93 pts Vinous
Drinking Window2026-2034
The 2021 Pinot Noir Sojeau is youthfully restrained, masking its power behind a veil of dried blueberries, underbrush and hints of mint. This is silky and enveloping, with a bump of zesty acidity up front and saline minerals that add lovely contrast to its tart red and black fruits. It finishes structured and dramatically long, leaving a spicy sensation, notes of black tea and violet inner florals that linger on and on. This is just a baby today, yet it has the balance to mature beautifully over the coming decade.

The 2022s from Will Hamilton at Violin show just how special this vintage can be from the right sources and in the right hands. In this case, fruit sourced from vineyards that avoided any damage from the spring frost. Together with lower yields and picking earlier for freshness, 2022 resulted in a savory set of well-structured and complex wines. Hamilton didnt have to contend with secondary buds due to frost, or the issue of overabundance that plagued some wineries; he had all of his fruit in before the threat of rain during harvest. This was a truly satisfying portfolio to taste through. The use of new oak is minimal. Balance and purity are front and center, while alcohol levels hover in the 12.5-13% range for Chardonnay and the low 13% range for Pinot Noir. Wine should be delicious, first and foremost. I want to find purity, and Im not a fan of new oak, Hamilton explains. He points out that Two thousand twenty-two wasnt a frost year for us. It was just a really late vintage. Late budding, late flowering and late harvest. Personally, I cant recommend Violin highly enough. The single-vineyard wines are fantastic, but dont pass up the chance to taste the Polk County Cuve, a Pinot Noir that blends fruit from Temperance Hill, Witness Tree, Justice and Sojeau Vineyards with vines that average 25 years old. – ByEric GuidoonMay 2024, Vinous Media

Having skipped bottling individual vineyard wines in 2020, the 21 becomes Violins fifth edition of Pinot from this site, incorporating 6 of the 12 total barrels we filled for a volume of nearly 150 cases. The wet and cold weather in mid June disrupted the success of bloom at Sojeau more than other vineyards, leaving berry size uniquely tiny and cluster weights low. As a result, we had similarly modest yields as in the previous vintage (well under 2 tons per acre). Sojeaus robust canopy allowed for a quite rapid push to the finish line; September 11th being the earliest pick in our decade of working with the site. The intensity in the wines is very much the story of this early and low yielding scenario, with richly layered texture against finely integrated framework. The balance of elements always leans Sojeau Pinot in the direction of elegance, the acids perfectly situated within the dense core. The old saying iron fist in a velvet glove could even be applied to Sojeau with the power and concentration in this bottling achieving a compelling sense of purity and gracefulness after the extended aging and meticulous barrel selection. Racked to tank in mid December before bottling on January 23rd, 2023

145 CASES MADE