Wine tasting: Sonoma Valley is no longer Napa's poor cousin
Some of the wines made in Napa Valley, California are often compared to those from Bordeaux. Top wineries in the area can fetch exorbitant prices at auctions for their Bordeaux-style cabernets. Across the Mayacamas mountain range is the Sonoma Valley, which, in the past, was considered the poorer cousin to Napa. This has changed, as wine producers have discovered the quality potential of Sonoma.
With its cooler climate and diversity of soils, it has often been compared to Burgundy. Wine lovers' tastes are changing with a preference for purer, elegant style with crisp acidity. This is Sonoma's forte, specialising in chardonnay, pinot noir and syrah.
David Ramey, the founder of Ramey Wine Cellars, has come a long way since 1979, when he graduated from UC Davis with a degree in oenology. He has worked in Bordeaux at Chateau Petrus with stints in Australia and Napa Valley. He worked at Dominus in Napa before setting up his own winery in 1996. Since his first production of 260 cases, the winery has expanded to an annual production of 35,000 cases. Ramey eschews technology and producing "squeaky clean wines" and has adopted natural winemaking to emphasise the terroir.
The fruit is sourced from various vineyards. The year was a cool vintage and the wines have been described as "a perfect balance of old world style and new world fruit, albeit leaner than warmer vintages". Notes of peach, melon and pear on the nose. Full bodied with creamy mid palate. Finishes long. An approachable drinking wine. HK$260
Aged for months in 45 per cent new French barrels. The Platt Vineyard is the coolest site, producing "wine that is more focused and mineral driven than fruit driven". Restrained citrus fruit, peach, spicy oak notes. Medium body, with tighter structure, well integrated oak tannins and finishing very long. Elegant and complex with good ageing potential. Drinking well with good acidic structure for another decade of ageing. HK$398
This syrah is closer in style to the northern Rhone. Co-fermented with 5 per cent viognier, which brings out some floral notes. Aged in 36 per cent new French barrels for 19 months. This is shorter than the norm of 24 to 26 months due to the cooler vintage conditions. Black fruit, pepper and floral notes. Medium body, good fruit intensity, balanced acidity with firm underlying tannins. HK$270
