Ramey, Claret, Napa Valley

The cork was in pristine condition. Medium to heavy sediment, no surprise there. Ruby color, no brown notes that I have seen with many other aged 15+ years wines. The oak comes through on the nose, then more vanilla on the palate, as well as dried sweet cherry and plum. Almost no tannins, not a really complex wine, but good balance of the elements. Pnp and that seems to be the way to go here, the wine only improved very …

2006 vintage

It's all over for this one. Nearly all the fruit is gone. What's left is certainly drinkable, but by no means what it was. Cedar, spice, mulled plum nose.

2006 vintage

Heavy red fruit, tobacco, leather. A little bit of raisin. Still pretty tannic, so not sure the drinking window is closed. I will try to drink the last two in my cellar in the next year or so, though.

2006 vintage

Very nice gentle claret. Lotsxofvfruit with smooth finish

2006 vintage

PNP. Herbal nose. Medium viscosity. Initial palate was a little tight but mellowed over next hour. There was some nice fruit with currant and figs. Good acidity and balance. Next time I would decant for an hour or so. Overall drinking well.

2006 vintage

high alcohol, also lots of fruit (at least to one of us on the fruit!) we loved it with Italian cafe dinner. Needs time to open - at least an hour.

2006 vintage

The Ramey Claret always tends toward the riper side. What I would classify as a "crowd pleaser"; but walks the fine line between being a fruit bomb and being very good. Restaurant purchase which I knew would be safe, but definitely on the ripe side.

2006 vintage

Good, but the higher alcohol caused a raisiny flavor to dominate this wine. Full bodied and tasty with integrated tannins. Drink now-2014

2006 vintage

Very nice Napa version of a Bordeaux blend, without the usual Napa over-the-topness. Crunchy tannins with a good amount of acidity for backbone. Plum and black currant fruit, with a zip of eucalyptus and mint for herbal notes. Bright and lively. Nicely glycerine texture, but not too syrupy. For $30 it is a good value, though not exceptional. Solid performer.

2006 vintage

Decanted six hours. Deep garnet stone color. Hot nose would not abate. Acidic entry. Black fruited palate mulled in alcohol. Unbalanced. Hot mess. Checking Eric's scale, is this good?

2006 vintage

The Ramey Claret is always a very solid wine and this time was no different. I've enjoyed this wine with food and on it's own. We've also paired this with chocolate flavored deserts on 2 occaisons, both of which seemed to enhance the wine on a completely different level.

2006 vintage

Aerating completely changes this wine from being too hot that it kills any other desirable characteristics of it to a pleasurable bottle with fruit forward flavors. A vinturi was used for this but an hour in a decanter should do the trick.

2006 vintage

Couldn't agree more with YETI575. Ok, but nothing spectacular. Good drinking by itself but could not hold up to food. Seemed to have lost fruit and tannin. Recommend drinking now if you still have some. There is better available for the price.

2006 vintage

Drank at neighborhood barbeque without really paying much attention to it so no official score. However it's just that - it was somewhat non-descript. Decent drinker but nothing catching your attention - probably an 88.

2006 vintage

Very nice effort. Flavors of plum, cherry & blackberry and just a hint of oak. Nice long finish where the flavors persist & the supple tannins seal the deal. Wine showed extremely well vs the disappointing 2005 Affinity. Plenty of life left here but no sense waiting.

2006 vintage

QPR not great in my opinion. A bit hot and overly tannic and perhaps a bit of VA.

2006 vintage

Way to early. Needs time. Tannins dominate any fruits inside. Sour plums and Jammy blackberry. Nose is tabacco and burnt leaves.

2006 vintage

To me, this wine shows all of the good and bad of Napa. That said, while this isn't one of Ramey's better efforts, it still has some good qualities and shows what a fabulous winemaker he is. Here he cleary picked too ripe. That said, he fermented this wine DRY, unlike many Napa winemakers whose wines show sweet. This wine still has a perfumed almost elegant side to it. It isn't overextracted, but it is overly alcoholic and ripe no …

2006 vintage

This deep garnet and purple-tinted Claret requires an extended period of time to reveal it's depth. A full-bodied blend that offers dark fruit upfront, vanilla, spicy black cherries, and undertones of cocoa alongside aromas of pencil shavings, cedar box, and oak. The 2006 delivers layers of complexity, with great structure that should drink brilliantly over the next 5-7 years. RH 89+.

2006 vintage

Not decanted and still wonderful. Lovely nose, smooth and elegant finish. A touch of spice (probably from small amount of Syrah). Really good wine for the price.

2006 vintage

Somewhat hollow and plain in palate for the first glass without decanting. After an hour of decanting, it becomes very nice with mid-palate complex enough. Well balanced and features a nice long finish.

2006 vintage

Just brief notes: Drank two glasses over three hours on first. Mid-palate seemed hollow and nose a bit reticent. Remainder sat refrigerated over night in re-corked bottle. On night two, nose had come around and it had picked up weight, importantly, filling out the mid palate. At list price, it would have been overpriced. At the sale price, it was a reasonable value.

2006 vintage

got this heavily discounted. For the price it was what I was looking for, but lacked depth, nuance, and finish. only GOOD.

2006 vintage

One had a very vanilla and cherry flavor, bottle variation? Still drinking great.

2006 vintage

Consistently good. Love these 375's.

2006 vintage

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Ramey, Claret, Napa Valley

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