2016 Anthill Farms Pinot Noir Campbell Ranch Vineyard Sonoma Coast 750 ml

On a recent tour through Sonoma, we discovered an unlikely formula for one of the best Pinot Noirs we’ve tasted in recent memory: A warehouse for a winery, and three former Williams Selyem cellar rats who “seem more like members of a garage band on the cusp than like winemakers,” according to the Wall Street Journal. 

It turns out that these seeming garage band members—Webster Marquez, Anthony Filiberti, and David Low, the founders of Anthill Farms Winery—would later be called “rock stars of Pinot” by theWall Street Journal. Their wines then began showing up on top wine lists, including that of Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry, and widespread critical acclaim followed. 

Our own Master Sommelier Sur Lucero, who used to work at The French Laundry, remembers this well: “We were among the first to carry Anthill,” he says. “Their wines have amazing pedigree and their wines have great finesse and aromatic intensity.” 

We’ve been hugely fortunate to offer Anthill Farms wines in the past, but today’s offering, their Campbell Ranch single-vineyard Pinot Noir, has eluded us until now. Our past offerings always floored us with their expressive, site-specific, nuanced character, but this particular wine cranks up the volume on each of these. Imagine aromas of mulberry, macerated cherries, violets, forest floor, loam, marjoram, and fresh wildflowers. That satiny first sip gently caresses the palate with flavors of black cherry, clove, white truffle, and baking spice. We rarely taste a Pinot Noir with this combination of decadence and elegance.

As soon as we sampled this wine, we had to know more about Campbell Ranch Vineyard. Located in rural Sonoma County near the Mendocino border, the vineyard sits at 750 feet above sea level and is only a few miles from the coast. This stunningly beautiful site is chilly, but because of its altitude the vines get enough sun to ripen their fruit. The grapes ripen slowly, however, which allows flavors of great subtlety and complexity to develop, not to mention mouthwatering acidity. 

When a wine producer can unite critics in praise of their releases, from Antonio Galloni calling them “some of the most distinctive wines being made in California today,” to Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate ranking them among “the most transparent, graceful Pinots” in California, we know we have a knockout wine that collectors and casual drinkers alike can get behind. And if the 2016 Campbell Ranch Pinot Noir is anything like our past Anthill Farms offerings, it won’t be around for long.