Vivier Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 2020

Proprietor and Winemaker, Stéphane Vivier, learned his laissez-faire method of winemaking while growing up at the feet of an elderly neighbor whose family had been making wine for centuries in Meloisey, Burgundy.  His skills were then cultivated in the vineyards and cellars of Pommard, Meursault, and Chassagne-Montrachet.  After obtaining degrees in viticulture and enology from the Université de Bourgogne in Dijon, he moved on to work harvests in Switzerland, Sonoma and New Zealand.  In 2002 he moved to Napa to become the winemaker at Hyde de Villaine in Carneros, under the tutelage of the great Burgundian winemaker, Aubert de Villaine, the co-owner of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (which is considered to be one of the world's greatest Pinot Noir producers as well as the world's most expensive).  Stéphane’s wife Dana, whose love for wine began in eastern Washington’s emerging wine country while attending college in Walla Walla, spent a year studying at La Sorbonne in Paris which gave her fluency in French and a deep appreciation for leisurly meals with friends and great wine.  After her postgraduate study at UC Davis, Dana landed a job working for an investment management company that specialized in high-end vineyards, which relocated her to Napa.  Shortly thereafter, she met Stéphane, and it wasn’t long before the two realized that they belonged together.  

Stéphane and Dana launched their brand back in 2009 right after the two were married. Dana suggested that Stéphane make Pinot Noir, considering that he had grown up literally running through the vineyards of Burgundy.  He asked her, “Where will the money come from?”  And she told him, “Don’t worry.  This is America.”  That same year they started their own label with a handful of maxed out credit cards and just 30 cases of wine. Today, still incredibly small in production, Vivier’s bottlings have grown to become sought after and cherished by sommeliers and wine lovers looking for joyful, food friendly wines made from the heart.  

The fruit for this wine is sourced from two vineyards in the Petaluma Gap region. The primary source is an old farm ranch with fantastic heritage Burgundian selections; a hidden gem with 30-year-old vines. Aged in seasoned French oak and bottled without fining or filtration, this wine is balanced without sacrificing an ounce of nuance.  Silky and supple, this has great precision of fruit and spice with bright cherry fruit, black tea, floral notes of rose and violet, exotic spice, and a long, elegant finish.  The picture on the label was taken in the late 1890s at the bottom of the Pommard “les Rugiens” Premier Cru vineyard.  The gentleman in the photo is an ancestor of Stéphane’s elderly neighbor