2020 Vivier Pinot Sonoma Coast 750 ml

Forget about just in California—SingleThread is one of the most talked-about restaurants in the world. The new Healdsburg icon, open since late 2016, has taken Sonoma dining up several levels. They have three MICHELIN stars and a spot on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list to prove it.

Just as SingleThread’s menu shines the spotlight on local ingredients, the wine list showcases the very best of Northern California. And if you happen to nab a seating—no easy feat—and opt for a glass of Pinot, you’ll be treated to one of Sonoma County’s most outstanding Burgundian-style wines: Stéphane Vivier’s 2020 Vivier Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast. 

This is a stellar bottling from a vintner with a sterling pedigree. Consider that Aubert de Villaine of Burgundy’s Domaine de la Romanée-Conti chose Vivier to head up his California outpost, Hyde de Villaine. While making those wines, Vivier started his eponymous label, and that’s where he pours his passion and talent. 

 The 2020—sourced primarily from the Flocchini Vineyard in the highly sought-after Petaluma Gap AVA and the Bacigalupi Vineyard, a longtime source for Williams Selyem—is multilayered, vivacious, and refined, a first-class Pinot that’s drinking beautifully now but will cellar for another decade. 

Vivier and his wife Dana launched Vivier Wines a decade ago, bankrolling the venture with a single credit card and initially producing a mere 30 cases of wine. That number has grown only by a few hundred, even as demand has reached a fever pitch in recent years, and we’re fortunate to have this phenomenal 2020. Aged in seasoned French oak, it’s perfectly spiced, beautifully balanced, and the kind of wine for which Pinot lovers don’t mind paying a mint.