2018 Martin Ray Vineyards & Winery Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 750 ml

The 2018 Martin Ray Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir took the Wine Access tasting table by storm, staking out a bold and luscious claim for excellence that is rare in Pinot Noir at this price. Major contender for the go-to case-buy Pinot Noir of the year right here!

Vibrant ruby-violet in hue, it’s got dark raspberry and red cherry notes intermingling with hibiscus and wildflowers on the nose. Clean, elegant, and light on its feet, buoyant and lifted with everything in its place, this is simply delicious and way too easy to drink. Just ask our Master Sommelier Sur Lucero, who somehow managed to gulp down an entire glass just while writing the tasting note!

One bottle won’t be enough, not when you’re paying only $15.50 a pop on half-cases (or just $19.50 per bottle) for a 94-point wine declared “very poised and refined” by James Suckling for its “California brightness with French sensitivity.” Wine Access members who scooped up previous allocations agreed, calling this Sonoma Coast standout, “Everything a pinot should be!” and “Excellent.”

At this quality-to-price ratio, Martin Ray’s 2018 Pinot has been sending shockwaves through the industry, often selling out on the spot! This is a no-brainer under-$20 steal that is California Pinot at its laid back, graceful best.

The seeming effortlessness of balance in the glass is, of course, the result of intensive labor in the vineyard. That was the spirit in which Martin Ray—a pioneer of California viticulture alongside legends like Don Chappellet and Robert Mondavi—founded his winery, and it continues today. Working in the 1940s, Ray was motivated by the desire to craft Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to rival the best of Europe, at a time when most would have found that notion laughable.

He cut yields and refused to irrigate in the vineyard, and was even stricter in the cellar, sometimes holding wines back a decade until he felt they were ready to go to market. That dedication to quality landed Martin Ray wines in the White House under both the Johnson and Nixon administrations, and started a legacy that continues with wildly successful 94-point surprises like this one.

Leveraging long-term relationships with growers, the winery gets access to some of the best fruit in Russian River Valley and Carneros, and this bottle includes grapes from top sites like Rochioli, Cartan, and Tina Marie. Each vineyard is fermented separately in open-top fermenters and racked to 35% new French oak for eleven months.

It’s the kind of script you’d expect for a Pinot twice this price. All balance and elegance, this 2018 wowed us at the tasting table and it’ll wow you too—as long as you get your order in before we’re left empty-handed like everyone else.