2021 Sean Walker McBride Pinot Noir Aisling Vineyard Los Carneros Sonoma 750 ml

From his Crosby Roamann bottles to the wines that bear his name, it doesn’t get more hand-made than the way Sean McBride does it. 

He made only 188 cases of this 2021 Pinot—barely six barrels—from the stunning Aisling Vineyard in Carneros. Named after an Irish moniker meaning “dream” or “vision,” the vineyard is a block selection of the larger Gremlin Vineyard, a family owned site that is sustainably farmed just outside of the town of Sonoma. 

The 2021 vintage was one of the most beautiful that Northern California has seen this century. In it, Sean destemmed the Pinot Noir, fermenting it in stainless steel on native yeasts for twelve days. The wine aged for eighteen months in a selection neutral oak. Now, five years after harvest, it is drinking beautifully. 

The founders and driving force behind Sean Walker McBride (and member-favorite Crosby Roamann) are Sean and Juliana McBride, a couple who both fell in love with wine independently before they even found each other: Sean at a wine and cheese store in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Juliana while studying abroad in Italy. 

A fateful trip up the California coast sealed the deal, and in 2010 they decided to go pro. They quit their day jobs, packed up the Volvo station wagon with their daughters and belongings, and pointed it west, straight out of Brooklyn. 

This bottle is proof that they made the right choice. A superstar at a phenomenal price, you simply can’t go wrong.