Winemaker Notes
The Bodega Vineyard is RAEN's coolest and most exotic terroir. Steep, raw, and powerful, Bodega sits just east of Bodega Bay between the villages of Freestone and Occidental. This westerly planting is one of the oldest meter-by-meter plantings of pinot noir on the Sonoma Coast and this vine density shows in the wine. Black cherry, wild strawberry, coastal forest floor, rose petals, black tea, wet rock, and exotic spice box fill the bowl. On the palate, the wine is held together with bright acidity backed by youthful fine-grained tannins. Flavors of wild red and dark berries and crushed gravel give way to a beautiful long finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A really taut, focused red with lots of strawberry and black-tea aromas and flavors, as well as green tea. It’s full-bodied with a racy tannin structure and a pure, energetic finish. Needs time to shows all it has, but already beautiful. Drink after 2022.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium ruby, the 2018 Pinot Noir Freestone Occidental Bodega has delicate scents of fresh cranberries, strawberries and Bing cherries with nuances of woodsmoke, graphite and earth. The palate is light-bodied with bright fruits, a soft frame and juicy finish.
As winemakers and farmers, Carlo and Dante attribute a great deal of what they have learned to their grandfather Robert and father Tim, both whom influenced them from a young age.
Carlo and Dante’s father Tim was a pioneer for California Pinot Noir in the early 1970s and has always had a tremendous regard for the great wines of Burgundy. To this day his Pinot Noirs from the 1970s are showing incredibly well. Carlo and Dante credit their father’s passion for Pinot Noir as the early inspiration that got them excited at a young age.
Dante studied abroad in Switzerland at the Webster University in Genève as well at UC Davis in California. Carlo studied in France at the University of Aix-en-Provence and in Italy at the University of Milan. After their formal studies were complete Carlo and Dante continued their educational work with the winemaking team lead by their father Tim Mondavi at Robert Mondavi Winery and Opus One.
When Robert Mondavi Winery was sold in 2004, the brothers joined their father Tim, Aunt-Marcia and grandfather Robert as they founded Continuum in 2005.
In 2013 Carlo and Dante founded RAEN winery with the goal to produce world class Pinot Noir on the western hills of the Sonoma Coast. RAEN currently focuses on making three Pinot Noirs, from three unique sites on the Sonoma Coast.
The Sonoma Coast AVA is large in area but, not counting overlapping regions like Russian River Valley, only has a few thousand acres of grapevines—and it’s no wonder. Much of the region is rugged and not easily accessible. Its proximity to the Pacific Ocean’s fog and cool breezes limits the varieties that can be cultivated, but it proves to be an ideal environment for high quality Pinot Noir.
Since fog is a frequent fact of life here, as are heavy marine layers that sometimes bring rain, the best vineyards are wisely planted above the fog line, on picturesque ridges that capture enough sun to provide even ripening. That, with the overnight drop in temperature that reliably preserves acidity, results in fine expressions of Pinot Noir that often receive tremendous critic and consumer praise alike, and are often in high demand.