2018 Vivier Wines Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 750 ml

We can’t think of a California winemaker with a more sterling pedigree than Stéphane Vivier: Consider that Aubert de Villaine of Burgundy’s Domaine de la Romanée-Conti—which makes the world’s most precious Pinot Noir, priced from $1,200 to $13,000 (really)—chose him to head up his California outpost Hyde de Villaine, which you can scarcely find for less than $120 per bottle. 

Today, we’ve got Vivier’s passion project for far less. Wine Advocate pinned a 94-point score on this Pinot and proclaimed, “Stéphane Vivier did a great job capturing everything 2018 had to offer,” after waxing poetic for 65 words in the fashion we’re accustomed to seeing with $$$ Pinots. It's fitting because this bottle landed in the same exact score range as the $120+ Pinots Vivier crafts at the world-famous Hyde de Villaine.  

In fact, no other Pinot Noir in the world near this price scored higher.

Steeped with Old World mineral elegance, this bottle is where classic Burgundian restraint meets the raw potential of California Pinot Noir. Aromas of cherry, violets, rhubarb, and freshly turned earth lead to enticing cherry and raspberry flavors dusted with cinnamon, cedar, and orange pekoe tea. Multilayered, structured by vivacious acid, and finishing with refined tannins, this is a first-class Pinot that’s drinking beautifully now, but will cellar for another decade. 

Stéphane Vivier is truly a winemaking prodigy and always had a precocious nose. He grew up in a small village in Burgundy, and at the age of five, he’d guess what his mother was making for lunch just from the aromas that floated from the kitchen. He had his first taste of Pinot Noir at age ten, and followed the sensory path in life, eventually accompanying Domaine de la Romanée-Conti co-director Aubert de Villaine to Hyde de Villaine, his celebrated Napa partnership with Larry Hyde.

Vivier is still at Hyde de Villaine, but his personal project is where he really shows his roots and passion: He and his wife Dana funded the 2009 launch of their eponymous label with credit cards, and started with 30 cases of wine. That number has grown only by a few hundred, even as demand has grown to a fever pitch in recent years after the Viviers’ Pinots were claimed by Master Sommelier-curated Bay Area institutions like French Laundry and Compline. 

The Pinot character that won those institutions over is apparent in the gorgeous 2018, of which 85% is sourced from the Flocchini Vineyard in the prestigious Petaluma Gap AVA. Aged in seasoned French oak, it’s perfectly spiced, beautifully balanced, and the kind of wine for which Pinot lovers don’t mind paying a mint. Luckily, today you don’t have to.