he purchased the property with the plan to develop vineyards. “It contained 87 acres, but only about 15 percent was plantable,” he says. “Some clearing was necessary, but while we did remove some trees, we also made a lot of effort to save groves of madrones.”
Included on this original property (an additional 160 acres was added in 2007) is a Sonoma County Heritage Tree, which is estimated to be 300 years old, has a trunk diameter of 11 feet and is thought to be the largest surviving madrone in the county.
“We didn’t develop the land to its full potential as a vineyard,” says Gustafson. “We preserved trees which shelter the winding entrance drive to the winery.”
Given the property’s sweeping views of Dry Creek Valley, Lake Sonoma and the far off Mayacamas and Mount St. Helena, it wouldn’t have taken much to awe a visitor. That said, the home and winery that welcome curious tasters are impressive in-and-of themselves.
Designed by Tim Bjella, a friend of Gustafson from Minnesota, the home is visually stunning, like something you’d see in an architectural magazine layout. A large deck overlooks the valley, there’s an open area for outdoor entertaining adjacent to the great room (floor-to-ceiling windows slide open for ease of access) and a spiral staircase leads to a tower that offers 360-degree views. Two guest rooms open onto a pool area, and just a short walk away, picnic tables offer a teetering view of the valley and lake from a high point.
The players
“We planted our first grapes [five acres] in 2004 and another seven acres in 2005—Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and a small amount of Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc to add to our Bordeaux blend,” says Gustafson. (More recently, blocks of Reisling and Sauvignon Blanc have been planted for a 2010 first harvest.) “In 2006, we made our first wine with a custom crush at Mauritson. By 2007, we were up and running. That’s when Emmett joined the winery under the tutelage of [consulting winemaker] Kerry Damskey.”
Born in Nicasio, Reed was living in Baltimore after college when he and his girlfriend decided they needed a change of scenery. On a whim, they moved into a family-owned home in Healdsburg during the 2005 wine harvest and, with no wine knowledge or experience, Reed took an internship position at Stuhlmuller Vineyard in Alexander Valley, where he met Damskey. “After the harvest dried up, so did the job,” Reed remembers. “But Kerry took a liking to me and helped me find a job at Everett Ridge Winery [in Dry Creek Valley].”
Through Damskey, Reed moved to Gustafson as assistant winemaker/assistant vineyard manager in 2007. These days, he and girlfriend Jessi Smith live on the property, and visitors are greeted by the friendly duo of brothers Rampage and Samson, their two McNab Shepherds, who have free run of the property but tend to hang with the people.
“I felt the best way to find the right winemaker would be through wine style and experience making wine with high-elevation fruit,” says Gustafson. “Kerry came very highly recommended, and we hit it off immediately. He has a lot of enthusiasm, and he particularly likes what we want to do, which is high-elevation reds.”
In May 2009, Reed was promoted to winemaker. “Kerry has been mentoring and guiding both Emmett and me through the process of making wine,” says Gustafson, “and I expect he’ll continue in that capacity.
“We’re both students. We’ll continue to learn and collaborate in the future, but Kerry will always be available to us for the ‘big picture questions.’”
The scene
“Part of the beauty for me is that all the grapes here are grown within a 10-minute walk of the winery,” says Gustafson, “so we can be in the vineyard every day.
Emmett and I are very involved in vineyard management; we’ve both taken courses at UC Davis. At my age, I didn’t think I had enough time to learn everything I needed to know about a dozen different vineyard locations. So we’re focusing on what’s right here. I think it’s better to know a lot about a little than the other way around.”
Of course, as a landscape architect, Gustafson finds both challenge and fun in learning about the land. “You can tell by the amount of vegetation on the nearby hills [as opposed to some farther off, which are more barren], that there’s water underground here. That’s one of the reasons we decided to plant here,” he says. “In some years, [nearby] Rockpile has to truck water to its vines. But we’ve been fortunate.
“The other thing that’s different for us is we’re above the fog,” he continues. “We get morning sun here, whereas the valley doesn’t. We can orient our vines differently. We have more sunlight on any given day—three to four more hours—but we’re cooler. That allows us to ripen more slowly.”
