As we entered 2025 it was clear that our 'new world' wine section needed a bit of love. After reading and searching trade lists, Aden was lucky enough to be invited to a trade tasting In London at the Royal Opera House where a large amount of 'new world' producers with similar ethos on wine were showing their offerings.
As a lot of our local and regular customers will have seen and tried, this tasting has brought a lot of new favourites to the shelves: Pursued by Bear; Varner Wines; Leeuwin Estate and many more. Along with these, or you could say the 'stand out' of the day, were 2 Pinot Noirs (one of which is far too expensive for our shop so I'll not mention it) and a Chardonnay from RAEN on the Sonoma Coast.
As it's far too painful for me to put in words as a Burgundy lover, and although these wines are the most impressive I tried all year, here's some words from the winery themselves to save me the shame.
We have a very small amount of these in purely for Christmas and they are both £78 per bottle.
As fourth generation winemakers and farmers, Carlo and Dante Mondavi attribute a great deal of what they have learned to their grandfather Robert and father Tim, both whom influenced them from a young age.
Carlo and Dante’s father Tim was a pioneer for California Pinot Noir in the early 1970s, always with a tremendous regard for the great wines of Burgundy. Carlo and Dante credit their father’s passion for Pinot Noir as their earliest inspiration. They also consider their father their first teacher in beyond-organic farming, an approach they've followed as a family of farmers for decades, and Carlo and Dante consider themselves ‘winegrowers’ rather than winemakers.
Today, Carlo and Dante and their small team continue to dedicate themselves to the founding ethos of RAEN in 2013 – farming prized, coastal sites with the utmost respect for Nature to produce limited bottlings that are expressive of site and can sit alongside the world’s finest.
Carlo and the RAEN team began the Monarch Challenge in 2016 as an effort to bring awareness to clean farming practices, with the vision of a future of farming in Sonoma, Napa and beyond that protects the biodiversity and life of our planet. Their Freestone Occidental vineyard is a wildlife rescue release site, home to a released bobcat and fox, and is certified organic. Carlo has become a leading voice and activist within the industry, and is also the Co-Founder of the Monarch Tractor, the solution to the Monarch Challenge.
Our coastal cuvées capture the vibrant voice and personality of the true Sonoma Coast, characterized by the vines’ proximity to the cool Pacific Ocean, coastal breezes and summertime fog, with a great diversity of soil and elevation.
Royal St. Robert
Pinot Noir
The core of our Royal St. Robert cuvée hails from a block located just above our Bodega vineyard in Freestone Occidental, considered RAEN’s home estate. Coastal components round out the blend, including selections from our Bodega and Sea Field Pinot Noir blocks, offering a window to the westerly Sonoma Coast.
ELEVATION: 600 - 1,000 feet
ACREAGE: 10 acres
SOIL: Goldridge Sandy Loam, Iron rich Franciscan, Boomer Loam, Hugo Atwell Complex
Lady Marjorie
Chardonnay
A mineral driven, coastal chardonnay, the Lady Marjorie cuvée is sourced from small lots of some of the most remote pockets of the Sonoma Coast.
ELEVATION: 600-1,200 feet
ACREAGE: 5 acres
SOIL: Goldridge Sandy Loam, Iron rich Franciscan
More info and source: https://raenwinery.com/story/
Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir: click here
Sonoma Coast Chardonnay: click here