Valravn Pinot Noir 2020
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James
Suckling
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Lush dark cherry, ripe strawberry, and hints of rose petals dominate the ultrafragrant nose. The palate shows the weight of the Russian River component, with rich fruit compote and hints of cedar spice, while the Sebastopol fruit shows beautiful elegance and mineral cut. An extraordinarily well-rounded wine with something for everyone.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Lovely aromas of violets, strawberries and red cherries. Medium-bodied with soft tannins. Juicy and fresh, with a refreshing finish. Drink now.
Other Vintages
2022-
Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling
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Wine
Enthusiast -
Wilfred
Wong
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Wine
Enthusiast
The team behind Valravn has been making wine in Sonoma County for over ten years. Along the way, they’ve established a dynamic network of friends and colleagues that include vineyard owners, growers and winemakers. Because of those forged relationships and friendships, they secured exclusive access to grapes from fantastic vineyards, overseeing hands-on production from vineyard to bottle. While they successfully navigated and maneuvered their way through the negociant market in the past, the next evolutionary step for the team was Valravn.
Launched in 2014, Valravn started with Zinfandel from a friend’s property that they were not going to use for their own production (and not just any zinfandel grapes; these were the old, bush-pruned gnarly vines, envied by every winemaker). In 2017, the range was expanded to include Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon from key sites throughout Sonoma County.
Today, the team at Valravn continue to see out similar opportunities, finding a parcel here and a row there and then they bring it all together to craft quintessential Sonoma County wines, out of the gate approachable, delicious and table ready.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Home to a diverse array of smaller AVAs with varied microclimates and soil types, Sonoma County has something for every wine lover. Physically twice as large as Napa Valley, the region only produces about half the amount of wine but boasts both tremendous quality and variety. With its laid-back atmosphere and down-to-earth attitude, the wineries of Sonoma are appreciated by wine tourists for their friendliness and approachability. The entire county intends to become a 100% sustainable winegrowing region by 2019.
Sonoma County wines are produced with carefully selected grape varieties to reflect the best attributes of their sites—Dry Creek Valley’s consistent sunshine is ideal for Zinfandel, while the warm Alexander Valley is responsible for rich, voluptuous red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are important throughout the county, most notably in the cooler AVAs of Russian River, Sonoma Coast and Carneros. Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Syrah have also found a firm footing here.