2017 Fort Ross Seaview, Sea Field Vineyard Pinot Noir
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
Made with 100% whole cluster, the 2017 Pinot Noir Home Field Vineyard is pale to medium ruby in the glass and offers up smoked meats, stone, violets, wet bark and citrus peel over a dense core of cranberry, pomegranate and rhubarb with dried black tea leaves notions. Light to medium-bodied, it explodes in the mouth with orange peel, earthy nuances and fantastically concentrated fruits, knit with a fine frame of lightly chalky tannins and juicy freshness, finishing very long and layered. This is drinking beautifully now but will age well in bottle.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
Impressive freshness and purity of fruit here, making for an enticing young pinot with an air of grace and great potential. Such compelling, earthy sous bois, spices and fresh red cherries. The palate has a captivatingly layered and seamless feel, building fresh red-cherry and deeper blueberry flavors. The rhythm and depth here are magnificent. Superb. Try from 2022.
According to Carlo Mondavi and his colleagues at Raen, 'Home Field Vineyard is our pretty lady. Pure elegance. Situated on a remote hillside, planted under two miles from the cool Pacific Ocean and perched at 1,400 feet, Home Field offers a delicate message from its beautiful raw expanse'. Whole-cluster, wild fermentation, aged in neutral French oak barrels, bottled without fining or filtration. Pale to mid garnet. Dark fruits on the nose – even a hint of blackcurrant. Pretty sweet and ripe. Less refined than the Raen 2017 from the Bodega vineyard. A little chunky and fleshy. This doesn't taste as cool as I would expect from a site so close to the ocean. There's a tiny hint of Russian River sweetness even, though it's far from soupy. Could stand up to a wide range of foods – preserved meats such as ham and salami, for instance. (JR)
The 2017 Pinot Noir Home Field is the most inward of the three Pinots from Raen. Intense whole cluster savoriness, saline underpinnings and searing tannins give the 2017 much of its reticence today. Even so, the 2017 offers tremendous energy and overall intensity, not to mention tons of personality. I suspect all it needs is time in bottle. Readers will have to be quite patient, as the 2017 is not at all ready to offer much in the way of pleasure today.