2019 Ketcham Pinot Noir Royale Pantomime Russian River Valley 750 ml

Mark Ketcham was all about Pinot Noir. So when the late vintner bought his dream vineyard in Russian River Valley back in 2000, he turned to the best people he knew to help plan his next move.

Those happened to be Joe Rochioli and Burt Williams (of Williams Selyem), along with Burt’s winemaker Bob Cabral—not a bad bunch to consult. One thing they were all adamant about: not touching the Pinot Noir vines. Planted in 1973, long before Pinot was the signature grape of the region, these half-century-old vines are some of the oldest in Russian River Valley.

On top of supplying fruit to blue-chip wineries, Ketcham makes gorgeous wines. And in 2019—a fantastic vintage with “with wines showing power, finesse and the structure for cellaring,” according to Wine Spectator—the gnarled vines at Kecham issued beautiful Pinot Noir.. 

In addition to fulfilling their contracts and making Ketcham Estate wines, they dedicated a small portion of their Pinot to Russian River Royale, a new tiny-production label. But due to a variety of factors, including Mark’s untimely passing in 2020, they never launched the brand as widely as planned. For a while, the Pinot sat in the cool Ketcham cellars. And when we took a taste, we sensed a fantastic opportunity for the winery, for us, and especially for Wine Access members. 

Ketcham Estate is the epitome of a distinguished Pinot Noir, and this wine came from its oldest block. Comprising hand-harvested, -sorted, and -destemmed Pinot from clones 115, 777, and Pommard 4, it’s beautifully perfumed by aging in 100% French oak, and finely integrated from time in the bottle.