2020 PEAY Pinot Noir Savoy Vineyard

The Savoy Vineyard lies not on the Sonoma Coast but further north, in Mendocino’s Anderson Valley. It was planted in 1991 by Richard Savoy, a retired bookseller-turned-devotee of cool-climate Pinot Noir. Over the years, it developed a reputation for outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Today the vineyard is owned by Cliff Lede, and fruit is purchased by several respected wineries, including Littorai. In 2020, Peay produced only 340 cases of Savoy Vineyard, a wine that’s deep, layered, and brooding. Hints of sage, lead pencil and earthy notes emerge alongside the cherry, blackberry, and plum flavors.

Winery

Winery Description

How far would you go in pursuit of a dream? To the ends of the Earth? Perhaps not. But pursuing a winemaking dream led the folks behind Peay Vineyards to plant a vineyard in the rugged, weatherbeaten, and remote northwest corner of Sonoma County, which, if not the end of the Earth, can certainly feel like it!

Peay Vineyards is a small family operation established by brothers Nick and Andy Peay, and Vanessa Wong (who is married to Nick), with the aim of creating Burgundian-styled “wines of place.” Comprising 52 acres of vines, the estate lies within Sonoma County’s newest AVA, the West Sonoma Coast, where the Pacific Ocean provides a constant source of cool marine air that helps to moderate temperatures throughout the growing season. This cool climate allows for a longer growing season and slower ripening of grapes, resulting in wines with more intense and complex flavors. The estate features steep hillsides and rocky soils that stress the vines and concentrate the flavors and aromas in the grapes. Compared with the nearby Fort-Ross Seaview AVA, which stipulates that vineyards must be planted at higher elevations above the fog line, Peay’s vineyards, at 600 ft (183 m) are often blanketed by fog. The challenging conditions mean that the harvest usually starts in late September (lasting into November) and yields tend to be low (around 1.7 tons per acre). They cultivate 34 acres of Pinot noir, 7 acres of Chardonnay, 1.8 acres of Viognier, 0.4 acres of Roussanne, and 0.2 acres of Marsanne. They also make a Pinot noir from the famed Savoy Vineyard in Anderson Valley.

Andy is responsible for sales and marketing, while Nick oversees wine-growing and Vanessa is the winemaker. Born and educated on the East Coast, the Peays had only a passing interest in wine. But one night, a mind-blowing cool-climate Syrah started a conversation, and the brothers, for good or ill, decided they would make wine together. Soon, Nick enrolled at UC Davis and began a series of stints at Schramsberg, La Jota, and Storrs Winery in Santa Cruz, while Andy pursued an MBA, and took jobs in wine retail as well as in wineries. In 1995, Nick and Andy traveled up and down the West Coast searching for the perfect location for a vineyard. After driving through Santa Barbara, Mendocino Ridges, Sonoma Coast, and Eastern Washington, they discovered a scenic viewpoint with vineyard potential in Gualala, Sonoma County. Just four miles from the Pacific Ocean, the location featured a cool, foggy climate and nutrient-poor soils that were perfect for the style of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir the Peay brothers had in mind. The only problem? Vines had never been planted there before, and it wasn’t clear that grapes would even ripen.

20+ years after the first harvest, Peay’s wines have proven the doubters wrong, vintage after vintage. About Peay Pinot Noir, Anne Krebhiel (MW) has written, “Whoever tastes Peay Pinot Noir blind would be hard pushed to associate it immediately with California; there is too much verve, too much brightness, too much slenderness for the usually more sun-warmed offering. Yet those who have explored California’s rugged and remote north Sonoma coast will find this landscape reflected in their glass.”

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