Valravn Pinot Noir

Valravn Pinot Noir 2024
Pinot Noir • Sonoma County, California

Red and black berries with a hint of rose petal, then cranberry and something brambly, like you're walking through thimbleberry on the forest floor. Soft tannins, medium body, bright acidity that keeps it from feeling heavy even though there's real substance here.

Hand-harvested and sorted, fermented with twenty percent whole cluster in stainless steel with wild yeast. Eleven months in French oak — about twenty percent new — then bottle age. The blend pulls from three distinct sites: eighty-five percent from the Russian River AVA, ten percent from the cooler Sonoma Coast (the Marine Layer project), and five percent from high-elevation Mendocino Ridge. That mix is what gives it the tension — coastal influence cutting through ripe fruit, cool-night freshness balanced against the warmth of Russian River. The winery's been at this long enough to know what they're after: a Pinot that plays.

Pair it with: Roasted chicken, mushroom risotto, a charcuterie board at dusk when the light starts to shift.