Wine & Spirits - Winter 2017 - 46

Radio-Coteau

Ravenswood

Eric Sussman's wines present coastal Sonoma and Mendocino vineyards with
startling immediacy.

Joel Peterson established Ravenswood with a focus on single-vineyard, oldvine zinfandel. Forty years on, Ravenswood's collection of historic vineyards in
Napa Valley and Sonoma County remains second to none.

Redwood Variations: Taste Sussman's 2014 Las Colinas Syrah, 2014
Dierke Pinot Noir and 2013 Lemorel Zinfandel next to the Terra
Neuma and you'll really get what he's up to. There's an extraordinary
kinship to the wines: rich yet tense fruit; cool, peppery spice; firm
and snappy acidity-as if they're just subtle variations
on a larger coastal theme. Rather than staying in
their predefined varietal lanes, the wines emphasize the unique savor of western Sonoma.
While all three are enjoyable now, they'll
become even more complex and harmonious with a few years (or more) in the cellar.
Radio for the Rest of Us: If you can't quite
spring for a bottle of Radio-Coteau, keep
an eye out for County Line-a more affordable companion label. The 2016 Rosé, made
Eric Sussman
from a parcel of Champagne clone pinot noir
farmed by Mary Elke, is tart and refreshing,
with a bright rhubarb character. And the 2016
Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir might not be as profound
or perfumed as his single-vineyard wines, but it's wonderfully juicy, with a soft strawberry tone that suggests a delicious
Beaujolais-Villages. -L.S.

...to Affordable Petite: Back in 1983, Peterson bottled some bulk juice
from Gundlach-Bundschu as his first Vintners Blend Zinfandel. The
concept took off, turning what had been a small, artisanal winery
into an attractive acquisition for Constellation Brands, which bought
Ravenswood in 2001 and
now bottles half a million
cases a year. This year, it
was the Vintners Blend
Petite Sirah that stood
out, packing in more
fresh blackberry flavor
and peppercorn spice
than you'd expect at $10.
Gary Sitton & Joel Peterson
A Return to His Roots: Gary
Sitton began his career
at Ravenswood in 1999,
starting in the cellar and
working his way up to winemaker by 2006. After stints at Blackstone
and Clos du Bois, Sitton returned to Ravenswood in 2015 as director
of winemaking; Peterson is now taking more time for his own label,
Once & Future, while helping Sitton with the Ravenswood wines.
Meanwhile, Sitton has introduced a second crush lane to segregate
old-vine fruit for the vineyard designates from the larger lots. He's
also exploring potential sources for single-vineyard zins
from Lodi-which would be a first for Ravenswood. It
may require adjusting some farming practices, but Sitton
has his sights set on new terrain. -G.M.

DETAILS & TOP WINES

Founded: 2002 * Owner/winemaker/viticulturist: Eric
Sussman * Acres owned: 22 * Annual production: 4,800
cases * Estate grown: 15% * Location: Sebastopol, CA
Website: radiocoteau.com

Founded: 1976 * Winemaker: Gary Sitton
Viticulturist: Paul Sequeira * Owner: Constellation Brands
Acres owned: 14 * Annual production: 500,000 cases
Estate grown: N/A Location: Sonoma, CA
Website: ravenswoodwinery.com

95 2014 Sonoma Coast Terra Neuma
Pinot Noir $68 (8/17)
94 2014 Sonoma Coast Las Colinas Syrah $48 (2/17)
93 2014 Sonoma Coast Dierke Pinot Noir $68 (8/17)

93 2014 Alexander Valley Big River
Zinfandel $37 (2/17)
92 2014 Sonoma Valley Old Hill Zinfandel $60 (2/17)
91 2014 Napa Valley Old Vine Zinfandel $18 (8/17)

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From Artisanal Zin... Peterson grew up around wine-his father ran
a wine-tasting club in San Francisco-and he started Ravenswood
with some basic winemaking tenets that he holds to this day: Harvest when the grapes are ripe and still relatively restrained in their
potential alcohol, ferment them without added yeasts and age the
wine in a mix of new and used French oak for 18 months. The wines
he produced under those tenets helped him gain access to some of
the North Coast's most venerable vines, including Sonoma's Old Hill
Vineyard. When he took it over in 1983, the vines were more than
100 years old, a mix of mostly zinfandel, along with some petite sirah
and alicante bouschet, grenache and trousseau. Those vines were still
producing in 2014, their old-vine concentration filling Peterson's Old
Hill bottling with dark, inky flavor as well as mouthwatering acidity.

WINE & SPIRITS

BUYING GUIDE 2018

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photo of Eric Sussman by Sean Desmond

TOP 100 WINERIES 2017

The Singularity: Not exactly delicate or silky, the latest Terra Neuma
release from Radio-Coteau feels almost syrah-like, gripping and
gamey-a Sonoma Coast pinot noir for Cornas fans. Eric Sussman, who studied viticulture in Beaune and apprenticed at Comte
Armand in the mid-1990s, discovered the Terra Neuma Vineyard
right around the time he started Radio-Coteau in 2002, before it had
even produced its first crop. Benziger had developed the site for the
Angleman family on a windy bluff near Bodega, and Sussman was
intrigued by the biodynamic farming they were practicing there.
Now that the vines are into their second decade, they seem to have
reached a new level of complexity. In 2014, Terra Neuma's carefully
tended soil, naturally low yields and cool zip code grew pinot noir
with a mineral pungency that's unusual in California, and Sussman's
minimalist winemaking-no additions other than sulfur-harnessed
those flavors in a wine that feels intense and singular, with feral notes
enlivened by delightful scents of pine and violet.

http://www.radiocoteau.com http://www.ravenswoodwinery.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Winter 2017