The 2018 Caught Us Off Guard. In a Good Way.
We’ll be upfront: 2018 threw us a curveball. The summer ran warmer than Bennett Valley usually does, and the fruit responded. By the time we were walking the vineyard in late August, it was obvious this wasn’t going to be another 2017. Different year, different wine. Once we made peace with that, everything got a lot more interesting.
We make single vineyard pinot noir because we believe one piece of ground, farmed with real attention, tells a more honest story than a blend ever could. The flip side of that commitment is that you don’t get to pick your vintage. You get what the year gives you, and you figure out how to work with it. 2018 gave us something unexpected, and we’re glad it did.
The 2018 Bennett Valley Single Vineyard Pinot Noir has its own thing going on. Rounder, softer, more welcoming right out of the gate. Some vintages you have to wait out. This one opens its arms pretty quickly.
What 2018 Did to Our Vineyard
Warmth Changes the Conversation
Sonoma fog, Sonoma Mountains to the south, same vineyard we always work. None of that changed. What changed was the temperature through July and August. Warmer nights especially. The kind of sustained warmth that nudges pinot noir toward generosity rather than structure.
In a cooler year, our Bennett Valley California pinot noir tends toward tart fruit, firm edges, something you need to sit with for a while before it fully opens. 2018 softened all of that. Strawberry characters showed up that we hadn’t seen before from this site. The plum pushed forward. There was a roundness in the mid-palate that felt genuinely new.
None of this came as a complete surprise once we understood what the season was doing. But understanding it early enough to make the right harvest call, that took work. We were out there tasting fruit every few days through late summer. The window for picking in a warm year is narrower than people think. Go too late and the acidity you need starts slipping away. Pick too early and the depth you’ve been waiting all season for isn’t fully there yet.
We farm one vineyard. No other blocks to fall back on, no other fruit to blend in if something goes sideways. That kind of setup keeps you very focused. It also means the harvest decision carries more weight than it would for a larger operation. We didn’t go too late, and we didn’t rush. The 2018 is the proof.
What’s Actually in the Glass
The Nose: Strawberries First, Then Something Richer
Strawberries hit you right away. Genuinely fresh, not jammy, not cooked. A new character for this vineyard and one we weren’t expecting when the 2018 started coming together. Baking spices follow, richer and warmer than previous vintages. Then underneath all of that, a caramel note that took us by surprise the first time we nosed the finished wine. Soft, warm, not sweet exactly. More like the smell of something good coming out of an oven.
Fourteen months in French oak. That’s where a lot of the spice and caramel depth comes from. Two months longer than the 2017, and you can feel that extra time in the glass. The wood isn’t front and center here. It’s doing background work, adding texture and warmth without getting loud about it.
The Palate: More Energy Than the Nose Suggests
Plums lead on the palate, ripe and generous. Then tart cherries come through with enough bite to keep things honest, stopping the wine from going soft or heavy. Raspberries mid-palate, bright and a little unexpected after the warmth of the nose.
Here’s the thing about the 2018 that we find genuinely exciting: the finish. Long, spiced, warm, and the fruit just keeps going. For a single vineyard pinot noir at $55, that kind of length is not something you expect and then take for granted once you have it.
Silky Is the Right Word for This Wine
Medium weight, mouthfeel that is genuinely silky rather than just described that way because it sounds nice. Tannins are polished. Acidity is present and doing its job without ever jabbing at you. The 2018 is the easiest drinking wine we’ve made from this vineyard, and we say that with zero apology. Sometimes a wine that just works from the first pour is exactly right.
550 cases. Each one got the same attention as the last.
Pinot Noir Food Pairing With the 2018
Put It Next to Almost Anything
Pinot noir food pairing with the 2018 is genuinely low stress. The round, silky profile means it plays well with a wider range of food than a more structured red would. Roast pork. Duck. Glazed salmon. Grilled lamb. A pasta dish with tomatoes. Mushrooms in pretty much any form. The plum and raspberry character in the wine finds something to hold onto alongside dishes with a little sweetness or char, so glazes and reductions are particularly good matches.
It’s also fine on its own. Better than fine, actually. Just open it and pour it without overthinking the food situation. We’ve had it on a Tuesday night with nothing particular happening and it was exactly the right call. Not every bottle needs a special occasion to justify opening it.
Try It With a Light Chill
Fifteen minutes in the refrigerator before opening. The tart cherry and raspberry snap into focus in a really pleasing way when the wine is slightly cool. The 2018 might be our favorite vintage for this. The fruit profile suits it even more than the 2017 does.
$55 for This Wine Makes Sense and Here Is Why
Single vineyard pinot noir from a Sonoma site we farm ourselves, fourteen months in French oak, 550 cases, from a vintage that genuinely surprised us in the best way. Priced at $55 because we wanted it to get opened, not stored.
If you’ve been searching for a California pinot noir under $60 with real character and a specific sense of place, the 2018 Bennett Valley is worth your time. It’s not trying to be a $100 wine. It’s trying to be exactly what it is, and it succeeds at that pretty convincingly.
Honest Thoughts on the 2018
It took us longer than we’d like to admit to stop comparing the 2018 to the 2017. They come from the same vineyard, and that’s where the similarity ends. Different season, different personality, different wine. The 2018 is warmer, softer, more immediately generous. Once we stopped expecting it to behave like its predecessor and just tasted it for what it actually was, we realized it was doing something more interesting than we’d given it credit for.
If you’ve been on the fence about this one, here’s our honest recommendation: stop waiting. The 2018 is drinking beautifully right now. It’ll continue to develop over the next two to three years if you want to hold some back. But it’s not going to last forever on the shelf, ours or yours.
Grab it while it’s here. 550 cases go faster than you’d think, and we won’t be restocking it.
