95pts Wine Spectator

Ripe, rich and silky in feel, offering a gorgeous range and mouthfeel, with raspberry and blood orange pâte de fruit notes draped over rooibos tea, rosehip and singed vanilla notes. All of the elements meld nicely through the long, licorice-accented finish. Best from 2025 through 2037. 341 cases made.

94pts Jeb Dunnuck

Pouring a transparent but riper ruby magenta color, the 2022 Pinot Noir Moonshine Ranch is highly perfumed with aromas of violets, black raspberries, mossy earth, and a hint of blue fresh plum fruit coming through. Medium-bodied, it’s pure and ripe on the palate, with silky tannins and a kiss of sweet perfume lasting on the long finish. It could use another year in bottle to shed its more primary fruit, then drink it over the following 10 years.

94pts Vinous

The 2022 Pinot Noir Moonshine Ranch Vineyard is endowed with notable textural richness and breadth. It also shows a darker fruit profile than some of the other wines in this range. A powerhouse Pinot, the 2022 is going to need a few years to be at its most expressive. Bright acids and veins of supporting tannin suggest it will drink well for many years to come. Hints of lavender, baking spice and leather linger.

Winemaker Notes

Back during prohibition the owners of Moonshine Ranch used to run ‘shine on this ranch in the existing barn. The owner used to sneak out in the middle of the night, while his wife slept to tend to the still. The wife got suspicious and thought it was another woman he was going to see, so she hired a private detective to follow him. When the detective discovered he was making moonshine, he had the man arrested and thrown in jail. The barn still stands on the property today, but houses tractors now instead.

Enticing aromas of blackberry, vanilla, and blood orange are found in the nose. Voluminous upon entry, the mouth has rich flavors of blackberry and chicory. Black cherry is present in the long, weighty finish.

Winery Notes

The Martinelli family has been growing grapes in the Russian River Valley since 1887. At the ages of 19 and 16, Giuseppe Martinelli and Luisa Vellutini left their small village in the Tuscany region of Italy and made their way to California looking for land to farm and start a winery. Giuseppe had been a winemaker in Italy and with his viticultural knowledge he was hired to plant a vineyard for a farmer in Forestville. 100 years later, the historic Martinelli Estate vineyards are farmed by Lee Martinelli, Sr., and sons Lee, Jr. and George Martinelli. The wines are made by winemaker Bryan Kvamme. These handcrafted wines are unfined, unfiltered, neither cold nor heat stabilized and may contain naturally occurring sediment.