The Tasting Panel magazine

October 2017

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78  /  the tasting panel  /  october 2017 WINEMAKER PROFILE t he first time Ravage Winemaker Bryce Willingham saw a bottle of her wine on a store shelf, she was hundreds of miles away in an Ohio supermarket—but for the California native, it felt like a home- coming celebration. "I took a picture and sent it to my mom," she said with a laugh. "I real- ized, 'Oh my gosh, there it is. There's that thing I poured my heart and soul into just sitting there on the shelf for the whole world to have.'" When Ravage launched in June 2015, Willingham set out to fill "a hole in the market" of wines appealing expressly to men, particularly Millennials, through every facet of the brand: from its bold, sweeter taste profile to its striking, Medieval-inspired label evok- ing the knight's code of honor with the image of jousters on horseback. It may seem surprising, then, that a brand tailored primarily to young men in their "mid-twenties to mid-thirties" has had a woman at the helm since its inception. But Willingham—a self- described "rough-and-tumble girl" who grew up in a rural part of Central California—says she immediately felt like Ravage's aesthetic "spoke to me and the consumer simultaneously." "In the not-so-delicate words of one of my friends, it doesn't pussyfoot around. It's very intense and it shows up to the party: This isn't a wine that you taste and you forget about," Willingham says. "We wanted to create something that really left an impres- sion." Consider that mission accom- plished: The wines have both been well received for their decadent, complex flavors and smooth structure. Because the Dark Red Blend is Cabernet-centric, Willingham says the varieties are almost like "brother or sister wines" made with grapes mostly sourced from the Central Coast. "It's a cooler growing climate, so we're looking for ripe characters but not overripe," she adds. "We want the Cabernet to be small berries, concen- trated flavors and soft tannins—noth- ing too out of the ballpark there for that, as well as with the Merlot, which is a big chunk of the Dark Red Blend." In addition to Merlot, both varieties include Zinfandel and Syrah, with the addition of Petite Sirah and a small percentage of other aromatic reds to the Dark Red Blend. "We do some extended maceration on a portion of the wine, as well as PHOTO COURTESY OF RAVAGE WINES Willingham says both the Ravage Cabernet Sauvignon and Dark Red Blend pair espe- cially well with grilled and smoked meats—like barbecue ribs, steak, hamburgers, and grilled vegetables—or heavy, rich desserts.

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