From the email.
Due to the challenges brought about by the 2020 vintage, we have moved the release of the 2021 Pinots into the spot normally reserved for Cabernet. The wines are still in barrel and will be bottled on schedule in August.
The 2022 Rivers-Marie Summer Offer will go live on Tuesday, July 12th at 9:00 AM PST. As in the past, this release is via email only. At the time the release opens, you will receive an email with a link to the offer and your log-in credentials.
The offer:
2021 Rivers-Marie Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir – $35/btl
2021 Rivers-Marie Bearwallow Vineyard Pinot Noir – $60/btl
2021 Rivers-Marie Joy Road Vineyard Pinot Noir – $60/btl
2021 Rivers-Marie Silver Eagle Vineyard Pinot Noir – $60/btl
2021 Rivers-Marie Occidental Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir – $70/btl
2021 Rivers-Marie Summa Vineyard Pinot Noir – $70/btl
2021 Rivers-Marie Bodega Thieriot Vineyard Pinot Noir – $80/btl
2021 Rivers-Marie Platt Vineyard Pinot Noir – $80/btl
2021 Rivers-Marie Summa Old Vines Pinot Noir – $90/btl
Joy road and Bodega Thieriot seem to be new to the Pinot (I think they’re already in the Chardonnay)
Hopefully we’ll see tasting notes or something prior to buying, even if they’re bottled in August.
I hope so too. The price point on the Thieriot is interesting as well. Maybe Will will chime in with a preview as well as potential quantities 
Anne told me the yields were way down in ‘21 so allocations will be tight. Also said the wines are great.
Close. The yields in Napa were way down, way up in Sonoma. Correct on the quality - it’s sky high.
I’m still working on the final allocation, but it looks like everything will be 3 btls or more with the exception of Platt (but I’m hoping to be able to offer everyone a standard one bottle allocation).
As soon as I get the tasting notes/newsletter from Thomas, I’ll post it here.
Do you know the abv for these. I really enjoyed the 18 but not so much the 19s and abv on 19 were all 14%+
Well, I know what I’ll be spending my disposable income in July on…
Will, when do you expect to be shipping the wines?
Thanks,
Geoff
Great, I’ll be in Asia when this hits…
I hope my allocations don’t get reduced while I’m sleeping and the mailer hits!
Didn’t get the email, but looks like some interesting new Pinots.
Looking forward to the tasting notes. While my recent purchases have decreased, this may break the trend.
If anyone doesn’t want their Platt allocation Id gladly take it!
I have a rather silly quandry. My biz (private wine consultant) has had a couple of strong years and my personal collection has grown from 250 bottles to over 2000. But the reality is I simply need to reduce my purchases. There are my faves that I have been purchasing all that I’m offered (Kutch, RM, Rochi small block, Bedrock)-I guess I will be more selective. First world problems!
Heavy lies the crown Len. Will pray for you.
Well I plan on odering whatever OV Summa I’m offered along with the Platt. Anything else I can get for you, send me a DM.
I hear ya!
Others with longer experience can chime in, but my impression is that they won’t sell out in just a few hours and that you can sleep soundly knowing that you can still order in the morning and your allocation will remain.
That is going to be a rough 2 weeks with Bedrock, Saxum and now R-M. I haven’t ever taken any of my allocation, how’s the Sonoma Coast Pinot for $35?
From what I rememeber,
last year Platt was lottery.
The previous year, it was whoever ordered first.
I’m just hoping I can at least get a bottle of it.
Also the Sonoma Coast is still one of the best QPR for California pinot.
For $35 the Sonoma Coast pinot is a steal. I love that wine especially at $35. A local retailer has carried it and it sells out pretty fast. That is one of many reasons I joined the list.
