93pts Vinous
Drinking Window 2026 - 2034
The 2021 Pinot Noir Sojeau is youthfully restrained, masking its power behind a veil of dried blueberries, underbrush and hints of mint. This is silky and enveloping, with a bump of zesty acidity up front and saline minerals that add lovely contrast to its tart red and black fruits. It finishes structured and dramatically long, leaving a spicy sensation, notes of black tea and violet inner florals that linger on and on. This is just a baby today, yet it has the balance to mature beautifully over the coming decade.
- By Eric Guido on May 2024
The 2022s from Will Hamilton at Violin show just how special this vintage can be from the right sources and in the right hands. In this case, fruit sourced from vineyards that avoided any damage from the spring frost. Together with lower yields and picking earlier for freshness, 2022 resulted in a savory set of well-structured and complex wines. Hamilton didn’t have to contend with secondary buds due to frost, or the issue of overabundance that plagued some wineries; he had all of his fruit in before the threat of rain during harvest. This was a truly satisfying portfolio to taste through. The use of new oak is minimal. Balance and purity are front and center, while alcohol levels hover in the 12.5-13% range for Chardonnay and the low 13% range for Pinot Noir. “Wine should be delicious, first and foremost. I want to find purity, and I’m not a fan of new oak,” Hamilton explains. He points out that “Two thousand twenty-two wasn’t a frost year for us. It was just a really late vintage. Late budding, late flowering and late harvest.” Personally, I can’t recommend Violin highly enough. The single-vineyard wines are fantastic, but don’t pass up the chance to taste the Polk County Cuvée, a Pinot Noir that blends fruit from Temperance Hill, Witness Tree, Justice and Sojeau Vineyards with vines that average 25 years old.