Left: Claire and Alan Ramey (left and center) have taken over as co-presidents of the Healdsburg, California, winery their father, David (right) co-founded in 1996. | Right: Ramey Wine Cellars chardonnays from single-vineyard sites head up a roster of great new releases from California’s Russian River Valley and Carneros regions.

While 2021 cabernet sauvignons dominated the 150-plus wines from California we tasted over the past week, it was chardonnay that really popped. Executive Editor Jim Gordon tasted through the Ramey Wine Cellars lineup and was excited but not surprised to find the chardonnays from David Ramey and his team brilliant in style and emblematic of the low-yield, stellar-quality vintage in general throughout the Sonoma and Napa regions.

Jim said that tasting the great single-vineyard chardonnays with the Ramey family “was like a virtual tour of grand cru sites.” The single vineyards are mostly in Sonoma County, with one in Napa Valley. He tasted with David and Carla Ramey, who founded the winery in 1996, and their children Claire and Alan, who are now co-presidents, along with chief winemaker Cameron Frey and assistant winemaker Lydia Cummins.

It was Jim’s second formal tasting of the Ramey Chardonnay Carneros Hyde Vineyard 2021, which is from an old-vine property planted with even older clones that produced a lavish, concentrated wine. Jim found the intensity of lemon curd, lime zest, vanilla bean and custard flavors to be virtually unmatched, with the tangy acidity perfectly balancing the full body and creamy feel of what he called “a memorable wine.”

CLAIRE RAMEY ON RAMEY’S 2023 CHARDONNAY

Equally high-scoring and even more of a treat was the Chardonnay Hyde Vineyard 2014. Ramey has worked with the same block of Hyde’s Old Wente Clone Chardonnay since 2002, and with the vineyard since 1996. “This 10-year-old library selection is full-bodied and brings out beautiful toasted-almond, tangerine and brioche nuances to top the creamy texture and layers of poached pears on the palate,” according to Jim.

Matching the Hyde Chardonnay in complexity but showing more elegance and minerality was Ramey’s 2021 chardonnay from the Rochioli vineyard in Russian River Valley.

Goblet-trained vines in the Church Block vineyard in Lodi, California, first planted in 1938, include alicante bouschet, petite sirah and carignan. They go into Markus Wine Co.’s strawberry and chocolate-scented 2021 blend, The Church.

Rochioli normally yields a lighter-feeling, more nervy wine, and this was no exception. It has notes of stone, kiwi and crisp apple, while its light accents of butter and vanilla bean highlight the vibrant green apple and lime flavors. It’s also a cellar-worthy investment.

Very close in ratings were three other Ramey vineyard-designated chardonnays, from the gorgeous, mineral Ritchie Vineyard and the key lime pie-infused Westside Farms Estate to the baked-apples-and-cream texture of the Woolsey Road Vineyard.

Sequoia Grove Vineyard manager Jake Terrell, left, and winemaker Jesse Fox are waste deep in the cover crop at Napa Valley’s State Lane Vineyard, a key source of their cabernet sauvignon.

This report also highlights excellent cabernet sauvignons and red Bordeaux-style blends from California, including many 2021s, but also a few robust 2020s that escaped the wildfire smoke that year. The “regular” Napa Valley 2020 cab from Sequoia Grove tastes smoke-free, with its brilliant red and black fruits filling out a firm structure of tannins and lively acidity. John Anthony Vineyards also contributed outstanding 2020 cabernets, including the Reserve, Coombsville and Twisted Oak Vineyard releases.

The JamesSuckling.com team always likes to spotlight exciting, fresh wines from less-famous regions, of which there are many in California. This week we feature six outstanding wines from the Markus Wine Co. in Lodi. Markus Niggli, the owner, makes several red blends from heritage grape varieties including carignan, zinfandel and petite sirah grown on old, head-pruned vines, as well as Bordeaux-style blends and a creamy, enticing white called Nativo.

Jim Maresh in the Arterberry Maresh vineyard.

