2022 Anthill Farms - Pinot Noir Sonoma Jack Hill (750ml)

Anthill Farms was founded by three former cellar hands from Williams Selyem, David Low, Anthony Filiberti, and Webster Marquez, who met working together on Westside Road and launched their own winery in 2004 after a trip touring vineyards in Oregon's Willamette Valley. The name came from a running joke among the trio, who were often seen scrambling over each other to grab the same hose during harvest, prompting comparisons to a colony of ants. That collaborative, hands on spirit still defines the winery today, with the partners personally farming many of the small vineyard plots they source from across Sonoma and Mendocino counties.

Jack Hill sits about three miles northwest of Freestone, overlooking the Bodega and Freestone Valley just a few miles from the Pacific Ocean, making it the latest ripening Pinot Noir site in the Anthill Farms portfolio. The vineyard's cool temperatures and sandy Goldridge soils naturally limit yields, producing tiny, concentrated clusters of Calera and 115 clone fruit. Winemaker Anthony Filiberti ferments the wine with native yeast using a substantial portion of whole clusters, then ages it around a year in a modest amount of new French oak, an approach built to preserve the site's natural perfume and tension rather than mask it.

The wine offers wild berry fruit laced with exotic spice from the whole cluster fermentation, backed by a distinct forest floor and undergrowth character. The palate is elegant and detailed, with real silkiness and structural tension through a long finish. It pairs beautifully with roast duck, grilled quail, or a rich mushroom tart.