For those who haven’t glanced at wine publication’s “Best Of” over the past several years or visited an establishment that takes pride in curating the finest, most thoughtfully crafted wines of current times, the following PSA is for you: RAEN is a necessity for all Pinot Noir collectors, and becoming the owner of an allocation is about as frequent as California summer rain.
These tightly allocated beauties are among today’s highest praised Pinot Noirs, and each release counts as the purest alter ego of Premier Cru Burgundy. In fact, nearly every time I’ve served these wines blind over the years, most everyone leaps to a top-tier Burgundy conclusion, and I fully understand why. RAEN is all about meticulous, sustainable viticulture and a resolutely natural, whole-cluster, small-batch production. It’s the same kind of rapturous devotion to “site” and “elegance” you see at the great family-run domaines of Burgundy. So you can imagine how equally thrilled and honored we were to drive up to Carlo Mondavi’s homestead last month and taste through a soul-stirring vertical that stretched six vintages. Although the older releases are only available in single-digit quantities, we were able to cobble together a pack containing two of their three 2019 Pinot Noirs. These wines, if they can be tracked down, are stealing the breath of everyone—critics, somms, restaurateurs, winemakers, and every Pinot lover who tries them, be it their first or fifth time. Purchases must be strictly limited to three two-packs per person.
You can’t talk about RAEN without mentioning California wine legend Robert Mondavi. The brothers behind today’s label, Carlo and Dante Mondavi, are Robert’s grandsons, and more than anything else, they inherited from him an unwavering belief in the greatness of California wine and its respective terroir. And while Robert Mondavi is most readily associated with Cabernet Sauvignon that rivaled (and often eclipsed) the best of Bordeaux in decades past, Carlo and Dante are gunning for the greats of Burgundy with their gorgeously perfumed Pinot Noirs from the extremes of Sonoma Coast.
It was Carlo and Dante’s father, Tim Mondavi, who instilled in them a love of Pinot Noir. Whether at the family dinner table or on trips to Burgundy, they got the chance to taste the greats, which has clearly informed their winemaking approach. But outside of the cellar, they’re in a league all their own: RAEN is an acronym for Research in Agriculture and Enology Naturally, and they live up to that name with a fastidious dedication to terroir, sustainability, and biodiversity. The Mondavi brothers don’t just want to farm cleanly, they want to farm like their ancestors long before the days of industry. In order to achieve this, they bottle just three small-batch Pinot Noirs from three jewel-box sites, two of which we have on display today.
2019 Sonoma Coast “Royal St. Robert”
RAEN’s “Royal St. Robert” cuvée is named in homage to grandfather and California legend Robert Mondavi. Coming from 10 acres of vines that overlook Bodega Bay, the site is engulfed in a cooling, refreshing fog each morning, after which the afternoon sunlight breaks through and works its magic. As for the wine? The analog here must be Chambolle-Musigny. This is so incredibly perfumed, lifted, and polished to the degree where I’d drink this over an overwhelming majority of its Burgundian counterparts. It’s full of buoyant cherry and spiced plum over enlivening textures of pomegranate, loose tea, damp red florals, and pine. The palate is supple, edge-free, and gorgeous. We were shocked at how beautifully it was drinking at such an early stage of its life.
In the cellar: 100% whole-cluster • Wild native-yeast fermentation • Aged in 10% new François Frères oak • Selection of the top-performing barrels • No fining or filtration
2019 Fort Ross-Seaview “Sea Field”
On the fringe of Sonoma Coast, RAEN’s 4.8-acre “Sea Field” vineyard is a spectacle to behold: Perched at 1500-feet elevation just two miles from the Pacific Ocean, these vines sink into iron-rich sandstone and endure cold, blustery days. In return, they produce wines that are jaw-droppingly pure, suave, mineral, and muscled. Reminiscent of Vosne-Romanée, this 2019 is loaded with crushed stone, damp moss, rose petal, wild strawberries, black cherry, rhubarb, orange zest, and a cooling herbal note. The structured, darker-toned palate offers swells of acidity and polished, fine-grained tannins. It is the pinnacle of the California coast’s wild essence.
In the cellar: 100% whole cluster • Longer maceration • Wild native-yeast fermentation • Aged in François Frères barrels, 10% new • Bottled without fining or filtration
Remember, both of these are youthful wines that demand (and deserve) a minimum 60-minute decant before service in your finest Burgundy stems. While the pair really should be cellared for at least 2-3 years before drinking, I’ve learned over the past seven vintages that RAEN’s Pinots are incredibly accessible in their youth. That said, do not open all of your bottles prematurely! Having just tasted the ’14s as well, it seems seven years is the sweet spot, and yet, they still weren’t showing an ounce of fatigue. Nobody truly knows what the aging ceiling is so all I can say is the following: Cellar these rare gems as you would your finest Premier Cru Burgundies. They are currently some of the finest Pinots in existence. Please do not miss out.
