
Valravn Pinot Noir: New Wine Economics?
For years we’ve heard your complaints, and we’ve done plenty of the same sort of grumbling ourselves. Yes, we love California artisanry, and we think it is a huge improvement over industrial production that has long dominated – and still dominates – our state’s wine industry. But those artisanal wines are so expensive! Yes, most of us are happy to spend $30, or even far more, for a great bottle of wine. But what about something simple and inexpensive? Do we really have to turn to industrial concerns to provide them?
No we don’t. There is just starting to emerge a new class of wine in California that may be the most exciting of recent trends. New wineries with true artisanal spirits are making everyday, affordable wines. One of the best we’ve come across is Valravn.
Why aren’t there more Valravns out there? Probably, it’s because producing wine this good for such a low price is really hard. It takes a force of nature. Someone like proprietor Baron Ziegler, the kind of guy who bought Bordeaux futures when he was 15 and then flipped them for enough profit to make his first real estate purchase. Baron already had several wine projects behind him (he started Banshee for example) before he founded Valravn.
Their 2023 Sonoma Pinot Noir is a shockingly good under $20 value. It delivers juicy fruity freshness with an undertone of Pinot “earth”. It’s the kind of simple, joyful wine that makes up a big part of day-to-day life in European wine regions (think Dolcetto) but that is just not a big enough part of our culture here.
We are so happy that, just maybe, it’s becoming a thing:
Valravn Sonoma County Pinot Noir 2023 - $19.99
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