468: David Ramey and the Evolution of Chardonnay

I'll Drink to That! Wine Talk

Levi Dalton

Levi Dalton, Spain, Terroir, Napa Valley, Winemaker, Red Wine, Food, Burgundy, Personal Journals, Restaurant, Australia, Sommelier, Journalist, Portugal, Vineyard, Piemonte, Grape, Interview, Arts, Society & Culture, White Wine, Loire Valley, Champagne, Sicilia, Austria, Tuscany, Conversation, Hobbies, Wine Business, Leisure, Bordeaux, Sonoma, Feedpodcast, Wine, Germany, Author

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2019

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

David Ramey is the founder and co-owner of Ramey Wine Cellars and Sidebar Cellars, both based in Sonoma County, California.

David shares his career path in California wineries from Simi, to Matanzas Creek, Chalk Hill, Dominus Estate, Rudd Estate, and starting wine labels of his own. While discussing those various work experiences, David also shares what he learned at each point, and how this would evolve into his winemaking approach today. He goes grape variety by variety, explaining key aspects he has learned about each. David also gives his thoughts on winemaking topics such as whole cluster, malolactic conversion, reduction, oxidation, tannin management, infusion vs. extraction, barrel aging, and more. This episode gives a clear picture of how California winemaking has changed over the decades, and breaks down some key winemaking concepts.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'll drink to that where we get behind the scenes of the beverage business.
0:05.1	I'm Levy Dalton.
0:06.1	I'm Erin Scala and here's our show today. David. David Ramey of Ramey wine sellers and also sidebar sellers.
0:28.0	Hello sir, how are you?
0:29.2	Thank you for having me.
0:30.8	So you actually went to UC Santa Cruz right about the same time
0:34.5	Rando Graham did? We were there at the same time and we didn't know each other
0:39.4	except once I was going down to visit a girlfriend at UCLA, and in those days, this was about
0:47.7	1971, on a corkboard, you put a little piece of paper with your phone number and you said, you know,
0:57.8	driving to LA looking for riders to share gas. And he answered and so we didn't know each other, but we drove to
1:06.7	LA and from Santa Cruz down to about King City we had the most intense
1:12.0	philosophical discussion.
1:15.0	And so that was my crossing paths with Randall at Santa Cruz.
1:19.0	And then we both went out and worked a little bit and ended up at Davis at the same time.
1:24.4	And so, yeah, I say I went to school with Randall twice.
1:27.5	When you went to UC Davis, you were with a whole generation of people that also became
1:31.2	well known in one industry.
1:33.0	If you're going to remember, this was, you know, late 60s, early 70s.
1:39.1	Vietnam was happening.
1:41.9	There was a lot of, nobody wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer or in those days
1:48.1	MBA almost wasn't a thing. And I had two goals. I didn't want to have to show up at work at 8 o'clock or at a specific time and I didn't want to have to wear a tie.
2:00.0	And so we all got out and worked as a waiter or whatever else for a little while.
	...

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