This Week's Must-Try Wines from Vinous

Welcome to this week's Vinous Top Ten! Each week we compile a list of top ten wines from the Vinous database that you need to add to your wine wish list. With all the various regions, producers, and grapes, no week will be the same! All of the wines listed in this feature are available for purchase on Banquet . This week's must-try wines are from Antonio Galloni’s article, Sonoma Preview: 2021 Edition . Enjoy an excerpt from his article and his notes for this week's top ten below! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “January always means a stream of new releases from Sonoma and neighboring appellations. As we have done in the past, this year we present our Sonoma coverage in a series of installments. FIRST THINGS FIRST… Before we get into the wines, I think a few things are worth mentioning, especially given we are living through a moment in time in which the pace and shock of events can stretch the perception of time such that something that happened last month feels like it happened years ago. Sonoma has been through a brutal period over these last few years. In 2017, the Tubbs Fire was shocking in its devastation. I had never seen anything like it, from residential neighborhoods that looked like they had been carpet bombed to rural properties that smelled like burn for many, many months after. Although locals are hesitant to talk about it much, the truth is that the hospitality industry, meaning hotels and restaurants, in wine country (including Napa) never fully recovered. Just two years later, the Kincade fire threatened communities once again, forcing evacuations and closing towns for a number of days. Sadly, the worst was yet to come in 2020, when a series of wildfires caused an unprecedented amount of damage while the world grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic. Many producers, including those Vinous readers seek out each and every year, will bottle little or no wine. Today, the fear is of a repeat event. 'We will find a way to get past 2020,' a highly respected producer told me recently. 'But if we have another year like that we might not make it.' Add to that the lack of sales in tasting rooms and the near-total closure of the restaurant sector where so many of the most coveted, small-production wines usually sold and it is easy to see that the current economic environment for wineries is just brutal. Most of the Sonoma wineries Vinous readers follow are small operations, often family-run. So many top winemakers here are young and just getting started. Their passion and enthusiasm are an integral part of what makes Sonoma such a dynamic region. These are incredibly challenging times for all of them. Regardless of what the reviews in this article say, I hope Vinous readers who are able to will heartily support Sonoma’s artisan winemakers.” --Antonio Galloni, Sonoma Preview: 2021 Edition, January 2021 --Database Additions, February 2021 --More Sonoma Additions Coming Next Week 1. 2019 Arnot-Roberts Chardonnay Trout Gulch 2. 2019 Arnot-Roberts Chardonnay Watson Ranch 3. 2018 Carlisle Zinfandel Papera Ranch 4. 2018 Carlisle Zinfandel Carlisle Vineyard 5. 2018 Ernest Vineyards Pinot Noir The Settler Cleary Ranch Vineyard 6. 2018 Hirsch Vineyards Pinot Noir Estate San Andreas Fault 7. 2019 Limerick Lane Cellars Zinfandel Russian River Valley 8. 2019 Martinelli Zinfandel Giuseppe & Luisa 9. 2019 Rochioli Chardonnay Estate 10. 2019 Rochioli Pinot Noir Estate

Rochioli

Estate Grown Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2019