Having spent 16 years in Sonoma followed by six in Napa, Ramey helped establish numerous acclaimed wineries including Matanzas Creek and Chalk Hill. He and his wife founded Ramey Wine Cellars in 1996, spotlighting Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Syrah as their primary varietals.
Ramey didn’t just learn winemaking, he helped define it. He has published numerous papers and has been recognized for groundbreaking techniques related to indigenous yeasts, sur lies aging and malolactic fermentation, among others.
We sat down recently with Ramey to pick his brain on all things wine. Here’s what he had to say.
How’d you get into wine?
I had a degree from UC Santa Cruz in American literature, and I thought I was going to spend a few years teaching English in Colombia. I was driving through Mexico in a ‘71 Toyota Hilux pickup truck with no radio. I was thinking, “What am I going to do when I’m done with this?” I had been visiting wineries, tasting wine, reading wine books for a couple of years, and in my senior year at Santa Cruz, I tried to get them to let me run a wine appreciation class – but I was ahead of my time there. 
So I’m driving – it’s just me and the Sonora cacti – and in French you would call it a “coup de foudre” – like a lightning bolt goes off. I thought “Why not make wine? It makes people happy; it’s not bad for the environment.” And so I continued on, and then four weeks later I was enrolled in Chemistry 1A at San Jose State – I had to get science credits. It was four and half years to go from Chemistry 1A to get the Master of Science in enology at UC Davis.
You’ve been in the industry for a long time; how have you seen it evolve?
The biggest change without a doubt is it’s so much more popular now as a career destination than it was when I took that decision, which was 1975. It seems there are about 10 times more wineries in California, 10 times more wine writers, 10 times more distributors. And then of course, the whole sommelier phenomenon – that being a career goal. That didn’t even exist. The bartender or general manager used to buy the wine.
What do you think sparked those changes?
You know, wine tastes good. What I’ve always liked about it is that from the first time I discovered wine, is that it’s great with food, and how it made dinner or lunch stretch out for hours sometimes – even with people who you had never met before. And without wine, I don’t think that would be possible. Wine makes the world smaller.
In that vein, too – sort of the idealistic vein, for about 25 years, I’ve been on the board of directors for an organization here in the Midwest that’s based in Minnesota, Communicating for Agriculture, and they have a long-running program/partnership with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to give out J-1 visas to temporary agriculture workers. We started in 1990 just brining in six people for the enology program – they already had a program for citrus in Florida; pigs and farms in the Midwest – but this wine thing was new. I just came from a board meeting a week ago, and now the enology program has about 435 trainees annually.
It’s not possible, but I just felt that if every person in the world spent three to six months working in another country, living with those people and their families, speaking their language, that it would make the world a better place. Smaller, closer and more peaceful. Anyway, wine…it’s not a cure for cancer, but I think in some small way it contributes to world peace.
You referenced how the wine industry has grown, do you think it will ever become oversaturated?
No, I don’t. America is now the biggest wine market in the world, but that’s based on total volume of purchases. We still have a ways to go to reach the Italian, French and Spanish in terms of per capita annual consumption.
I always felt that we would be a healthier society – in regards to our relationship with alcohol – if people drank wine with meals rather than drank a bunch of beer or cocktails just on its own. The point is not to get drunk, the point is to enjoy life a little bit. You know…a bite of food, sip of wine, bite of food, sip of wine.
Where are we headed in the industry?
Unfortunately, I fear that we’re headed toward a period of sweet wines masquerading as dry wines. The number of Napa Valley Cabernets that have residual sugar, or Pinot Noirs from Sonoma, or Sauvignon Blancs or rosés, I mean everything has got somewhere between 2-10 grams per liter. And I guess if that’s what people want to drink, well who am I to object? But I’d rather see people gravitate to dry wine with food rather than sweet wine as a cocktail.
What’s new with Ramey these days?
We bought a property and we’re about to build a winery on West Side Road in Russian River – that’s a big, new development. Because of that, we decided to make a Russian River Pinot Noir, which is a new wine for us. And then we introduced this new brand Sidebar Cellars, which sort of makes fun wines and varieties that Ramey doesn’t make. They also have a little more modern packaging. Those are the news things for us as a whole. That, and that Claire and Alan, our two kids, have joined the business.
Do you think it’s important to be innovative in this industry?
You know, winemakers just want to have fun. Honestly, not to pick on them, but some brands that make 80,000 cases of two wines, I just think, wow after a while, that seems kind of boring. Having these other products is fun! It’s like if you’re a chef in steakhouse, you like to cook some things other than just grilling a steak.
What’re some of your favorite varietals personally?
Oh, I’m so catholic in my taste. For a time, I bought a lot of Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas – so, Grenache based. Recently, I discovered Brunello – I just like that spicy component and the dusty tannins. If I had to pick one cuisine, it would be Italian without a doubt. Give me a Brunello, a nice salad and a nice plate of pasta and I’m happy!