Lot Overview
- Region: Sonoma Coast (McDougall Ranch, Cazadero Hills)
- Vintage: 2024
- Varietal: 100% Pinot Noir (single vineyard — McDougall Ranch)
- Alcohol: 13.8%
- Oak Aging: ~20% new French oak
- Cases Available: ~200
- Cam Price: ~$11.50/bottle ($139/case)
- Retail Estimate: $75–$85/bottle
- Claude’s Source Guess: Marnet Wines — Daniel Ricciato, McDougall Ranch Vineyard
- Wine Berserkers Guess:
- Drink Window: 2026–2035 (peak 2028–2033)
Cameron’s Release Notes
Got another GORGEOUS Pinot Noir for you today!
Purity, precision, and grace are all here in abundance with this artfully-crafted, elegantly ripe, cool-climate Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir.
From the same producer as Lot 65 2024 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, Lot 66 hails from a single-vineyard (McDougall Ranch) situated at 1,000-foot elevation just a few miles off the coast of California, this archetypal Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir weighs in at 13.8% alcohol and is kissed with ~20% new French oak. Produced by a very talented winemaker in consultation with one of California’s foremost winemaking consultants, the wine is wonderfully poised and pretty with perfectly-ripe fruit elegantly elevated with medium-toast oak to provide complexity while maintaining the purity of the fruit.
Past vintages of this single-vineyard designated Pinot Noir have 94- to 95-point scores from a respected European publication and the wine typically retails in the $75–$85/bottle range.
Tasting Notes
Pale-to-medium ruby in the glass shows good but even-handed extraction. Wonderfully alive and complex bouquet of powdery pink roses and pink peppercorns haloing an array of raspberry, cranberry and meaty black cherry with a kiss of cinnamon/allspice, caramel and a fresh turned black earth underpinning. Medium-full-bodied on entry, supple and seamless with ripe, pretty fruit arrayed over an energetic structure chock full of cherry and raspberry fruit resonating over super-silky-yet-robust minerally tannins. Terrific length, purity and verve combined with sinewy muscle, a great sense of terroir, and potent, age-worthy structure. Will age beautifully over the next decade or longer.
⏳ Bottle Shock Status
Recently bottled — Spring 2026. Best from Fall 2026.
Claude’s Source Guess: Marnet Wines — Daniel Ricciato, McDougall Ranch Vineyard
This is about as close to a confirmed answer as you’ll get in this game, for a few reasons.
Cam names the vineyard directly — McDougall Ranch. A quick cross-reference of producers who make a single-vineyard McDougall Ranch Pinot Noir with 94–95 point scores from a “respected European publication” retailing at $75–$85 leads immediately to one producer: Marnet Wines, made by Daniel Ricciato. Marnet’s McDougall Ranch Pinot has received 93–95 points from Decanter (exactly the European publication referenced), retails at $75–$86, and the vineyard specs match perfectly — 935–1,030 feet elevation, 3.5 miles from the Pacific, above the fog line in the Cazadero Hills just north of Hirsch Vineyard.
The “same producer as Lot 65” clue cinches it further. Marnet produces both single-vineyard Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the Sonoma Coast, with the Chardonnay coming from Mill Station Vineyard in the Dutton Ranch appellation — a premium program that fits the Lot 65 Chardonnay profile we analyzed.
The winemaker description — “very talented winemaker in consultation with one of California’s foremost winemaking consultants” — maps exactly to Daniel Ricciato and Thomas Rivers Brown. Ricciato is Ricciato’s own label, and his day job is literally as grower relations manager for Thomas Rivers Brown, widely considered one of California’s top winemaking consultants. It would be surprising if this weren’t Marnet.
McDougall Ranch itself is one of the most celebrated sites on the true Sonoma Coast — planted in 1998 by Warren Dutton, perched on a fully-exposed knoll above the Gualala River, with greywacke and sandstone soils delivering the minerally, energetic tannin structure Cam describes. Producers like Kutch, Drew, Hirsch, and Rivers-Marie have all sourced from the site at premium price points.
✅ Confidence: Very high — essentially confirmed by the vineyard name, the price, the Decanter score reference, and the same-producer link to Lot 65.
Drink Window
Early Enjoyment: Fall 2026 once bottle shock fully resolves. The 20% new oak is restrained enough that the fruit won’t be buried.
Peak Drinking: 2028–2033, when the minerally tannins soften and the rose petal/spice complexity fully integrates.
Hold Potential: 2035 and beyond with proper storage. The combination of 1,000-foot elevation, greywacke soils, and the structural backbone Cam describes suggests genuine aging potential.
My Call: ⏳ Drink window: 2026–2035 (peak 2028–2033)