For those that asked, here is a preview of the newsletter/TN’s ahead of Tuesday’s release. --will
Summer 2022
What a difference a year makes. We go from basically nothing to our most abundant Pinot vintage to date. After 12 months of holding our breath, 2021 felt like a return to normal on the Sonoma Coast. For all the talk of drought and heat on the Napa side, Sonoma fared way closer to normal weather wise. With the changing conditions we have been experiencing these last several years, we are beginning to see the benefit of these above average sized crops. In earlier days, the thought was you couldn’t make good Pinot with yields above a certain arbitrary level. Not sure why it took us so long to figure out this was a purely subjective standard but these warmer years have pulled back the curtain on a new type of balance in the vineyard. In 2021, a small crop would have roasted on the vine, accumulating sugar way ahead of true ripeness and forcing us to decide between normal brix levels showcasing underripe fruit or sweeter, more candied style wines made with physiologically ripe grapes. The bigger 2021 crop helped balance the early heat of the growing season allowing us to be patiently waiting to pick after the traditional Labor Day heat wave broke. Selfishly, this bigger crop was a welcome sight after declassifying almost all of the 2020 vintage but it was only made possible at the highest qualitative levels by the complementary warm, dry growing conditions.
Try though we may to keep our line up to a reasonable number of bottlings, you’ll see two new offerings in this mailer. Terry Adams’ Joy Road Vineyard Chardonnay has been a part of our program since 2013 and now we add a Pinot bottling to complement it. The first vintage from our leased piece in Freestone, the Bodega Thieriot Vineyard, looks to potentially be the star of the entire line up. We partnered with Max and Lexi Thieriot to plant this A+ piece of dirt in 2017 and now we are releasing our first effort. This should grow to become a cornerstone of the Rivers-Marie Pinot program.
The Wines
2021 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast, 1200 cases, $35
Given the abundance of 2021, we were able to make some hard qualitative cuts and still have plenty of wine to satisfy our single vineyard needs. Whereas the 2019 was exclusively Riddle Vineyard, the 2021 features pieces of Joy Road and Bearwallow and small slivers of Summa and Occidental Ridge. This returns it more to an insight into the Occidental coast as a whole though it does skew stylistically toward the northeastern corner of that area. As I’m tasting this, it feels like a wine that will need a few years to fully open which could be a difficult trait for an appellation wine. We’ve never made this wine to be a lesser wine than the vineyard designates though. Our approach in the vineyard and winery is the same for all the lots that comprise a vintage. I think because of this, all the vintages of this bottling taste a bit differently. The 2021 leads with a medium plus color and a flavor profile featuring pomegranates, ground herbs, plum and black cherry. Smoke, loamy earth and spring flowers add a savory note to balance the fruit. There are some chewy tannins on the finish which reminds me of the 2013 and 2016. As usual there is very little new oak on this wine so the structure here is more fruit tannin than barrel.
2021 Rivers-Marie Bearwallow Vineyard Pinot Noir Anderson Valley, 250 cases, $60
This is definitely the most backward of the 2021s. Usually it’s one of the extreme Sonoma Coast bottlings that needs the most time to unwind but here this deep end Anderson Valley wine features abundant fruit tannin and natural acidity. I think the 12.9% alcohol also has something to do with that, there’s no glycerol sweetness to balance all the rawness of the wine at this early stage. The lower ripeness level leads to a wine that is light to medium in color and is focused aromatically on bright red fruits and floral notes of freesia and rose petals. The traditional wildness of Anderson Valley pokes in on the palate with chalk, mint, roasted herbs and loamy earth. Even for all the restraint, there’s a mouthwatering character to the wine that makes it appealing now with food and promises a long life ahead.
2021 Rivers-Marie Silver Eagle Vineyard Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast, 325 cases, $60
Silver Eagle was the only site for us that came in light in 2021 at just under 2 tons per acre. It is one of our earlier vineyards so there’s a chance it flowered in a period of erratic weather at the very beginning of the bloom cycle. We knew it was light from first glimpse seeing nice, open clusters and small berries. What this also meant in a warmer, drier harvest was an earlier than normal pick. All three of our blocks at Silver Eagle came in on August 30th, a full 10 days before we picked anything else. The wine is incredibly concentrated, not unusual for this vineyard, but there’s a fruit purity that stands out making this instantly recognizable as Silver Eagle. The spectrum runs from deep red to purple fruits with elements of plum, sweet black cherry, pomegranates and black raspberries. We went a little higher on the whole cluster percentage in 2021 to help balance the concentration and add some mid-palate texture and aromatic pop. Even at 20% though, it’s hardly noticeable through all the palate weight. Somewhere deep down I’m sure there’s impact. The wine’s trajectory stays very focused and the mid-palate has a savory, textural component that adds smoke, graphite, mint, orange peel, lavender and spice to the framing tannins on the finish.
