Domaine Carneros 'Avant Garde' Pinot Noir, Carneros 2019

Sitting at the southern end of the Napa Valley Domaine Carneros gives away its French roots with its impressive Château style winery that sits conspicuously looming over the Sonoma highway. The estate was founded in 1987 by the family behind Champagne Taittinger with a parcel of vines in the Napa Valley's best sparkling wine area with the intention of making Californian wines to emulate their superlative Grande Marque Champagnes. The founding winemaker, Eileen Crane, who oversaw the growth of the estate retired in the summer of 2020 after 33 years and she can rightly be credited with establishing Domaine Carneros among the top echelons of American Sparkling wine producers. Zak Miller who has been at the domaine since 2008 and learnt much of his art from Eileen is now the sparkling winemaker. Their vineyards now extend to over 150 hectares all close to the château with about two thirds planted with Pinot Noir and the remainder with Chardonnay. In addition to an impressive array of sparkling wines they also produce a number of excellent quality still reds made their Pinot Noir vineyards.