2015 Gary Farrell Toboni Vineyard Russian River Pinot Noir 750 ml

Finesse From a Russian River Pioneer

For Sonoma Pinot Noir enthusiasts, few names carry the weight of Gary Farrell, a pioneer of the Russian River Valley who famously helped usher in this region’s rise to prominence. His work is carried on today by celebrated winemaker Theresa Heredia, a Joseph Phelps alum with an otherworldly touch for Burgundian-style Pinot Noir. Now Pinot enthusiasts can add this 2015 Toboni release to the dozens of 90+ point wines she’s crafted, with its rave 95-point review from Wine Enthusiast.

Overflowing with rich, concentrated aromas of black cherry and marionberry, featuring an ample mouthfeel and finish that goes on forever, this is a remarkable testament to the fog-covered prestige of Sonoma’s Toboni Vineyard.

Gary Farrell ranks among the most important figures in the early days of the Russian River AVA (surrounded by elite names like Joe Swan, Tom Dehlinger, Joe Rochioli, Jr., and Davis Bynum), securing its reputation as one of the world’s greatest regions for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. His storied winery opened in 1982, amid a cluster of pioneering wineries located along Westside Road south of Healdsburg. Over the past 30 years, Farrell gained a reputation for small-lot Burgundian varieties, characterized by high-toned elegance and gorgeous acidity.

Farrell’s modern-day successor, Theresa Heredia, has wowed nearly every influential critic and wine writer who has followed her career, amassing hundreds of top scores. A former candidate for a chemistry Ph.D., she turned her science chops toward the study of vine cultivation, and ended up cutting her teeth in Burgundy, before running Freestone Winery for Joseph Phelps. When she came on-board at Gary Farrell, her Côte de Beaune expertise was immediately evident: she instituted more whole-cluster fermentation; the use of native yeasts; and embraced marginal vineyards where grapes struggle to grow—eschewing overblown ripeness for grace, acidity, and freshness.

That led her to Toboni Vineyard, situated on a slope in the Santa Rosa Plain, the site sees thick, gray morning fogs that counterbalance the hot afternoon sun, yielding this wine’s concentrated, red fruit complexity and vibrancy. Given Heredia's deft touch is combined with a vintage like 2015, which Vinous's Antonio Galloni deemed "sensational," this bottle is all but impossible to pass on.