California Wines - Freeman, Landmark and Ramey

I used to be so ignorant abt California Wines until Andy packed me a case. I really like the Freeman Pinots, Landmark and Ramey Chardonnays.

Freeman Vineyard : The Winemaker - Ed Kurtzman

Ed Kurtzman has been making Pinot Noir since 1994 where he got his start in the cellar at Bernardus in Carmel Valley, California under the guidance of Don Blackburn and Kirby Anderson. From 1995 through 1998 Ed moved across Monterey County to Chalone Vineyard where he was enologist and then assistant winemaker under Michael Michaud. He had the good fortune of meeting future August West partners Gary Franscioni and Howard Graham while he was winemaker at Testarossa for the vintages 1999-2002.

Ed uses a very light hand in the cellar when it comes to winemaking. He feels that since his partners go to such painstaking efforts to provide him with some of the best fruit grown in California, he might as well let the grapes make themselves into wine. Other than punching down the wines during fermentation, adding yeast to assure complete fermentation after the native yeasts have started the process, lightly pressing the pomace, and giving the wines an excellent home in new and used French oak barrels, Ed feels that he's merely the caretaker for Gary's and Howard's grapes after the harvest.

Landmark Vineyard : The Winemaker- Eric Stern

A native of New York, Eric Stern's undergraduate studies included music, anthropology and geology. Following his graduation from New York University's Washington Square College, he worked for ten years as an administrator for chamber music ensembles in New Hampshire and Michigan. His decision to pursue a career in wine began in Boston where he worked concurrently as a wine shop manager, sommelier and salesman for an importer/wholesale distributor of fine wine. In 1983, he relocated to California and enrolled in California State University at Fresno to get a second undergraduate degree in enology. After apprenticing at Acacia and Carmenet wineries, he joined Landmark in 1989 as Assistant Winemaker. Promoted to Winemaker in 1993, Stern continues to pursue his passion for the craft and art of wine. Relying on his senses and aesthetics, he produces balanced, full-flavored Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs in the traditional Burgundian style.

Stern lives in Sonoma with his wife, Carol Brown, a writing instructor. He enjoys listening to music, reading, swimming and gourmet cooking. Eric and Carol love traveling to the world's great winemaking regions.

Ramey : The Winemaker - David Ramey

David Ramey is widely acknowledged to be among the wine pioneers whose efforts helped raise the bar for all American winemakers and brought California to the forefront of the international wine world. David’s groundbreaking work with indigenous yeasts and malolactic and barrel fermentation yielded a new California style that was richer, more lush and silky smooth than previously known. As a result, he created a benchmark style now emulated by many.

At first, David followed a traditional path and received a graduate degree from the University of California at Davis, where his 1979 thesis on volatile ester hydrolysis (translation: how flavors evolve in wine) is still used today to unveil certain vinous mysteries. But shortly afterwards, a stint working for the Moueix family at the renowned Chateau Pétrus introduced David to the time-honored methods of winemaking in France. He brought his lessons home and applied them to the grapes he found growing in California’s premier wine regions.

Back in California, David helped establish a number of wineries that would soon become household names. They include Chalk Hill, Matanzas Creek, Dominus Estate (owned by Christian Moueix, of Pétrus) and most recently, Rudd Estate.

Ramey Wine Cellars, which David owns with his wife, Carla, was founded in 1996. Currently, David continues to “swing for the fences,” as he likes to say. To make great wines, he takes chances, harvesting his grapes at the last possible moment and using methods in the cellar that his former college professors consider risky at best. The resulting wines are praised among colleagues, consumers and the media alike. Wine Reviews.

David serves on the board of Family Winemakers of California and the executive board of Communicating for Agriculture and the Self-employed. He lives with his family in Glen Ellen, not far from the Ramey Wine Cellars winery in Healdsburg