OREGON’S OLD-VINE PINOTS

Tasting Manager Kevin Davy and Associate Editor Andrii Stetsiuk were in the Dundee Hills district of Oregon’s Willamette Valley over the past week, tasting the newest pinot noir and chardonnay releases of Arterberry Maresh and Tan Fruit, both made by winemaker Jim Maresh.

Maresh’s grandfather planted pinot noir in the Dundee Hills in the 1970s and ‘80s, and the old vines are still delivering beautifully today in the pristine and ethereal Arterberry Maresh Pinot Noir Dundee Hills Weber 2022. Maresh said he was grateful to be able to work with 50-year-old vines, although he admitted that “vine age is an unfair advantage” in making pinot noir because of the broad but tense and focused character they give to wine.

Maresh could barely hide his enthusiasm for the one Maresh Dundee Hills chardonnay he poured. It’s from a specific new site that reminded him of Montrachet, the rocky Anela Vineyard. The wine boasts plenty of mineral backbone and a stony character but retains the agility and voluptuous character of the rest of the range.

The Tan Fruit wines, including a large number of site-specific chardonnay cuvees, showcased how Maresh’s winemaking approach counterbalances terroir. The chardonnays we rated from 2019, 2021 and 2022 are all exceptional, coming from unique sites like The Eyrie Vineyard and Oak Grove Vineyard. The Eyrie, from vines planted in 1966, shows tension, bright acidity and focus. Maresh’s most recent addition, the White Walnut Vineyard, has a verticality and verve that helped give it a rating equal to The Eyrie.

Mathieu Roland-Billecart, the CEO of Champagne Billecart-Salmon, with Associate Editor Claire Nesbitt in our Hong Kong tasting office.

PRECISION CHAMPAGNE

Billecart-Salmon has just released two new vintage Champagnes this month. The first, the 2012 Louis Salmon Blanc de Blancs Brut, is made from 100 percent grand cru chardonnay from the Cote des Blancs and showcases precision and finesse, with very fine bubbles, mouth-watering acidity and fantastic structure.

“2012 has a bit more meat around the bone than 2008 has,” CEO Mathieu Roland-Billecart told Associate Editor Claire Nesbitt when they tasted it pre-release in our Hong Kong office. “It’s a good bridge point between 2008 and 2002.

The 2012 Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon Brut Rosé, meanwhile, is a serious rosé Champagne crafted from 55 percent chardonnay and 45 percent pinot noir. It’s focused and complex yet light on its feet, with spicy, yeasty gingerbread undertones to the red fruit.

“When you age rosé longer on lees, it grows in vinosity and becomes more intellectual,” Roland-Billecart said. The base wines are all cold-fermented with minimal use of oak to retain freshness and fruit characteristics, thereby avoiding a “purely intellectual” rosé wine. Both wines are drinking beautifully now after more than 10 years of aging, but have the structure to comfortably lie down for many more years.

Some of the Amarones Senior Editor Ned Goodwin MW tasted over the past week.

PUTTING BEHEMOTHS BEHIND

Many producers in Italy’s Veneto region have hung their hats on Amarone della Valpolicella at the higher end of the pricing spectrum. Amarone is a full-bodied wine made from appassimento, or dried grapes. It was first spoken of in the 1960s as a bastard child of the sweeter Recioto, or a wine that miraculously made it to a point of palpable dryness despite the extract and soaring alcohol levels inherent to fermentations with dehydrated grapes packed with sugar. Growing demand in the United States and later, certain Asian markets, drove demand throughout the 1990s and early 2000s to levels never imagined as the critical zeitgeist embraced rich, often gloopy wine styles at large.

Times have changed.

While Amarone is a sort of halfway house between the frisky, lighter-weighted Valpolicella and luscious Recioto, with each style sharing the same suite of grape varieties, the challenge is finding iterations of Amarone with more drinkable appeal. This is particularly pertinent in an era when lighter and fresher reds, often served on the cooler side, are considerably more popular among mature drinkers than wines of obvious weight and power. With this in mind, it would appear a great opportunity for many a Valpolicella to seize its rightful place alongside the sommelier mantle of cru Beaujolais, Ribeira Sacra, Chinon, McLaren Vale grenache and other crunchy reds. But Amarone?

