Four-Pack · California Pinot Noir · Virtual Pop-Up Shop 2026
Fifty-One Shades of Pinot
The sold-out pack got an upgrade. One new shade. Still four opinions. Still zero wrong answers.
Fifty Shades of Pinot sold out. So we went back to the cellar, found one more shade, and made it better.
This time the opener is Paul Hobbs — one of California’s most celebrated winemakers, working the Sonoma Coast under his Crossbarn label with the same meticulous attention to site that defines everything he touches. From there the pack follows a considered arc: a Russian River benchmark from Ramey, a single-vineyard Sonoma Coast statement from DiPalermo, and the Talbott Sleepy Hollow 2014 to close proceedings with eleven years of bottle age and absolutely no apologies. Four Pinots. Four completely different ideas about what California Pinot should taste like. One very good evening.
🌸 The Bottles — Open in Order of Weight
Crossbarn by Paul Hobbs 2017 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
Sonoma Coast · Pinot Noir · 2017 · Paul Hobbs · Start here
Paul Hobbs in accessible form — all the house precision, a fraction of the flagship price
Paul Hobbs is one of California’s most respected winemakers, with a track record stretching from Napa Cabernet to Argentine Malbec that few producers anywhere can match. Crossbarn is his Sonoma Coast label — same meticulous attention to site, same insistence on picking at the right moment, considerably kinder to the wallet. The 2017 is all Sonoma Coast elegance: ripe red cherry, a hint of cola, silky tannins and that cool-climate brightness that makes you reach for the glass again before you’ve finished thinking about the first sip. The generous, welcoming opener. Let it set the tone.
Ramey 2019 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley
Russian River Valley · Pinot Noir · 2019 · Ramey Wine Cellars
The benchmark. Russian River doing exactly what Russian River does best.
David Ramey is one of California’s most respected winemakers, and his Russian River Pinot draws from some of the appellation’s finest sites. The 2019 vintage — warm but with excellent structure — gave him everything he needed. Ripe Bing cherry, vanilla, cola and warm spice with the silkiness that is quintessentially Russian River. Tasted alongside the Crossbarn, the contrast is instructive: same state, same grape, completely different personalities. Both right. Both compelling.
DiPalermo 2019 Mt. Carmel Pinot Noir
Sonoma Coast · Single Vineyard · Pinot Noir · 2019 · DiPalermo Family Winery
The single-vineyard statement. Site over style, every time.
Mt. Carmel is a specific vineyard address on the extreme Sonoma Coast — cold, windswept, challenging to farm and entirely compelling in the glass. DiPalermo’s single-vineyard bottling is a wine of real specificity: you can taste the place in it. Darker and more structured than the Ramey, with black cherry, iron, dried herbs and a tension that demands time in the glass and rewards it generously. The most site-specific bottle in the pack and the most thought-provoking. Pair it with your most interesting dinner guest.
Talbott 2014 Sleepy Hollow Vineyard Pinot Noir
Santa Lucia Highlands · Single Vineyard · Pinot Noir · 2014 · Talbott Vineyards · Finish here
The elder statesman. A legendary vineyard address with eleven years of bottle age.
Sleepy Hollow is one of California’s most celebrated Pinot vineyards — a benchland site in the Santa Lucia Highlands that produces wine of extraordinary structure and longevity by California standards. Eleven years of bottle age has done exactly what time does to great Pinot: softened the tannins, deepened the complexity and revealed layers of dried cherry, forest floor, leather, sandalwood and warm spice that simply weren’t there on release. This is the bottle that closes the evening and closes the argument about whether California Pinot can age. It can. Save it for last. Let the others warm up the room.
What’s included
Crossbarn by Paul Hobbs 2017 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
Ramey 2019 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley
DiPalermo 2019 Mt. Carmel Pinot Noir · Sonoma Coast
Talbott 2014 Sleepy Hollow Vineyard Pinot Noir · Santa Lucia Highlands
Open in order of weight · Decant the Talbott 45 minutes
Four bottles. Four opinions. Still zero wrong answers.