2013 Bouchaine Pinot Noir Carneros Napa Valley 750 ml

The Last Batch of a Master Winemaker’s Pinot Noir

In 2013, two years before retiring from his post at Bouchaine, veteran winemaker Michael Richmond produced the best Pinot Noir of his career — a bottle that blended the firm acid structure of a Côtes de Nuits with sumptuous New World dark-berry fruit, black earth tones, and sweet spice. But not a drop left the winery.

Richmond led Bouchaine for 15 years, transforming the estate into one of the crown jewels of Napa’s extremely cool Carneros AVA. Among Carneros Pinot Noir heavyweights like Donum, Patz & Hall, Etude, Saintsbury and Rockledge, Bouchaine is the oldest and most consistent producer of outstanding, age-worthy Pinots. The 100-acre estate lies on the southern border of Napa Valley’s Carneros AVA, overlooking the Napa-Sonoma Marsh.

After a 40+ year career of making world-class Pinot Noir, Richmond retired in 2015. But his incredible 2013 effort — from the year Parker called “the greatest vintage in 37 years” — never saw the light of day until now.

The reason was, Bouchaine’s owners were moving forward with a brand overhaul, leaving a small crop of tiny-production Pinot off the market. Richmond’s successor, Chris Kajani, was tasked with moving it. Her first call was to Wine Access. After touring the historic cellars at Bouchaine and tasting this stunning Pinot out of a bottle that hadn’t budged since bottling day, we told Chris we’d take everything she had.

A glance at the vintage reports leaves no doubt as to how this captivating Pinot came to be. In 2013, Bouchaine experienced a perfect bloom and growing season: no rush to pick, no heat spikes to speak of, and a thick Carneros fog layer which kept acids in check. The result is a Pinot Noir for the ages, a powerful testament to Richmond’s legacy, and a once-in-a-decade opportunity.