My first Kent Rasmussen Carneros Pinot Noir was a 1996 that I bought in 1999. I was immediately impressed by a well integrated tasty wine with everything in the right place. Having picked up a bottle or two of a few following vintages I decided it was time to check them out…
In distance Carneros is very close to Napa, but as far as the climate is concerned they are very, very different. Carneros has no protection from the cool winds coming from the San-Francisco bay, this coupled with frequent fogs that also block the sunlight means the average temperatures are significantly lower.
Celia Ramsay, Kent’s wife, is the inspiration behind the label of a number of single varietal wines that Kent Rasmussen releases each year – since 1989 all called Ramsay. I well remember my introduction to Kent’s wines with the 1996 Ramsey Pinot Noir – all chunky and fun. I found a Ramsey Petite Syrah a bit too spicy, but loved the 1996 Ramsey Reserve Napa Valley Syrah. To this day, Kent still bottles a few barrels of ‘something interesting’ under the Ramsey label.
We probably have a high school foreign exchange program (that landed Kent in Germany with a winemaking family) to thank for these bottles. Though he returned to UC Berkeley to complete his degree, the die was cast, he even found time and cash to plant six acres of pinot noir in 1979 in the Carneros region – almost unheard of at the time. As soon as he finished at Berkley he moved to UC Davis to do a BSc in Enology.
Other experience came in the form of vintages in the US, South Africa and the Barossa Valley before finally starting out for himself in 1986 – I guess his vines were now becoming productive. Kent had also planted another two acres of pinot in 1981 and then again in 1986.
Having outgrown the modest early premises (a tractor shed) the current facility in St Helena was opened in 1995.
The wines…
1999 Kent Rasmussen, Carneros Pinot Noir Medium-plus ruby red, shows little obvious sign of age. The sweet nose shows a non-Burgundian profile with coffee, plum, and a little black cherry. The palate is round and fat with nice, sweet fruit. The tannin is well disguised but personally I would have liked just a little more acidity. There’s subtle oak on the palate still, but it’s very well managed. A very tasty wine with lovely pinot texture.
1998 Kent Rasmussen, Carneros Pinot Noir Medium ruby moving through blood red to amber at the rim. The nose has almost effervescent plum fruit – really very forward – slowly becoming more high toned with cooked, creamy raspberry tart. The palate is sweet with even a trace of blackberry, good acidity that makes this quite succulent together with still slightly furry tannin. The fruit has good concentration but turns a little bitter on the long finish – I think this is still from oak. Some of the parts are better, but the overall package doen’t quite match the 1999.
1997 Kent Rasmussen, Carneros Pinot Noir Medium plus ruby red core, showing a browner rim. The nose starts with forward sweet plum, develops some sweet chocolatey coffee notes and eventually a little red cherry. I remember that on release this had higher acidity than the 96 and I thought just a little more ‘burgundian’. Today the acidity is just a little prickly and volatile but after an initial bitter phase to the finish the wine rounds out quite well despite the volatility.
1996 Kent Rasmussen, Carneros Pinot Noir Medium ruby with a definite aged look about the rim. The nose starts with plum, dried fruits; raisins and cherries – after an hour, more subdued, alcoholic, and powdery. The palate has some fat and very good acidity that makes for quite a fresh wine with a reasonably succulent face. The tannin is still there, but in the background. Whilst not as volatile as the ’97 the acidity does seem to stick out slightly – but it didn’t distract from my enjoyment – a very nice finish too.
I had a really great Tuesday this week.
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
So, a two week blast through a few bits of ‘Greater China’. I started in Taipei (Taiwan), which has a lovely easygoing feeling about it and lots of Japanese influence if the number of restaurants is anything to go by. Many goods are more expensive than Europe, though not outrageously so if compared to most Asian ‘capitol’ cities. A place I really enjoyed visiting. I think it’s next month that Taipei 101 is officially opened and will take over as the world’s tallest building, even pre 9-11 this project was in doubt as the skyscraper was on the flight-path to the city airport and is located close to a fault line – also I was told it required an additional 60m erection on the roof to take the ‘tallest’ title. If these giant erections are the sign of vigorous economies then the next stop-off of Shanghai is an eye-opener in terms of the massive apartment blocks, offices and factories which are springing up everywhere; if the traffic allows(!) you can travel for an hour in almost any direction but will still be surrounded by giant construction works, civil, commercial or domestic – frankly it’s amazing – and business profits in China are up by almost 50% so far this year when compared to last! Next, and last hotel stop is Guangzhou in southern China. Also a place which has seen rampant development in the last 10 years, smaller and perhaps better planned than Shanghai, a place that even I might consider driving in! Apart from the occasional snake there’s nothing too much in Shanghai cuisine to frighten the ‘western’ traveller, southern Cantonese cuisine can offer a few more challenges though. Despite demonstrating that I was prepared to try just about anything my local team acted as ‘filters’ only telling me afterwards that they’d decided not to order the ducks’ tongues or ‘spare bits’ plus a few I won’t mention! On Thursday I took a fast train from Guangzhou to Shenzhen, which is close to Hong-Kong. Shenzhen is just one more in a long list of very modern Chinese cities – I particularly enjoyed the view from the train window, as for about 1½ hours new China blended into old, then back to new. A memorable night playing dice with the locals in an upmarket bar before 20 hours, 3 flights, 2 taxis and my own bed. . . . . . .