The bottles
After a stop at the cellar for a barrel tasting of the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon (“wonderful dark colors, rosy on the nose, graphite, sweetness and plum,” says Reed), we move indoors for some serious wine tasting, beginning with the 2006 Mountain Cuvée.
“The 2006 vintage was our first harvest, so the vines were very young. We had a little bit of this and a little bit of that: We combined them to make the best blend we could,” says Gustafson. “This is 69 percent Zinfandel, 26 percent Petite Sirah and 5 percent Syrah. Often with 2- to 3-year-old vines, people describe them as ‘teenagers’—they’re awkward and don’t really know what they want to be yet. That said, this is a very nice wine, easy drinking. No harsh tannins at all and a smooth finish. It won a gold medal at the San Francisco International Wine Competition, the only contest in which it was entered.”
The 2007 Syrah (in 2008, the grapes were also used to produce a delicious, full-bodied Rosé) differs from the classic Syrah profile, says Reed. “It’s not leathery or meaty. This has more blueberry and elegance. I think it’s typical of the wine we’ll get from this site.”
“It also represents the style of wine we want to make,” adds Gustafson, “more of a Claret style.”
A Zinfandel from the same vintage is full-bodied and lush, with classic fruit elements spread across the palate. It had us all trading ribs recipes. Moving on to a side-by-side comparison of the 2006 and 2007 Petite Sirah, it becomes apparent that Damskey, Reed and Gustafson have succeeded in capturing the terroir of this place: Everything we taste—from the light, summery Rosé to this final, bold varietal—share a certain approachable character.
Both Petite Sirahs are inky black in color. The 2006 has balanced tannins and dark fruit flavors that linger (try it with chocolate). But the 2007, with a strong cola aroma and lasting finish, is the standout. “This is just a big, big wine,” says Reed. “I personally think it’s one of the best wines we’ve made here. This is the style of wine we like to make—not just big, fruity wines, but a little more elegant. You do get fruit, but it’s more nuanced; it’s not right in your face.”
“It also has a little sweetness that makes you think, ‘I want another glass of this wine,’” adds Gustafson.
Don’t mind if I do…
Ramey Wine Cellars
By Julie Fadda
(707) 433-0870
www.rameywine.com
Case Production: 36,000
Planted Acres: Grapes are sourced; Pedregal Vineyard in Oakville is leased long-term
Varietals Produced: Cabernet Sauvignon (some are blends), Chardonnay, Syrah
Employees: 13 (plus four during harvest)
“You know how people and their dogs sort of start to resemble each other?” asks David Ramey of Ramey Wine Cellars. “Well, winemakers and their wine are the same way. A winemaker with an expressive, open personality makes wine that reflects those characteristics. And the same goes for the opposite.”
Ramey is relaxed, positive, opinionated, engaging—and one of the most well-respected winemakers in the North Bay. So I’ll go along with what he’s saying here. I think it has more than a mere element of truth.
A native of Silicon Valley (“I watched it turn from orchards to microchips,” he says), Ramey refers to himself as a “terminal winemaker” who likes to make and try different things as often as possible. But at the same time, his winemaking methods are tried and true—something he’s developed over time and through experience.
With a bachelor’s degree in American literature from UC Santa Cruz followed by a graduate degree in viticulture/enology from UC Davis, Ramey headed to France (Chateau Pétrus) in the late 1970s to learn French winemaking methods. He brought those ideas back to California in 1980, where he began work as assistant winemaker to Zelma Long at Simi Winery. In 1984, he replaced Merry Edwards at Matanzas Creek, and there he stayed until 1989. Back to France (where he and his wife, Carla, were married) then back to the United States to help establish Chalk Hill Winery in 1990 (where the original retail bottle price was $7.49…a far cry from today’s $40+), where his winemaking style is still being emulated.
In 1996, he helped build Dominus Estate winery in Yountville (owned by Christian Moueix of Pétrus) as executive vice president and winemaker. That same year, Ramey began custom crushing his own wine at Luna. He eventually moved on again, this time to Rudd Estate, where he was director of vineyards and winemaking. It wasn’t until 2002 that he and Carla finally established Ramey Wine Cellars in Healdsburg.
