2021 Martin Ray Pinot Noir Hallberg Ranch Green Valley of Russian River Valley Sonoma 750 ml

Pinot from the Hallberg Vineyard has been in high demand for two decades now, by multiple wineries who charge way more for their single-vineyard bottlings from this foggy corner of Green Valley than Martin Ray. Owner Courtney Benham and his consulting 100-point winemaker Keith Emerson NAILED this exceptional terroir in 2021, delivering a wine whose 95-point score put it above pricy Russian River wines from Williams Selyem, DuMOL, and more. 

The consistent level of quality in Martin Ray wines 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 Donn Chappellet and Robert Mondavi—founded his winery in the 1940s, and it continues in his name today.

Ray wanted to craft Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to rival the best of Europe, when most would have found that notion laughable. Ray cut yields and refused to irrigate in the vineyard, and he was even stricter in the cellar, sometimes holding wines back a decade until he felt they were ready to go to market.

Hallberg Ranch, with its picturesque rolling hills on the southern flank of the Green Valley AVA, used to be an apple orchard. Brice Cutrer Jones, founder of Sonoma-Cutrer, planted the first vines back in the site’s Goldridge loam soils back in 1999, and those dry-farmed vines are now treated to sustainable farming practices. At Hallberg, pristine sunny days are bookended by extremely cool mornings and nights (a 30-degree diurnal shift), which means that Pinot clones Pommard and 115 develop supple, fleshy fruit flavors while retaining plenty of natural acidity.