2016 Pinot Noir Summa Vineyard

This is a stellar set of new releases from proprietors Thomas Rivers Brown and Genevieve Marie Welsh. Rivers-Marie fans have plenty to look forward to. The best piece of news is that with 2016 production levels are back to normal, which means these wines will be easier to find than last year. There are also two new wines in the range, both of them from the Bearwallow vineyard, the Anderson Valley site owned by Kevin Harvey of Rhys: an Anderson Valley appellation Pinot and a Chardonnay. Rivers-Marie was among the new producers who entered the Platt vineyard following its acquisition by a team led by Eric Flanagan. In 2016 Rivers-Marie got both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from this highly regarded Sonoma Coast site but ultimately opted to use that fruit in the appellation level wines. A Platt Pinot and Chardonnay will be added to the range with the 2017 vintage.

As for the wines, they are terrific, if a bit less exuberant than the 2015s. The Chardonnays stand out for their relatively open-knit personalities. Fermenting at warmer temperatures and in large vessels, along with the natural personality of the year, yielded supple, accessible Chardonnays that will drink well relatively early. As always, the Chardonnays are fermented with ambient yeasts and aged in mostly neutral oak. Continuing the trend started last year, the Chardonnays are more settled and clearer in color in the glass. The Pinots are crafted in a similarly gentle style. Most of the fruit is destemmed, with the exception of the Occidental Ridge and Silver Eagle Pinots, which see 10-15% whole clusters. In 2016, the wines are quite expressive with regards to site, which makes tasting through this range both fascinating and instructive.

(Originally published in Sonoma Preview: January 2018 New Releases)