2023 RAEN Pinot Noir Royal St. Robert Cuvee Sonoma Coast 750 ml

From brothers Carlo and Dante Mondavi—who Vinous said have an “incredible knack for making world-class Pinot Noir”—RAEN is one of the great American Pinots, and perhaps our favorite to hit the scene in the past two decades. 

Royal St. Robert is the wine that put RAEN on our radar. The 2021 has garnered 4.71 out of 5 stars from our members, making it the highest-rated Pinot we’ve ever offered. The 2023 is just as brilliant, showing the depth and focus that have put these wines on the list at Michelin three-star destinations. 

The label might be young, but RAEN is run by American wine royalty: Carlo and Dante Mondavi, grandsons of Napa legend Robert Mondavi and sons of Continuum’s Tim Mondavi. With the same expertise and unrelenting passion that drove Robert to develop the world-famous Opus One and Tim to craft 100-point reds, Dante and Carlo are dedicated to Pinots of elegant, Burgundian finesse from the wild Sonoma coast.  

From the start, the wines earned critical applause. In one of his early reviews, Antonio Galloni of Vinous called them “superb,” and continued, “Frankly, I had a hard time moving on from these wines as they were so deeply impressive from the moment I first tasted them."

The Royal St. Robert is a selection of the finest barrels from multiple Sonoma Coast sites near the village of Freestone, overlooking Bodega Bay. Deeply influenced by the maritime climate, fog rolls over the vines in the early morning, preserving the berries’ crystalline acidity. By late morning, the sun breaks through the mists and continues to warm the grapes throughout the day, leading to full concentration tempered by cold ocean breezes.