After nearly a 12 year wait, I finally made “The List”…this is my favorite domestic wine, so I am thrilled. I purchased some Chardonnay earlier this year, but this is what I’ve been waiting for…very excited. I will be taking my full offering, plus hope to hunt done some more West Block on the secondary market.
July, 2019
Hello Len Stevens,
We are currently preparing for our 2019 Single Vineyard Pinot Noir offer. In 2 weeks we will send out an email for the offer. When you receive the email you can log into your account to place your order.
This is an offer, not an allocation, so your wines are not held. Orders are filled on a first come first served basis, so we encourage you to place your order as soon as possible.
Thank you as always for your continued support of our wines.
Our 2019 Single Vineyard Pinot Noir offer will include:
2017 Sweetwater Pinot Noir-$86 (6 bottle limit)
2017 Little Hill Pinot Noir-$86 (6 bottle limit)
2017 River Block Pinot Noir-$90 (4 bottle limit)
2017 Big Hill Pinot Noir-$90 (4 bottle limit)
2017 Three Corner Pinot Noir-$90 (2 bottle limit)
2017 West Block Pinot Noir-$112 (2 bottle limit)
If you have any questions, please contact us at 707-433-2305 or email us at info@rochioliwinery.com
We love this wine. I’ve been on the mailing list for several years. I buy the Williams Selyem wine. Alysian also made a Rochioli wine that I have purchased. Other than that, I’ve been able to get some bottles from Total Wine. Looking forward to getting an allocation.
I’ve been on their list for many years. Each of the blocks are different. Right when I think I have a favorite, another block knocks it out of the park. West block is always wonderful. Three corners have been impressive recently.
Went on a Mediterranean cruise with Rochioli Winery in 2014. Nicest people in the world. Had a blast!
If anyone is a fan of Rochioli fruit, I would highly recommend Castalia. This is a wine made by Tom Bering, Rochioli’s cellar master for the last 25 years or so…he"s a great guy and his wines are 100% Rochioli fruit and very fairly priced.
Looks like you’re either on the list or you’re not. Those allocations are identical to mine, and I’ve been buying since I think the 2001 vintage. Although I usually take only 12-18 bottles, which is always less than I’m offered.
15 years…that’s impressive! I’d love to hear your thoughts on the various blocks. I was told that there would also be an opportunity to buy their Syrah a bit later this year. I’ve never had that either, so I will be a buyer then…
One of these days I’d love to do a horizontal tasting of Rochioli. Many solid producers using Rochioli fruit (although definitely not from the same blocks). I get the Selyem and Gary Farrells pretty regularly and love them both. Would be fun to see “who does it best”. Have any of you done something like this and, if so, what were your impressions of the stylistic differences among the producers - or did you feel like the site variation drove most of the difference?
East and West blocks are definitely the class of the group, although East was pulled out after the '08 vintage for replanting.
3 Corner is also a favorite. Perhaps less structured but such beautiful, pure, hedonistic pinot fruit expression. And don’t confuse hedonistic with big. All the wines seem to have the ability to heap on the flavor without ever tipping into the full bodied camp. Historically 3 Corner has only been made intermittently, but it seems that of late there’s always some offered.
Little Hill is perhaps the most structured of the designates, and I’ve found that if any of these are going to exhibit hard edges its that one. Some show very well, but some less so. Not my favorite.
River Block, while rarely a showstopper, is almost always a winner. While Sweetwater is by far the youngest block, and the only one not right by the Russian River, one shouldn’t sleep on those, as they’ve definitely established a place in the portfolio.
Big Hill in brand new; just released for the first time last year so no comments yet.
Regarding the other Rochioli wines, I adore the designate chardonnays, am not a big fan of the sauvignon blanc (I may be an out liner there), and have never tried the Syrah.
As for visiting, unfortunately they are now just by appointment. But there are few picnic spots in Sonoma that can compete with theirs, as you sit on top of the vineyard looking out of the trees that line the river.
I was on the list many years ago. I was offered “picnic” wines for a couple of years and finally got one offering of small block wines. The next year I got offered more “picnic” wine and got thrown off the list when I didn’t buy all of it. A classic example of a winery pushing its crap on their customers for the privilege of being allowed to buy the good stuff. Also visited them once when in Sonoma and they were totally full of themselves. I hope things have changed.
That’s not how the list operates. There are 3 main releases annually - single vineyard chardonnay, single vineyard pinot, and Estate (the “picnic” wines, as you call them). Customers are required to purchase from 2 of these 3 releases. I don’t buy anything from the estate offering. Not that these aren’t worthy wines, and often lots of bang for the buck, but between the two single vineyard releases my need for Rochioli is satisfied.
In 2014, Rochioli winery had a tasting on a cruise with the many producers of a Rochioli Pinot grapes from 2012. It was very interesting. Alysian, Castalia, Gary Farrell and Williams Selyem pinots along with Rochioli’s river block. Really liked what Gary Farrell did! But, all had similar profiles. Tom Rochioli talked fondly of the other producers and what they did with his grapes.
I signed up for the single vineyards without ever buying any appellation or estate wines. I was surprised when they told me I could buy small blocks 10 years later. Glad I did! Thank you John Ammons for your descriptions of the different pinots- very spot on. And, I like their small block chardonnays even more and they are cheaper than their pinots.
As luck would have it, a limited, small block offering showed up today. 6 Little Elm, 6 Sweetwater and 2 Three Corner. I’ve got a lot of Pinot coming. Trying to see how much of this allocation I can fit in. I’ve been on the list for 5 years. I did buy some Rose earlier this year in an effort to get on the Pinot list.
The descriptions above were extremely helpful. They also have a great vineyard map on the website.