The best Amarones are considerably less extracted, judiciously oaked, drier and far more refined than they were, even in the recent past. And Amarone’s versatility can transcend its obvious haven: a creased armchair beside a roaring fire, while tucking into a plate of game. Sweet and salty oilier dishes from Shanghai, anyone? Korean barbecue, perhaps?

Best, more producers are striving to craft wines of detail and place, rather than behemoths born of little but the drying room. Cooler vintages – 2012, 2013, 2018 and 2021 – stand out like a beacon of light amid the cauldron of 2017, 2019 and 2020.

The favorites of Senior Editor Ned Goodwin MW included Le Ragose, a traditional producer high up in the Classico zone, responsible for a fine 2013. Evocative of alpine amaro and the carnal whiff of a damp forest floor, the wine is sturdy and savory, if not toothsome and attractively rustic. Brigaldara’s wines, too, are stunning across cuvees, even in climate-challenged vintages such as 2019. They are redder of fruit, lifted and often exotic, with hints of tamarind and clove. They are also very dry in the context of the style, achieved by inoculating with robust yeast that can deal with the heady sugar levels.

“We can’t leave anything to chance,” said Antonio Cesari, the scion of the estate. “To rely on ambient yeast is too risky.” Cesari suggested, too, that initial handling in more oxidative smaller wood confers savoriness to the fruit. He also champions the approach of transferring to larger wood for the remainder of the elevage. Ned concurred, although he added that the new wood is, perhaps, a little too obvious: “If they could eliminate its sweetness, the wines would be even better.”

From left, the Zyme 2018, the Bussola Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Vigneto Alto 2012 and Riserva 2013.

Ned also enjoyed the wiry tension of the Zyme Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2018 as well as the extremely refined Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Vigneto Alto 2012 and Riserva 2013 from Bussola – an address that was too reliant on barriques in the not so distant past.

“It is always rewarding to have one’s preconceptions shattered,” Ned noted.

– Jim Gordon, Kevin Davy, Claire Nesbitt and Ned Goodwin MW contributed reporting.

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated during the past week by James Suckling and the other tasters at JamesSuckling.com. They include many latest releases not yet available on the market, but which will be available soon. Some will be included in upcoming tasting reports.

Note: You can sort the wines below by country, vintage, score and alphabetically by winery name. You can also search for specific wines in the search bar.

Tasting Notes

Arterberry Maresh Chardonnay Dundee Hills Maresh Vineyard 2022

Country United States

Region Oregon

Vintage 2022

YOU NEED TO BE A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER TO VIEW THIS CONTENT.

Access more than 150,000 tasting notes

Hundreds of new wine ratings published each week of wines just released or about to be released into the market

Get advanced alerts every time a new tasting report is published

Wineries and wine-selling organizations are required to take out a Business Subscription ($399/year) or a Corporate Subscription ($999/year) as these provide a copyright and trademark license to use JamesSuckling.com content and scores for marketing and sales, as well as ready-to-use POS materials for all wines.

California's Lavish Chardonnays, Oregon's Old-Vine Pinots and Putting Behemoths Behind: Weekly Tasting Report (April 3-9)

OREGON’S OLD-VINE PINOTS

PRECISION CHAMPAGNE

PUTTING BEHEMOTHS BEHIND

Tasting Notes

Arterberry Maresh Chardonnay Dundee Hills Maresh Vineyard 2022

Ramey Chardonnay Carneros Hyde Vineyard 2014

Ramey Chardonnay Carneros Hyde Vineyard 2021

Viñedo Chadwick Cabernet Sauvignon Valle de Maipo 2022

Arterberry Maresh Pinot Noir Dundee Hills Maresh 2021

Baron Philippe de Rothschild Chile Valle de Maipo Baronesa P. 2022

Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon Brut Rosé 2012

Henschke Shiraz Eden Valley Hill of Grace Vineyard 2008

Ramey Chardonnay Russian River Valley Rochioli Vineyard 2021

Tan Fruit Chardonnay Dundee Hills Eyrie Vineyard 2019

Tan Fruit Chardonnay Dundee Hills White Walnut Vineyard 2022

Allegrini Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Fieramonte Riserva 2018