2021 Rivers-Marie Joy Road Vineyard Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast, 425 cases, $60
We coveted the Pinot Noir from Joy Road well before we even started working with the Chardonnay in 2013. Having spent many years walking the Chardonnay block before harvest and sneaking in for a little taste of the various blocks of Pinot fruit along the way, we felt we had a pretty good sense of the entire vineyard. The Chardonnay block here is only a third of an acre and most of the Pinot blocks aren’t much bigger so combining several blocks into one ferment was the pre-harvest goal. As we got closer to picking, we couldn’t get a handle on exactly how we wanted to blend blocks so we ended up fermenting everything separately, 7 lots across 3 acres. It was a lot more work but ultimately gave us great insight into the vineyard character, upper slope vs. lower blocks, same clone/different rootstock, Dijon vs. heritage clones, etc. There were a few surprises along the way but that also makes this first edition a much stronger wine. Surprisingly strong and surprisingly weak blocks in 2021 were properly slotted to this new single vineyard designate and our Sonoma Coast bottling. In character and proximity it is closest to Summa, red fruited and higher toned with a lifted white flower and sandalwood perfume and a crunchy, cranberry tinged palate. The acidity carries the finish which feels typical for this western Occidental neighborhood. We ended up bottling about 60% of the wine as this new vineyard designate, curious to see what we get with a little more knowledge and a fresh crack at it in 2022.
2021 Rivers-Marie Occidental Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast, 325 cases, $70
I feel like this is entering Summa territory where we have run out of original ways to describe the greatness of this site. Somehow this manages to be one of the most generous wines in the lineup every year while also having the greatest aging potential. Our last bottle of the inaugural 2005, consumed two months ago, tasted like it was two years old. As much as we talk about the acidity on the far west coast, this site slightly inland from the town of Occidental always has the lowest pH at harvest. In looking at the three individual Dijon clones, pick pHs ranged from 3.31 to 3.43, even with brix levels of 23 to 24.4. I’ve never understood how this happens but have always been thankful for what it contributes to the finished wine, a wine with great pliancy that retains a firm, textured mid-palate with a mouthwatering finish. Our goal is always weightiness without heaviness and no wine speaks to that every year like Occidental Ridge. Black raspberries, black cherries, pennyroyal mint, sage and underbrush dominate the nose and palate finishing with a healthy dollop of fruit tannin which seems to be a theme this vintage but also a quality this site imparts every year.
2021 Rivers-Marie Bodega Thieriot Vineyard Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast, 550 cases, $80
I’ve never seen a new wine in an established line up contend for wine of the vintage. We should have known when we planted this 9 acre plot in 2017 that greatness would come early given the Freestone neighborhood in which it resides. In hindsight, one of the smartest things we did was to plant the entire vineyard to the Calera clone. There are 5 blocks from this vineyard all fermented and barreled separately and it’s hard to create a pecking order. With neighbors like Occidental Winery and Platt Vineyard, the character of the wine comes as no surprise. It’s darker fruited and brooding packed with fruit tannin and vibrant acidity that give focus and lift. This wind buffered site comes with thick skins so color comes easily even at lower brix levels. The perfume is what grabbed us first: lavender, licorice, violets and wood smoke. As good as all this is, the best news might be that we have a lease in place for 2/3s of this site through 2050. I doubt I’ll have much to do with it at that point but it should be an integral piece of the Rivers-Marie line up for generations to come.
2021 Rivers-Marie Platt Vineyard Sonoma Coast, 120 cases, $80
I love this wine, I just wish there was more of it. This part of the Freestone bench is slowly becoming the greatest area for Pinot on the Sonoma Coast. Our success with Platt is what inspired us to pursue the lease at Bodega Thieriot so vigorously. The wine is its usual darker than average color given the thickness of the skins in this block. There’s a brooding, Burgundian funk on the nose that fills up the room when you pour the first glass. It’s an exotic, kaleidoscopic mix of scorched earth, violets, spearmint, wood smoke and plums. As explosive as the nose and palate are, what really sets the wine apart is the texture. Every year this is the defining characteristic of the wine. It’s a wine that you feel as much as you taste. It coats the mouth and holds on. This is mainly fruit tannin that veers in several different directions contributing a scratchy, three dimensional palate impression that also adds a volume to the red and black fruits. There’s plenty of acidity to cut through the brooding initial impression. The cut here keeps the wine light on its feet and extends the finish for as long as you’d like it to last.