In 1996, Ramey made 260 cases total. By 1999, the number had increased to 1,600, then to 20,000 by 2002. (Yes, you read right, it a very fast growth.) “There was no five-year plan—it just happened! But it all sold,” he smiles. Today, the family-owned business is going 36,000 cases strong. “As a winemaker, I take pride in the fact we’ve built the business to this point with no investors or partners,” he says. “We own it; we employ local people, use local grapes, and we’re real winemakers who aren’t doing this as a retirement lifestyle.
“We might not own a chateau in a vineyard—but when we do, it’ll be because we earned it in the wine business.”
The winery currently produces Chardonnay (an appellation series and a vineyard-designate series), Cabernet Sauvignon (and Cabernet-based blends) and cool-climate Syrah. Three additional vineyard-designate Chardonnays are also planned, the first of which, from Sonoma Stage Vineyard, will be released in 2010.
Ramey describes his Chardonnay winemaking style as “neo classical” or “neo Burgundian,” meaning he uses old-fashioned French methods, but his wines have an added freshness, acidity and liveliness. His Chardonnays are treated very gently, whole cluster pressed, barrel fermented with native yeasts, aged sur lies with batonage and full malolactic fermentation and bottled unfiltered. “Chardonnay is the ‘red wine’ of whites,” he says, “barrel fermentation and malolactic add a compelling level of complexity. I think Chardonnay should go through malolactic for that reason.”
The red grapes are fermented with native yeast, then blended early and bottled unfiltered. “We don’t own a filter,” he says. It’s important to Ramey to be as hands-off as possible in his winemaking practices, to let the true essence of the fruit and its terroir shine through. He carries this notion all the way down to careful matching of oak and grapes. “I match the amount of new oak to the strength of the wine [more intense fruit can handle new oak; less intense can’t] so it doesn’t show.”
When I visited Ramey Wine Cellars for the first time this past July, it was for a luncheon and tasting that included about 10 people. As part of the tasting, Ramey had set out three different barrel samples of the same wine, each of which contained grapes picked at a different sugar level. He had us taste each one, then vote on our favorite by show of hands. The “middle” one was the clear choice. Turns out it was picked at 23.6 Brix (yielding 14.8 percent alcohol). The point of this was to elicit our opinions, but also, I think, to prove a point.
“I think the people who are going for low alcohol [in their wine] due to wine press criticism are misguided,” he says, pointing out his Chardonnays are typically 14-15 percent. “People who pick a single metric [meaning what the alcohol level “should” be] to pass judgment on wine are poorly informed ideologists.” He goes on to explain, “The grapes should be picked when they’re ripe. Fruit matures at different sugar levels in different climates. The wine tastes like the fruit when you pick it. It’s the natural way to do it. Exactly in contrast with the zealot who thinks all wines should taste a certain way.”
The result Ramey seeks when making (and enjoying) wine is balance and texture. “I always look for silky texture,” he says. “I don’t want rough edges or aggressiveness. Couple that with a measure of roundness and ripeness and a very slight hint of sweetness. It’s a balancing act of body and mouthfeel.”
He says he likes wines from all over, all colors and styles. “I’d love nothing better than for the public to embrace a broader range of varieties,” he says. “Albariño, Italian varieties, etc. I think that’s where the future is. California is golden, because we have climate diversity and the ability to plant more types of fruit. But the public has to support it.”
Ramey seems to have an intuition in his winemaking and business practices. He’s also the only winemaker I’ve ever interviewed who, during the interview, looked up a couple word definitions during the conversation. (I thought editors and writers were the only ones who did that on a regular basis!) Must be from his background in literature.
When I asked what made him switch his focus early on from literature to winemaking, his response was simple: “The hope of making a living!” He goes on to explain he’s always liked wine, and had spent a lot of time visiting wineries, reading about it and doing tastings. “I had an epiphany,” he says. “Wine makes people happy. It’s an aesthetic statement, not bad for the environment. Why not do that for a living?”
Thank goodness he did.
