2018 RAEN Pinot Noir Sea Field Vineyard Fort Ross-Seaview 750 ml

Two miles from the roaring Pacific, RAEN’s Sea Field Vineyard (formerly called Home Field) produces Pinots with incredible coastal elegance that can’t be replicated anywhere else—wines that frequent tables at Michelin-starred restaurants like Eleven Madison Park and The French Laundry. These are Pinots that Wine Access members have called “superb in every way,” while making RAEN’s last release our top-rated wine of 2020.

Vinous wrote RAEN’s Carlo and Dante Mondavi “have an incredible knack for making world-class” Pinots that “convey the essence of site with tremendous depth and intensity.” But this bright and pure 2018 Sea Field stands out, even among their many critical darlings. When we indulged in its energetic purple fruit and wildflower notes while camping with the Mondavis last year, it showed a sleek and poised character that we’ve rarely found in other Pinots. So we didn’t roll up our sleeping bags until we’d secured a few cases for Wine Access members. 

Drawn from the vineyard’s 4.8 low-yielding acres, this 2018 Sea Field is the definition of small-production, with very little to share between the high-profile restaurants that inevitably come calling (and sell it for $175+). Considering the 4.9-out-of-five-star rating Wine Access members gave RAEN’s 2017 release, it’s best to take Vinous’ advice for these few precious bottles: “Don’t miss them.”

The label might be young, but RAEN is run by American wine royalty: Dante and Carlo Mondavi, grandsons of Napa legend Robert Mondavi and sons of Continuum’s Tim Mondavi. With the same expertise and unrelenting passion and that drove Robert to develop the world-famous Opus One and Tim to craft 100-point reds, Dante and Carlo are dedicated to Pinots of ethereal, Burgundian finesse. And they’ve focused on vineyards in the wild extremes of Sonoma, each bottle stamped with windblown coastal influence.

Even though the coast is often lashed by storms and extreme weather off the Pacific, Sea Field is protected by its 1,500-foot elevation. These acres are an oasis of vines, bathed in sunlight while surrounding areas are shrouded in fog.

That sunlight provides the brilliant photosynthetic energy to mature and ripen the grapes, filling out the palate with purple fruits, cherries, and citrus. Also contributing to the lithe gracefulness of RAEN’s Sea Field Pinots are the vineyard’s rocky, marine-derived soils. It’s the most soil-diverse site of all RAEN’s vineyards. Roots spider through layers of ancient oceanic bedrock, quartz, and millennia-old Goldridge soils, all helping to produce this wine’s beautiful, lifted perfume.

RAEN’s website says that their Sea Field Vineyard “produces [their] most elegant wines year in and year out,” and they’re spot on. The 2018 Sea Field Pinot Noir has an exquisite elegance that will whisk you away to its sunny oceanside home.