2021 Montagu Pinot Noir Middle Reach Russian River Valley 750 ml

Weston Eidson clearly knows the secret passwords to get the grapes he wants. His connections begin with mentors that included Russell Bevan of Bevan Cellars—author of nearly twenty 100-point wines—and Jason Moore, the brains and inimitable palate behind Modus Operandi.

By the time he made his first vintage, Eidson was tapping sites like Sonoma’s iconic Bacigalupi Vineyard and chatting up Steve Matthiasson to nab grapes from the California guru’s famous Linda Vista Vineyard. Still, copping fruit from three crown-jewels of Sonoma County for this 2021 Montagu is a masterstroke of its own. 

Two of the three vineyards that go into this bottling are on the legendary Eastside Road. They’re in the exact neighborhood that WIlliams-Selyem taps for their famed “Eastside Road Neighbors” bottling—and the third vineyard is near Graton, and bears a similarity to Kosta-Browne’s nearby Koplen Vineyard.

Thanks to our history of bonanza sales with his Silver Ghost label, we were the first to hear of this bottling, so we secured our share at an incredible price no one else gets. It’s full of bold, dark-cherry flavors and the classic Russian River spice, roses, and kola nut accents that make similarly sourced wines big bucks.

So it’s easy to see how Weston is able to charge $75 for this bottle at the winery, especially from perhaps Sonoma’s greatest-ever year. At our price, though, this sourcing—and his star winemaking—is an embarrassment of riches. If you love Russian River’s premier wines, you can’t have enough in your cellar.