Ramey

The big surprise find for me at the Pittsburgh Wine Festival was discovering Ramey. I hadn't heard of them but my friend suggested we check them out. They were pouring Jericho Canyon Cab 2004, Claret 2004, and Russian River Chardonnay 2005. The Claret was nice but didn't make a lasting impression, unlike the other two. The Jericho Canyon Cab stood out with a great nose, complex flavor, some fruitiness but not too much, and nice and dry with a long finish. Downsides are the price ($109.99) and that it's not readily available. It's code #11735 but there are only a few bottles around, although it's also available via SLO (code #58408). Of course I checked on wine-searcher.com and found it in other states for less. Almost forgot, it has high alcohol, 15%, which may turn some folks off.

They also make a number of Chards but the Russian River Valley was the only one they were pouring. Their representative doing the pouring pointed out a slight bit of effervescence in the aftertaste which was subtle but real and quite nice.