2021 Vivier Wines Pinot Noir van der Kamp Sonoma Mountain 750 ml

The sublime union of priceless terroir and expert winemaking.

That’s what bottles of Burgundy’s Domaine de la Romanée-Conti deliver for between $4,000 and $30,000 each. That’s what DRC director Aubert de Villaine was after when he chose Stéphane Vivier to lead his California outpost Hyde de Villaine. And that’s exactly what Vivier has achieved with his 2021 Vivier Pinot Noir van der Kamp, a bottle whose 95-point Wine Advocate score puts it with blue-chip wines from Kistler and Aubert.

The van der Kamp Vineyard is one of the greatest Pinot sites in California. Consisting of organically farmed vines planted in volcanic loam and decomposed riverbed with extremely thin topsoils, it sits at 1,500 feet of elevation on a north-facing slope on Sonoma Mountain. It’s one of the state’s oldest plantings of Pinot Noir, with vines dating back to 1952. 

van der Kamp is meticulously farmed organically by Ulysses van der Kamp, whose philosophy is: “The best fertilizer for a vineyard is the shadow of the farmer.” In 2021, the site was blessed with ideal weather. The vines had finally adapted to the accumulated stress of several consecutive drought years, and they responded by self-regulating their yields, meaning that quantities were extremely small. Summer was warm and so was fall, ushering the grapes to perfect ripeness and allowing Vivier to create a wine that matched his trademark vibrancy with luscious fruit. 

Aged in seasoned French oak, this collector-worthy bottle is perfectly spiced, beautifully balanced—the kind of wine for which Pinot lovers don’t mind paying a mint.