{"title":"Ramey 8.27","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"ramey-claret","title":"Ramey Claret","description":"","brand":"Left Bank","offers":[{"title":"750 ml","offer_id":42336503365865,"sku":"A33870","price":44.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"375 ml","offer_id":42033297096937,"sku":"","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/products\/image_40f50a08-3713-4947-96bd-879ceb5893e1.png?v=1632510576"},{"product_id":"ramey-syrah-2017","title":"Ramey Syrah Sonoma Coast 2019","description":"\u003cp\u003eWinery notes:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\"The 2019 vintage is comprised of 55% Cole Creek Vineyard and 45% Rodgers Creek Vineyard. Our Syrahs are grown in the cool climate of the Sonoma Coast which offers a style reminiscent of the Northern Rhone regions of Hermitage and Cornas: aromas and flavors of smoked meat, white pepper, green olive and grapefruit, coupled with a silky texture and savory flavor.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\"87% Syrah and 13% Viognier, co-fermented. Fermented in tank as 75% destemmed fruit with 25% whole clusters. Spontaneous, native-yeast and malolactic fermentations\n\u003cdiv\u003eAfter aging sur lies for 18 months in 45% new French barrels from François Frères, the Syrah was bottled without filtration in June 2021.\"\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eCritical Acclaim:\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\"96 points.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\"This is a compelling coastal varietal wine, inviting on the nose in forest pine, white pepper and subtle red fruit. Cofermented with 14% Viognier, the grapes were grown at Cole Creek and Rodgers Creek vineyards. The silky, supple texture shows the potential to age. Enjoy best from 2029–2039.\" - \u003cem\u003eWine Enthusiast\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Left Bank","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44200625701097,"sku":"A33861","price":36.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/products\/image_ae19dec3-61dc-4f28-b7d8-b70efd262f0c.png?v=1633112312"},{"product_id":"ramey-chardonnay-2018","title":"Ramey Chardonnay Russian River","description":"\u003cp\u003eWinery notes:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"This Chardonnay shows great depth of flavor, length of finish, aromatic complexity, and a fine balance between richness and delicacy. The wine originates from cool sites in the Russian River Valley, with low vigor soil such as Goldridge Loam, planted between 1978 and 2006. The vineyards are mostly planted to UC Davis Clone 4, known for its prominent acidity and large clusters, with lesser percentages of Wente and aromatic clones like Rued. Heat in early September 2019 gave everything a little push before a significant cooling trend slowed the pace of harvest.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCritical acclaim:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"95 points. Editor's Choice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"This crisp, complex wine delivers elegant layers of tangerine and lemon. It builds focus and texture on the palate as it opens, with subtle hints of oak spice and crushed rock contributing to the delicious profile. Vineyard sites include the producer’s estate Westside Farms, as well as Rochioli Allen.\" - \u003cem\u003eWine Enthusiast\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Left Bank","offers":[{"title":"750 ml","offer_id":45570897772777,"sku":"A33800","price":44.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"375 ml","offer_id":45570897805545,"sku":"","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/products\/image_6d83cdee-118c-4cf7-9aa8-2ce32d573f91.png?v=1634668447"},{"product_id":"ramey-annum-cabernet-sauvignon","title":"Ramey Annum Cabernet Sauvignon 2017","description":"","brand":"Left Bank","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43931844509929,"sku":"A33890","price":109.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"ramey-chardonnay-2019","title":"Ramey Chardonnay Woolsey Road 2023","description":"","brand":"Left Bank","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42777898123497,"sku":"A33791","price":74.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/products\/image_c42e66e3-531c-427c-84fd-4bd2f0542b66.jpg?v=1652121416"},{"product_id":"ramey-chardonnay-rochioli-vineyard","title":"Ramey Chardonnay Rochioli Vineyard 2023","description":"","brand":"Left Bank","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43087770976489,"sku":"A33832","price":74.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"arnaud-lambert-1948-cremant-de-loire-blanc-brut-nature","title":"Arnaud Lambert \"1948\" Crémant de Loire Blanc Brut Nature","description":"\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI am going to admit something right up front: I was not prepared for this wine.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCrémant de Loire occupies a slightly dangerous corner of the wine world. We know it can be good. We know Chenin Blanc can make terrific sparkling wine. We know the limestone country around Saumur is capable of producing wines of almost preposterous mineral intensity. And yet, psychologically, we still tend to put Crémant into the category of pleasant alternative to Champagne.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThen Arnaud Lambert pours you 1948, and that entire hierarchy gets rather inconvenient.