Mission Codename Second life
Pinot people in the house!! Gather round because we have a wicked good one today.
It’s a wine you probably won’t find anywhere - not even your local, hipster-cool garagiste haven. A micro-production Pinot Noir from a small producer. We mean micro-production, just 111 cases made!
The wind behind this project is Tobias Glen Vineyard, they combined ‘deux’ French for two, and ‘ankh’ Egyptian for life used to honor new beginnings and earth, for showcasing their younger vines otherwise destined to feed the higher-end JINSEI bottling that sells for $75. Before launching their own wines, the Tobias Glen Vineyard supplied Merry Edwards for a single vineyard Pinot for a few vintages. Other top names like Joseph Swan, Dehlinger, and Paul Hobbs are right in the neighborhood.
Stéphane Vivier makes the wine here, having grown up in Burgundy where Pinot Noir is life. He spent time at cellars in Meursault, Chassagne-Montrachet, and Pommard, epicenters of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir done right. He then cut his teeth at formidable California institutions including Long Meadow Ranch and Hyde de Villaine better known as HdV, that renowned collaboration between the Hyde family, and Aubert de Villaine of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.
This is RRV Pinot as you like it - deep, intensely flavored, and brimming with fruit and spice. Black cherry, baking spice, warm rhubarb pie, dusty minerality. It straddles that fine line between great red Burgundy and in-your-face Russian River richness. Unstoppably delicious to drink on its own, with a skillfully grilled cut of wild salmon glazed with miso and ginger, it will knock socks off.
If you’re discerning as we are about Pinot, this is your jam. Barely 4 barrels made, and we have but a fraction of that up for grabs.
What the Winery Says
2020 Tobias Glen Vineyard RRV Pinot Noir
- Winemaker
- Stéphane Vivier
- Varietal
- 100% Pinot Noir
- Vintage
- 2020
- Alcohol
- 13.8%
- Appellation
- Russian River Valley, Sonoma County
- Vineyards
- Tobias Glen Vineyard
- Soils
- Gold Ridge Loam, Silt, and Clay
- Aging
- 8 months
- Barrels
- 100% neutral French oak