Arterberry Maresh Pinot Noir Dundee Hills Maresh 2022

Brigaldara Amarone della Valpolicella Cavolo 2019

Bussola Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva 2013

Manni Nössing Kerner Alto Adige Valle Isarco 2021

Prosper Maufoux Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru Les Criots 2020

Ramey Chardonnay Russian River Valley Ritchie Vineyard 2021

Tan Fruit Chardonnay Chehalem Mountains Anela Vineyard 2022

Tan Fruit Chardonnay Eola-Amity Hills Oak Grove Vineyard 2019

Zyme Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2018

Arterberry Maresh Pinot Noir Dundee Hills Weber 2022

Brunelli Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Campo Inferi Riserva 2019

Bussola Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Vigneto Alto 2012

Le Ragose Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva 2013

Musella Amarone della Valpolicella Senza Titolo 2016

Ramey Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Oakville Pedregal Vineyard 2014

Roebuck Estates Sussex Rare Expressions No. 19 2015

Tan Fruit Chardonnay Eola-Amity Hills Oak Grove Vineyard 2021

Tenuta Sant’Antonio Amarone della Valpolicella Campo dei Gigli 2019

Allegrini Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2020

Brigaldara Amarone della Valpolicella Case Vecie 2018

Brigaldara Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2019

Brunelli Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Luciana Cordioli 2021

Cantina Brigaldara Amarone della Valpolicella San Floriano Riserva 2015

Henschke Cabernet Sauvignon Eden Valley Cyril Henschke 2019

Henschke Shiraz Eden Valley Mount Edelstone Vineyard 2019

Prosper Maufoux Meursault 1er Cru La Pièce sous Le Bois 2022

Ramey Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Jericho Canyon Vineyard 2001

Ramey Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County Cooley Ranch 2018

Ramey Chardonnay Sonoma Coast 2014

Ramey Napa Valley Right Bank Blend Template 2018

Ramey Syrah Sonoma Coast Petaluma Gap Rodgers Creek Vineyard 2018

Sequoia Grove Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Coombsville Christian Vineyard 2021

Sequoia Grove Chardonnay Carneros Haire Vineyard 2022

Tan Fruit Chardonnay Dundee Hills Maresh Vineyard 2022

Tan Fruit Chardonnay Willamette Valley McMinnville Dupee Vineyard 2022

Arterberry Maresh Pinot Noir Dundee Hills 2022

Begali Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2020

Brunelli Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Campo del Titari Riserva 2019

Ca' Rugate Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Cima Caponiera Riserva 2017

Contrada Palui Amarone della Valpolicella 2019

Guerrieri Rizzardi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 3 Cru 2018

La Giuva Amarone della Valpolicella 2019

Le Salette Amarone della Valpolicella Classico La Marega 2018

Le Salette Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Pergole Vece Riserva 2017

Masi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Costasera Riserva 2018

Musella Amarone della Valpolicella Riserva 2017

Prosper Maufoux Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Clos du Château 2022

Ramey Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Annum 2019

Ramey Chardonnay Russian River Valley Westside Farms Estate 2021

Ramey Chardonnay Russian River Valley Woolsey Road Vineyard 2021

Ramey Chardonnay Sonoma Coast Fort Ross-SeaView 2022

Ramey Napa Valley Claret 2014

Rubinelli Vajol Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Destinée Riserva 2011

Sequoia Grove Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2020

Sequoia Grove Chardonnay Sonoma Coast Montana Dorada 2022

Tedeschi Amarone della Valpolicella Marne 180 2020

Begali Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Monte Ca' Bianca Riserva 2018

Blanchard Perez Sauvignon Blanc Côtes-de-Gascogne 2022

Bricoleur Vineyards Pinot Noir Russian River Valley Founder’s Block 2022

Bricoleur Vineyards Syrah Sonoma County Fountaingrove District Kick Ranch Vineyard 2021

Cantine Locci Zuddas Cannonau di Sardegna Iscra Rùja 2021

Chalk Hill Chardonnay Sonoma County Chalk Hill Founder’s Block 2021

Chalk Hill Chardonnay Sonoma County Chalk Hill Wright Creek 2022