Old School Napa Legacy Meets New School 21st Century
Napa Valley, California – February 1, 2021 – Rooted in the traditions of early winemaking days in Napa, Bill Davies launches a new, compelling line of wines, drawing on his family history as part of the iconic Schramsberg Winery.
Bill Davies was born into the wine business as the first son of Jack and Jamie Davies who founded Schramsberg in the mid-1960s during a time when community, companionship and closeness brought family, friends, even strangers, together. Bill has combined the best of those days with a 21st century approach to offer a playful wine experience. With a light and nimble infrastructure, Bill makes Billy D, and Ramble wines with unique varieties sourced from Northern California vineyards at a custom-crush facility.
Bill’s two new labels, Billy D, and Ramble, are innovative, ambitious brands that reflect the values of Bill’s childhood in the Napa Valley when the community was small, relatively rural and almost every winemaker was an entrepreneur, experimenting, and making wines on the fly. Bill Davies lived it then and practices it today. Continuing the generational chain, Billy D and Ramble includes input from “my family kitchen cabinet” he calls it -specifically from his daughter Abbie, who designed the wine labels and collaborated with branding and visioning, and son Jack as wordsmith and “general counsel.”
Billy D wines include Mountain Barbera, French Colombard and Daydreamer Rosé under screw cap, at an affordable price. The logo, a billy goat, invokes Bill’s dedication to bucking old trends while creating new ones. “These wines evoke a fun and casual attitude, the wines are brisk and delicious, good juice, never stuffy,” Davies notes. “We offer them in ‘travel light’ 500 ml glass and what I call the ‘good ‘n plenty’ 1000 ml. These are quality, dry wines that taste greater than they cost.”
Ramble features vibrant, lower-alcohol offerings with certified organic fruit from 70-100 year-old dry-farmed vines. Supporting sustainability, the wines come in 750ml, using ultra-light glass and a plant-based, fully recyclable cork. Ramble includes Chenin Blanc, Valdiguié Rosé and Carignan bottlings from 2019. Petite Sirah, Charbono, and Barbera were crushed and fermented in 2020 for future release. “Like with great cuisine, the best flavors in wine come from pure ingredients being allowed to express themselves,” Bill says. “I want to make something tangible and pure that speaks to a sense of place.”
About Billy D Wines
Bucking the norm, Billy D, and Ramble wines are affordable everyday wines made from “lost and found” varieties including Valdiguié, French Colombard, Carignan and others. Believing that wine should be both delicious and fun, Billy D wines are bottled in 500 and 1000ML glass with screw cap, while Ramble wines use ultra-light glass and a plant based, fully recyclable cork. Billy D Wines: Drink it. Love it. Buck It.
