2024 RAEN Pinot Noir Pacific Rock Vineyard Fort Ross-Seaview 750 ml

“Nothing like this in California Pinot Noir.”

James Suckling has tasted a lot of California Pinot Noir, but the debut vintage of the 2024 RAEN Pinot Noir Pacific Rock Vineyard immediately establishes itself as the new benchmark for the Golden State. He backed his praise with a 100-point score.

“Musigny-like power, a magical flex of tannins and closed, poised fruit. Endless.” That’s not the language of a very good wine, or even a great wine. That’s the language of an icon

Carlo and Dante Mondavi have been farming Pacific Rock for more than a decade. This is the first time they’ve released a bottle from it. They consider it a true California Grand Cru—7.8 acres of Laughlin Series soils on the far Sonoma Coast, farmed organically and regeneratively, fermented 100% whole cluster with native yeasts. The wine has been in the works since before most people knew this vineyard existed. Their Royal St. Robert Cuvée earned 99 points and the title of James Suckling’s Wine of the Year. Pacific Rock is a step beyond that.

RAEN—Research in Agriculture and Enology Naturally—was founded by Carlo and Dante, grandsons of Napa icon Robert Mondavi and sons of Continuum’s Tim Mondavi. Rather than follow their family’s path to Napa, they turned farther west, to the wild, fog-laced ridges of the far Sonoma Coast, where the Pacific Ocean shapes every aspect of how grapes grow and ripen.

The Fort Ross-Seaview AVA occupies one of California’s most extreme winegrowing environments—high-elevation ridges above the fog line, soils of ancient marine sediment and volcanic origin, and a climate governed almost entirely by the Pacific. Pacific Rock sits at the heart of that environment, on Laughlin Series soils that drain exceptionally well and force vines to push deep. At 7.8 acres, fermented 100% whole cluster with native yeasts, this is winemaking that gets out of the vineyard’s way.

The 2024 vintage gave those vines everything they needed. Rainfall came in at 140% of the annual average—the second consecutive wet winter—replenishing the soils and restoring deep vine health. What followed was a long, patient growing season of coastal breezes and gradual ripening, producing wines of brilliance.