2024 RAEN Pinot Noir Royal St. Robert Cuvee Sonoma Coast 750 ml

There are but a few Sonoma Coast Pinots that deserve the "elite" label. RAEN is one of them.

Last vintage, James Suckling named the Royal St. Robert its Wine of the Year. Our members gave it 4.5 stars. We sat down with Carlo Mondavi to taste through the 2024 releases—and we love this vintage just as much.

From brothers Carlo and Dante Mondavi—grandsons of Napa legend Robert Mondavi and sons of Continuum's Tim Mondavi—RAEN is one of the great American Pinots, and perhaps our favorite to hit the scene in the past two decades. With the same expertise and unrelenting passion that drove Robert to develop Opus One and Tim to craft 100-point reds, Carlo and Dante have dedicated themselves to Pinots of elegant, Burgundian finesse from the wild Sonoma Coast.

Royal St. Robert is the wine that put RAEN on our radar. Named for their grandfather Robert, it draws from 15.8 acres of Gold Ridge soils on the westerly Sonoma Coast—a cold, windswept stretch of coastline perpetually shrouded in marine fog that rolls in off the Pacific each morning. Those Gold Ridge soils, a sandy well-drained loam formed from ancient marine sediment, are ideally suited to Pinot Noir, giving the vines just enough stress to concentrate flavor without sacrificing the lifted acidity and perfume that define the best wines from this coast.

Farmed organically and fermented 100% whole cluster with native yeasts, the Royal St. Robert is bottled without fining—a minimalist approach that lets the vineyard speak clearly. The 2024 vintage gave the vines everything they needed: rainfall at 140% of the annual average replenished soils and restored deep vine health, while a long, patient growing season of coastal breezes and gradual ripening allowed for extraordinary balance. Winemaker Melanie McIntyre and the RAEN team harvested between August 30th and September 9th, several weeks earlier than 2023.

The result is a wine of remarkable depth and finesse: red cherry, wild strawberry, rose petal, and savory coastal herbs, framed by a vibrant spine of acidity and a finish that lingers long after the glass is empty.