Thomas Rivers Brown and his wife Genevieve Marie Walsh have quickly made Rivers-Marie one of California’s most sought after Pinot Noir labels. The winery was founded in 2002 and the first release was the Rivers-Marie Summa Vineyard Pinot Noir. In addition to the line up of Single Vineyard Pinot Noirs, Rivers-Marie also makes a few single vineyard Cabernets and Chardonnay. Thomas is in high demand and serves as a consultant for a number of wineries including Schrader and Outpost.
Crimson in color. 14.1% ABV. Pretty nose of red fruits, cloves, pine needle and citrus. Medium to full bodied with perfect acidity. Rich and opulent with brooding dark fruits. Black cherry, cherry cola, nutmeg and mushrooms on the palate. Tremendous length on the finish. As always this is next to impossible to beat for the price and will tide you over for a few years while you let the single vineyard designates get a few years of much needed time in the cellar. Best over the next 3-5 years.
My rating: 92 points.
Rivers-Marie wines are only available via their mailing list. Sign up for the mailing list if you have not done so already. Rivers-Marie lost many of their wines with the 2020 fires. From what I understand the Pinot Noir offering next spring will be pretty sparse but I will certainly buy all I can.
I’ve blogged about Rivers-Marie previously in the 2020 Zinfandel Chronicles Power Rankings and Updates from Rivers-Marie.
Loved the 2018 R-M S.C. pinot! We had an old friend here recently and we quickly downed 2 bottles. I actually found it to be light, bright, flavorful and very easy to drink. It’s a long standing favorite of ours & we sent a bottle home with our guest along with R-M’s ML info as she is now also a big fan. It may be that TRB can do no wrong.