Uncorked: Ram’s Gate brings a composer’s touch to wines

Stage fright affected Joe Nielsen as a competitive piano player.

The general manager and director of winemaking at Ram’s Gate Winery in Sonoma played competitive piano as a child, where he learned it took more than striking keys and reading music for a performance to resonate with judges.

At a competition, he’d play a piece of music he’d never seen or studied – on a piano on which he’d never played. A group of judges he’d never met would sit in judgment of his piano-playing acumen.

Frédéric Chopin is his favorite pianist. It’s the technical aspects of his sonatas and the math that went into the music to which Nielsen is drawn.

“I was scared because I didn’t want to let a mistake destroy my performance,” Nielsen said. “There would be a technical grade, and there were state and national rankings. It was nerve-racking; I never consented to it, my mom and music teacher put me in those positions.

“What I like about Chopin is parallel to wine,” he said. “There’s simple sophistication to him. Visually, it’s not difficult, but you’ve got to just go with it. When I was playing, my teacher would tell me it’s not about reading the notes. It’s about feeling the music. There has to be a balance in which you play. You’ve got to let it speak through your fingers and not chop away at it. It’s very emotional music.”

Inspired by his musical background, Nielsen wants to strive for originality with Ram’s Gate.

“I want to make something unique and special,” Nielsen said. “I don’t have a desire to copy someone else. I don’t want to be a cover band. I enjoy authenticity, and want to find our own voice through these vineyards. We’ve got a house style; that’s my palate. Our wines have lift and verve, so we can let the vineyard, variety or Sonoma speak.”

Because there are 12 other wineries making a chardonnay from Hyde Vineyard, Nielsen said his desire for individuality with Ram’s Gate will be challenged. Which is why the two different clones from the site get individualized treatments in the cellar.

The Musque clone came from Pritchard Hill in Napa Valley. It was planted in the 1970s, and Nielsen said he liked the “elegant version of chardonnay” it produced. In 2018, he decided the fruit was so good, it didn’t need to undergo malolactic fermentation, and, since then, he’s followed the same routine. A second clone undergoes malolactic fermentation and “adds a little weight and texture to the final blend.”

With pronounced aromatics, there are apricot, pear and creme brulee flavors on the finish of the Ram’s Gate Hyde Vineyard Chardonnay 2019 ($70).

“Authenticity is important,” Nielsen said. “This is our interpretation of really well-farmed grapes.”

The Ram’s Gate Pinot Blanc 2021 ($38) had green apple, pear and almond cookie flavors.

“This was an exercise in delicacy,” Nielsen said. “In the past, I used the analogy that the wine is like the godfather, a mean, nasty killer that never raises his voice. This wine is a whisper with so much intensity. It’s lace built out of metal. It’s super floral, pretty and has a lot of texture. There’s a lot going on in a very small package.”

As sauvignon blanc exploded in popularity through the 2000s, Nielsen fell for the classic French interpretation of the wine. Therefore, the Ram’s Gate Carneros Sauvignon Blanc 2021 ($38) had a regimen in the cellar that included 10% new French oak, 20% stainless steel and 70% neutral French oak fermentation.

“I wanted texture and a more flinty wine,” Nielsen said. “We pick with high acidity when the grapes are still fresh.”

Because Carneros is influenced by winds off the frigid San Pablo Bay, the wind tunnel of the Petaluma Gap and the same fog that shrouds San Francisco rolling through the hillsides, it’s well suited for the Burgundian varietals of chardonnay and pinot noir.

“The result of the wind to me is really thick skins,” Nielsen said. “We get a lot of flavor from relatively low alcohol. One pivot I’ve made is to follow flavor over alcohol. We can make textural, full-bodied wines.”

During blending sessions, Nielsen often faced a conundrum in terms of a wine’s profile. As he searched for the right balance between flavor and acidity, he found comfort in gray space.

“I like agility in my wine,” Nielsen said. “Whenever we are in a blending session and wondering if a wine is too rich or too acidic, I figure that’s the perfect spot to be. I like to wobble between.”

The Ram’s Gate Carneros Pinot Noir 2019 ($85) was the first year the vineyard transitioned to organic. Sheep roamed the vineyard, and no herbicides were used. Nielsen said he had to get used to the thicker skins on Carneros pinot, and loved that there were “tons of dark fruit flavors” in the wine.

Broken up into smaller lots in the cellar, the Ram’s Gate Bush-Crispo 2019 ($75) had an assortment of flavors with plum, cranberry and pomegranate fruits. It delved into an exotic spice rack of Chinese Five Spice, baking spices and even a plum sauce.

“The grapes are just these little hand grenades of pinot noir,” Nielsen said. “There’s an explosive structure and a massive mouthfeel. We fully de-stem them because they have so much power.”

Like the competitive piano player seated in front of an unfamiliar piece of classical music, Nielsen plays each vintage with the feel the growing season has provided.

He said he likes jazz and ragtime, too, and added that his 6-year-old daughter is getting into piano. It’s too early to tell if she’ll follow in his footsteps through vineyards and cellars.

That’s where Nielsen is most comfortable as he crafts a new sonata every vintage.

• James Nokes has been tasting, touring and collecting in the wine world for several years. Email him at jamesnokes25@yahoo.com.