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFirst, the name. 1948 is not some mysterious cuvée number. It is the year these Chenin Blanc vines were planted. The wine comes from old-vine Chenin rooted in a remarkably thin layer of clay — Lambert specifies roughly 30 centimeters — over limestone. These are often described as 70-year-old vines, but the point is more specific and more compelling: this is Chenin Blanc from vines planted in 1948.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd if you know Arnaud Lambert’s wines, this makes perfect sense. Lambert is one of the great modern interpreters of Saumur, a grower devoted to the region’s individual terroirs rather than treating Saumur as one homogeneous landscape. His father, Yves, founded Domaine de Saint-Just in 1996; Arnaud joined him in 2005, and the domaine subsequently converted to organic farming while taking over important vineyards associated with Château de Brézé.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat Brézé\/Saumur landscape matters enormously here. Chenin Blanc planted over limestone can possess an almost architectural quality: fruit on top, acidity running through the middle, and underneath everything that wonderfully chalky, saline sensation that makes the wine feel less like something you drink and more like something you are excavating.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd Lambert does not exactly take the easy route with 1948. It is 100% Chenin Blanc, made by the traditional method. The base wine spends roughly six to eight months in used barrels that have already seen three to five wines, followed by 36 months sur lattes, developing on its lees in bottle. Then comes the particularly important bit: zero dosage. Brut Nature. Nothing added to cosmetically soften the edges.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhich explains why this wine absolutely knocked me sideways.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe 2021 is gorgeous — not exuberant or showy, but almost unnervingly precise. The nose begins with preserved lemon, crisp yellow and green orchard fruit, white flowers and chalk dust, with a delicate suggestion of freshly baked brioche emerging as it warms. There is a faint nuttiness lurking behind the fruit as well, something between almond and hazelnut, but the dominant impression remains one of limestone, citrus and coolness.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThen you taste it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis is where 1948 stops being “very good Crémant” and simply becomes very serious sparkling wine.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBone dry, incisive and almost lapidary in its precision, it has an extraordinarily fine mousse that seems woven into the wine rather than sitting on top of it. Lemon peel, green apple and quince move through the palate before that old-vine Chenin concentration comes through: not weight exactly, but density without heaviness. There is chalk, crushed oyster shell, a little brioche and an almost mouthwatering saline bitterness through the finish. The zero dosage is not a parlor trick; it reveals the wine’s structure. Nothing obscures the fruit, nothing rounds away the acidity, nothing gets between you and that wonderful limestone-derived sense of place.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd this is perhaps what impressed me most. It is not trying to taste like Champagne.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt has Champagne-level seriousness, certainly. It has the lees aging, the fine mousse, the autolytic complexity and the almost painfully precise balance we associate with excellent grower Champagne. But underneath all of that is unmistakably Chenin Blanc from the Loire: quince instead of Chardonnay’s citrus creaminess, a slightly woolly-floral undertone, tremendous acidity, and that particular combination of chalk, salt and orchard fruit that belongs to this part of France.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat distinction matters. The excitement is not that Arnaud Lambert has figured out how to make inexpensive Champagne somewhere else. It is that he has made something so accomplished the comparison becomes unnecessary.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhich brings me back to those vines planted in 1948.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOld vines alone do not make great wine, of course. But old Chenin, limestone, restrained élevage, three years on the lees and zero dosage create a fairly compelling set of raw materials. Lambert simply has the intelligence — and perhaps the good sense not to interfere too much — to bring those elements into extraordinary focus.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe more I think about this bottle, the more remarkable it seems. It punches hilariously above the expectations of its appellation: concentrated without being rich, austere without being severe, complex without becoming ponderous.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSometimes the great pleasure of Terroir Club is finding an obscure little corner of the wine world and realizing that someone there is doing work completely disproportionate to the region’s reputation.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e1948 is one of those wines.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Left Bank","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51577965969641,"sku":"F52490","price":49.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0579\/2805\/7022\/files\/IMG-3610.png?v=1784923406"}],"url":"https:\/\/waterfordwine.com\/collections\/ramey-8-27.oembed","provider":"Waterford Wine and Spirits","version":"1.0","type":"link"}