Adding
up to Balance: Amanda Cramer & Niner Estates
Amanda
Cramer, the winemaker at Niner Estates, didn't
grow up in a wine drinking family. Her parents were more "cocktail
people." In fact, her initial career path was that of a
math teacher. After four years in the classroom, though, she
was ready to move on. "I told my final group of students,
they had driven me to drink," she laughs. Of course, that
wasn't really true. The wine bug bit Amanda for other reasons.
She had taken a Wine & Spirits class her senior year at
Cornell. The agriculture and the chemistry were fascinating
for her, but the romance of the industry was also quite appealing.
Reps for various regions from all over the world would come
in and show slides of all these amazing places. Her thinking
was that if she could learn how to make wine, she could work
in all these wonderful places. And that's what Amanda set out
to do.
After a stint at UC Davis, taking several chemistry classes,
along with other relevant courses, Amanda was able to put her
new wealth of knowledge to use traveling to a few of these bucolic
growing regions. She worked at wineries in the Napa Valley,
Chile, and Australia immersing herself in the industry, while
honing her own craft. "Every place was different but every
winery was more or less the same. The basics are pretty much
the same worldwide, which makes them transferable. So I feel
like I learned a lot everywhere I went." After spending
time abroad, back in the states, Amanda had the good fortune
to meet Mr. Niner and ultimately join his team at Niner Estates
in Paso Robles.
In
many wine circles, Paso Robles is the up and coming region of
California. In the last few years, they've really started to
gain a fair amount of notoriety. Part of the reason, Amanda
believes, is the area's ability to deliver value. "The
cost of land, fruit, and production are all much less here than
in the Napa Valley. That's why Paso can offer a better taste
to price ratio [on most bottles]." A second element that
Amanda thinks makes Paso appealing is that there's still a bit
of a maverick vibe. People are able to try different things
and experiment a bit more than more established growing regions.
In other words, the wine culture in Paso Robles is still young
enough that it hasn't become to stuffy or set in its ways. Wine
has a more laid back attitude in general, which is quite appealing
for lots of people.
Amanda
shares a bit of that maverick attitude. One of her goals for
the next few years is to incorporate Carmenère into their
flagship Bordeaux blend "Fog Catcher." While very
popular in Chile, it's rare to find the grape planted in California.
It's tricky to grow, so it's a bit risky to plant, but Amanda
feels that the unique quality it will bring to the blend is
worth taking the chance on. She also wants to establish a second
flagship wine that is a blend of Rhone varietals. They have
some recently planted Grenache and Mourvèdre in the Niner
Estate Vineyards that Amanda looks forward to putting
together with their already thriving Syrah. Mourvèdre
can be a challenging grape to farm because it's difficult to
get it to the peak of ripeness. "I've heard horror stories,"
Amanda laughs. "But neighboring vineyards have had good
success with growing it, so I think we'll be all right."
In
the end, Amanda strives to make well balanced wines.(Click on
the links to read reviews of her Sauvignon
Blanc, Cabernet
Sauvignon, Sangiovese,
and Fog
Catcher blend.) "They're not fruit bombs or
oak bombs. I want classic varietal character to show through.
I'm after integration rather than [one dominate character]."
Her approach means spending a great deal of time in the vineyards,
learning about new vines, monitoring the fruit's ripeness, tasting
it to see how flavors are developing, and learning from each
vintage what's successful and what needs to be tweaked. It also
means having a trustworthy team with different points of view
about how a wine should turn out. Having a balance of opinions
goes a long way towards producing a balanced wine, and that
approach has been working for Amanda and Niner Estates. "One
of the best compliments I get is that the wines over-deliver
for their price points," she says. In other words, people
like the wines and don't mind what they had to pay for them.
It certainly sounds like good math, but for someone that started
out teaching the subject, it's only fitting.
By Jason Barlow
www.ninerwine.com