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RAEN Winery, Pinot Noir, Royal St. Robert Cuvèe

California, United States 2015 (750mL)
$65.00
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RAEN Winery, Pinot Noir, Royal St. Robert Cuvèe

There are a lot of different ways Carlo and Dante Mondavi could have gone in the wine world, given their lineage: Sons of Tim, grandsons of Robert, they could have been the next generation to take on Bordeaux—and they are, in a way, having both worked at Robert’s Opus One and their parents’ Continuum—but with their new(ish) project, RAEN, they’ve forged an entirely new path for a family so readily associated with Napa.
Venturing out to the extreme Sonoma Coast—California’s “it” region for balanced, site-expressive Pinot Noir—the brothers have found three distinct vineyards, all in very close proximity to the Pacific Ocean, and have genuinely done their damnedest to let those vineyards speak for themselves. This is not just a “Mondavi” branding exercise: It’s a passion project with a “natural” bent, with wines produced with only native yeasts, whole-cluster fermentation, and used oak barrels. These Pinots are ‘stylized’ only in whatever way the individual vineyards dictate. Now in their third vintage, Carlo and Dante have created a new ‘must-have’ from the storied Sonoma Coast, but it’s produced in tiny quantities. We’re lucky they’re our friends; we’ve scored a nice-sized parcel of the 2015 “Royal St. Robert” Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir to share with you.
What Robert Mondavi did for California is, of course, the stuff of legend, but it boils down to this: he believed in California terroir. Thanks to him and his contemporaries, California proved it could do Cabernet Sauvignon as well (or better) than anyone. And while the Sonoma Coast didn’t need Carlo and Dante to come along to put it on the wine map, that was not their mission. RAEN (which stands for ‘Research in Agriculture and Enology Naturally’) was conceived as a validation of the Sonoma Coast as one of California’s most important terroirs for Pinot Noir—it’s the same reverence for “place” that fueled projects such as Opus One. Carlo and Dante’s passion for Pinot Noir was first fueled by their father, Tim, at the family dinner table. This thirst deepened as their grandfather brought them on adventures through the Pinot Noir Holy Grail that is Burgundy, where they visited many of the region’s greatest domaines.
 
True to their source material—which, for “Royal St. Robert,” hails from an especially cool, fog-influenced vineyard in the town of Freestone, overlooking Bodega Bay—the brothers take a very old-school approach to this wine. Grapes are harvested at night to ensure freshness, and fermentations are inoculated using only the ambient yeasts that arrive in the winery with the grapes. About 75% of the fermenting must contains whole grape clusters, which, among other things, seems to moderate the wine’s alcohol content (this one comes in at 13%, quite “fresh” for California Pinot). The wine is aged for ten months in 60-gallon, neutral French oak casks, after which it is bottled without fining or filtration, revealing a pure expression of terroir with the most nuanced and elegant characteristics of Pinot Noir.
 
The 2015 Royal St. Robert Cuvèe exhibits a concentrated ruby red core with a light garnet rim. The delicate, restrained nose reveals wild strawberry, pomegranate and rhubarb over an array of wet rose petals, white tea, grape stems, thyme, damp forest floor, crushed rocks, and warm baking spices. It is medium-plus in body with firm, fine-grained tannins similar to a youthful Gevrey-Chambertin. Although charming now—decant it about 30 minutes before serving between 60-65 degrees in Burgundy stems—this would absolutely reward 5-10 years in your cellar. In previous offers of this wine (we’ve offered every vintage they’ve released), I’ve tended to go with something classic and ‘Burgundian,’ but this time I’m going full-bore ‘Sonoma Coast,’ preferably with some Bodega Bay salmon, in recognition of what has become a truly world-class region for Pinot Noir. Kudos to the Mondavi brothers for doing it justice. Cheers!
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Country
United States
Region
California
Sub-Region
United StatesSonoma Coast
Soil
Sandy Loam
Farming
Sustainable
Blend
Pinot Noir
Alcohol
13.0
OAK
Neutral French
TEMP.
60-65
Glassware
Burgundy Stems
Drinking
Now-2025
Decanting
30 Minutes
Pairing
Miso-Glazed Salmon

United States

Washington

Columbia Valley

Like many Washington wines, the “Columbia Valley” indication only tells part of the story: Columbia Valley covers a huge swath of Central
Washington, within which are a wide array of smaller AVAs (appellations).

Oregon

Willamette Valley

Oregon’s Willamette Valley has become an elite winegrowing zone in record time. Pioneering vintner David Lett, of The Eyrie Vineyard, planted the first Pinot Noir in the region in 1965, soon to be followed by a cadre of forward-thinking growers who (correctly) saw their wines as America’s answer to French
Burgundies. Today, the Willamette
Valley is indeed compared favorably to Burgundy, Pinot Noir’s spiritual home. And while Pinot Noir accounts for 64% of Oregon’s vineyard plantings, there are cool-climate whites that must not be missed.

California

Santa Barbara

Among the unique features of Santa Barbara County appellations like Ballard Canyon (a sub-zone of the Santa Ynez Valley AVA), is that it has a cool, Pacific-influenced climate juxtaposed with the intense luminosity of a southerly
latitude (the 34th parallel). Ballard Canyon has a more north-south orientation compared to most Santa Barbara AVAs, with soils of sandy
clay/loam and limestone.

California

Paso Robles

Situated at an elevation of 1,600 feet, it is rooted in soils of sandy loam and falls within the Highlands District of the Paso Robles AVA.

New York

North Fork

Wine growers and producers on Long Island’s North Fork have traditionally compared their terroir to that of Bordeaux and have focused on French varieties such as Cabernet Franc and Merlot.

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