There are plenty of great Pinot Noirs from Sonoma County. And then there are the ones that make you stop and pay attention.
The 2022 DK Grail Pinot Noir Campbell Ranch West Sonoma Coast is one of those wines.
Made by Dan Kosta, the co-founder of Kosta Browne, this is a single-vineyard Pinot from Campbell Ranch on the West Sonoma Coast. The vineyard sits at about 850 feet, right on the edge of the Pacific's marine layer, surrounded by redwoods and ferns. The vines are about 20 years old, low-yielding, and planted in Goldridge soil.
The wine has plenty going on. Dark cherry, pomegranate and spiced plum lead the way, followed by white pepper, clove, pine forest and a savory, almost earthy character. There's substantial tannin here, but it's balanced by bright acidity and plenty of juicy fruit. It gets broader and more interesting with every sip, finishing with notes of brown sugar, espresso, mocha and spice. One tasting note we came across described it as having the feeling of walking through a redwood forest. That's pretty darn accurate.
And here's the part that really caught our attention: only 503 cases were made.
That's important to us at Peninsula Underground.
Our mission has always been to find the wines that exist outside the mainstream—the small-production bottles made by people who aren't trying to make 50,000 cases and put them everywhere. We want to find the wines that are worth seeking out, particularly when they're made by talented people working with exceptional vineyards.
The DK Grail Campbell Ranch checks every box.
In fact, Grail isn't even a traditional widely distributed brand. The wines are made in very limited quantities and offered primarily through an allocation list. The winery describes Grail as a collection of rare, single-vineyard wines created from some of California's most prized Pinot Noir sites.
And there's another interesting piece to the story. Kosta knows a thing or two about making serious Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. Before launching Grail, he co-founded Kosta Browne and helped build it into one of California's most recognized Pinot Noir producers. Grail is essentially his opportunity to take everything he's learned and push it further, working vineyard by vineyard rather than trying to make a broadly defined Sonoma Coast Pinot.
That's what makes this bottle so interesting to us.
It's not just a really good Pinot Noir.
It's 503 cases from one vineyard, made by one of Sonoma's most accomplished Pinot Noir guys, from a rugged piece of the West Sonoma Coast that gives the wine a character you can't manufacture in a winery.
That's what we mean by Under the Radar.
And that's why the 2022 DK Grail Campbell Ranch Pinot Noir is our October Wine of the Month.
Find it. Buy it. Open it with people you like.
Just don't wait too long.
There aren't many bottles.