2021 Rivers-Marie Summa Vineyard Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast, 450 cases, $70
For me this forms a solid trinity with vintages 2012 and 2018, three years that featured abundant set out on the coast but came in fully developed due to long hang time and near perfect growing seasons. More so than even the other early fully formed wines in 2021, you could drink the regular Summa Vineyard from fermenter. There’s never been a sharp edge to this wine. Instead, time in barrel has added more energy and structure to the wine, allowing it to tighten up, focus and turn slightly reductive as we prepare to rack it for bottling. We always talk about making these wines as naturally as possible and the ultimate goal of that philosophy is allowing wines to find their center. This can take many forms, most involve taking an unpolished lot and letting it sort out its angular early stages. Very occasionally the center exists in the exact opposite direction when you have a wine so thoroughly developed as raw material, you want it to find some rough edges to add character and complexity. This is the case with the 2021 Summa Vineyard. The fruit spectrum veers from red to black to blue, reserving most of the orange elements for the Old Vines bottling. The palate is packed with higher toned elements of red cherries, redcurrants, kirsch and raspberries. The traditional savory features kick in early adding mint, rose petal and a crushed stone minerality. The tannins are very fine grained but still add a crunchiness to the red fruits creating an additional mouthwatering element to the finish.
2021 Rivers-Marie Summa Old Vines Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast, 195 cases, $90
Nostalgia can be a paralyzing trait. As much as we love some of the older vintages of this wine, the current run is just better. I’m not exactly sure where to start that period but based on recent tastings, 2015 is a good jumping off point. All farming practices at Summa are now done with the express purpose of improving the finished wine. That wasn’t always the case when the vineyard was farmed to sell fruit or the transition phase during the early years of our ownership where the focus was on restoring the vineyard to full health. As much as we pine for the earlier, simpler days (when both the SKU count and corresponding mailer were shorter), this site needed changes to achieve what we’ve seen the last few vintages. The new practices include pruning individual vines based on last year’s brush weight, minimal tilling, zero herbicides and dry farming. We feel these have contributed a completeness to the Summa Old Vines bottlings that was lacking in early years. Those years needed bottle age to find balance. These newer iterations feel fully realized even early on in barrel showcasing greater color density, deeper mid-palates and more generous, kaleidoscopic finishes. We keep thinking we’ve seen the qualitative zenith in this bottling in each previous vintage but then along comes 2021.
The Future
This mailer comes earlier than normal basically to try and keep the lights on at the new winery. Missing a vintage and then paying for our biggest one yet has brought what we hope is just a temporary disruption to our normal release schedule. Normally we’d be releasing our 2020 Cabernets right now but none exist so we pushed up the Pinot release six months. In its place you’ll see 2021 Chardonnays the third Tuesday of January 2023 then 2021 Cabernets in their traditional spot the third Tuesday of July 2023. The Chardonnay line up will feature the same 6 wines you’ve seen the last several vintages but with increased quantities. The Cabernet release will look a little different with Round Pond’s M Bar Ranch from Oakville replacing Herb Lamb and the Calistoga bottling encompassing additional sites making it more of a true appellation wine but with Larkmead Vineyard still serving as its core. Quantities are down on the Napa side so you’ll see smaller allocations for several of the bottlings.
Shipping/Allocations
Everyone will receive the same allocation this year. Quantities are strong enough to insure wines, with the exception of the Platt, should last for the duration of the release. Shipping for this vintage will be $4 a bottle in state, $5 a bottle out of state with orders requiring a 4 bottle minimum. We will look to begin shipping in November. If you have any questions, concerns or mag requests please contact Will Segui at will@riversmarie.com or by phone at 707-341-3127.
Thanks again for all the support
Thomas Rivers Brown and Genevieve Marie Welsh
Salivating