2023 vintage
Russian River Vineyards
Sonoma, USA · Winemaker: David Park · 28 members
What happened
The vintage, in five moments.
- Wettest winter in a decade — reservoirs full, canopy dense, mildew pressure high through May.
- Dropped one cluster per shoot in June. Crew debated the call for three days on the group chat.
- Pick split across three mornings, September 8–10, to catch each clone at its window.
- Barrel-sample tasting in March 2024 surfaced a brett risk in one lot — David racked twice and saved it.
- Bottled September 2024, 340 cases, released February 2025.
The final wine
What we bottled.
The 2023 Russian River Pinot is the one David will be proudest of in ten years. Cool-climate structure, red fruit that sits above the palate instead of weighing on it, tannin that resolved faster than expected after malolactic. Members who cellared half their allocation are already writing in about how it's opening up.
From the Crew
“The brett scare was the most I've learned about wine in a decade. David walked us through what he was tasting, what he was smelling, and why he made the call to rack again. You don't get that reading a magazine.”
“Six bottles showed up on a Thursday. I opened one that night with a friend who makes wine in Oregon. She asked who made it. I said, 'I kind of helped.'”