Rare new release from Rivers-Marie owner and winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown. Limited. Vinous 92 Points: "The Rivers-Marie 2024 Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast) is a very pretty wine. Macerated cherry, kirsch, sweet pipe tobacco, cedar and incense are some of the many notes that open with a bit of coaxing. All the elements are so well balanced. This mid-weight, nuanced Pinot delivers the goods, big time. The core of the Sonoma Coast Pinot is from Riddle, with pieces from the other sites in the portfolio (except for Platt and Summa). This is a stellar wine by any measure, and one of the very best values you'll find." Rivers-Marie. Since 2002 Rivers-Marie has quietly been producing limited production premium wines including Pinot Noir; their first vintage was from the Summa Vineyard on the dead-end Taylor Lane near the town of Occidental in neighboring Sonoma County. This vineyard produced the first 100-point Pinot Noir from California in 1991 when it was a Williams Selyem vineyard designate. Today the vineyard is owned by Rivers-Marie. Later they added Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon to their portfolio. They produce a number of single vineyard designate Chardonnays and Pinot Noir, primarily from Sonoma County and Cabernet Sauvignon from several vineyards in Napa Valley. The winery is owned and operated by husband and wife, winemaker Thomas Brown and Genevieve Welsh. The name comes from combining both of their middle names, Rivers from Thomas and Marie from Genevieve. For years, the wines were primarily sold through their allocation list with very limited domestic distribution. However, in late August Rivers-Marie opened a highly visible winery and tasting room on Highway 128 just south of Calistoga; they share the same driveway as their next-door winery neighbor, previously T-Vine Cellars but now a collective tasting room known as 810 Foothill.
WARNING: DRINKING DISTILLED SPIRITS, BEER, COOLERS, WINE AND OTHER ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES MAY INCREASE CANCER RISK, AND, DURING PREGNANCY, CAN CAUSE BIRTH DEFECTS.