Cattleya Cuvée Number One Pinot Noir Russian River Valley 2021

Bibiana Gonzalez Rave crafts some of California's most thoughtful, precise and inspired examples of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir we have ever tasted! Year after year her wines emit purity, wisdom, and adventure, guiding you on a journey through her soul by way of the places she adores. Incredible vineyard sites, careful terroir-driven farming, attention to detail and a joyful spirit are inside every bottle of Cattleya Wine. Born and raised in Medellín, Colombia, a place well known for things other than wine, Bibiana studied business and chemical engineering before ever picking up a wine book. Vineyards and wine production were all but non-existent in Colombia at the time, the tropical climate is more favorable to coffee, flowers, and exotic fruits. Even though she became interested in wine at a young age, with the occasional sip stolen from her father’s glass around the holidays or at a special event, the absence of a real wine culture left Bibiana without any immediate opportunity to explore grape-growing and winemaking. As a child, when years of violence and destruction by drug cartels became a major part of everyone’s lives, her family instilled the core values that make her the spirited human and resolute force in winegrowing that she is today. 

Through hard work, tenacity, and honesty combined with an unwavering pursuit of excellence she eventually landed in France and enrolled at the University of Bordeaux to follow her dream of someday making wine. Two degrees and countless harvests later, in 2012, Cattleya Wines was born. Named for the national flower of her homeland, there is a Cattleya Orchid on the label to honor her family and her upbringing in Colombia. The wines themselves are driven by Bibiana’s experiences, made whole from her technical training at the likes of first-growth Bordeaux Château Haut-Brion and famed producer of Cote-Rotie Syrah, Domaine Clusel-Roch. While abroad she focused equally on vineyard cultivation and winemaking and not long after grew hungry for the land of opportunity. After all, making a wine she could call her own wasn’t as realistic of a goal, or even as important as it might become if she were to stay in France and continue to champion for cool-climate Syrah and the Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blend that makes the white wine of Bordeaux so unique. Stateside, she flexed her assistant winemaking muscles at several wineries before being named Winemaker at Lynmar Estate in 2009. She took the rains as consulting winemaker at Pahlmeyer in 2012 while simultaneously spearheading vineyard management for their new Pinot Noir project Wayfarer and launching her passion project, Cattleya Wines. In 2015 she was named San Francisco Chronicle’s Winemaker of the Year. Bibiana’s winemaking philosophy is centered around the development of complex aromatics, mouth-filling texture, focused acidity, and precise tannins. She is keen to ignore numbers when it comes to making harvest decisions, she relies on her senses and intuition instead. In the cellar however, she embraces her scientific background and is dedicated to making clean, age-worthy wines. 

Cuvee Number One is a pure reflection of one of the coolest areas of the Russian River Valley appellation, Green Valley. Three Pinot Noir clones are harvested and fermented separately in open-top stainless steel tanks. A gentle extraction ensues by way of hand-only punch-downs allowing for optimal levels of color, flavor and tannin, then aged in 30% new French Oak for one year. "...This wine bursts from the glass aromatically with notes of ripe raspberry, black cherry, and strawberry cream. A blanket of soft, velvety tannin envelops juicy flavors of red currant, crushed strawberries, and blackberry crisp." ~ Bibiana's Tasting Note A wine to enjoy in its youth but if you're patient, it will age gracefully for the next 5 to 10 years. 320 cases produced.