Peay Vineyards 'West Sonoma Coast' Pinot Noir 2023

The 2023 West Sonoma Coast is Peay's signature Pinot — a multi-clone, multi-block blend that captures everything the estate does best. Orange peel, pomegranate, and cherry lead the nose alongside pipe tobacco and underbrush. The palate is bright without being nervy, with real depth of flavor and a long, satisfying finish. This is a wine that drinks beautifully now and will reward patience.

Quick Facts

• Winery: Peay Vineyards
• Varietal: Pinot Noir
• Appellation: West Sonoma Coast
• Vintage: 2023
• Production: 855 cases
• Farming: Certified organic, dry-farmed, estate grown
• Winemaker: Vanessa Wong

Tasting Profile

• Orange peel, pomegranate, and fresh cherry
• Pipe tobacco, underbrush, and forest floor
• Lavender and rose petal lift on the nose
• Bright red fruit mid-palate with blood orange and cranberry
• Firm, graceful structure with a long mineral finish

Why We Love It

This is the wine that puts the West Sonoma Coast on the map in a single glass. Peay's ridge-top estate sits just four miles from the Pacific, and you can feel it — there's a coastal salinity and nervous energy here that you won't find anywhere else in California Pinot. The 2023 vintage is one winemaker Vanessa Wong considers among the finest of her career, and it shows. Elegance and depth without any sense of overripeness or fatigue. This is the kind of Pinot that reminds you why you got into wine in the first place.

Winemaking

The West Sonoma Coast bottling is Peay's estate-blend Pinot, drawing from most of the clones and blocks across their 54-acre vineyard, with a small addition (5%) from the nearby Richardson Vineyard. The wine is made entirely from free-run juice — press wine is declassified to their second label, Cep. Aged on lees for 11 months in 27% new French oak, then bottled unfined and unfiltered. 99% destemmed.

Serving and Pairing

Serve between 58–62°F. Decant 20–30 minutes to open the mid-palate. A natural partner for duck breast, roasted lamb, mushroom risotto, or aged pinot-friendly cheeses like Comté or Époisses.

Drinking Window

Approachable now with a short decant. Best 2025–2032.

Estate Overview

Peay Vineyards is a first-generation family operation founded in 1996 by brothers Nick and Andy Peay, along with Nick's wife and winemaker Vanessa Wong — who trained at Château Lafite-Rothschild and served as winemaker at Peter Michael before joining the family project. Their estate sits on a ridge top in the far northwestern corner of the Sonoma Coast, four miles from the Pacific and above a river gorge, where ancient marine soils, persistent coastal fog, and dramatic diurnal swings define the growing conditions. Farming is certified organic and dry-farmed, with the vineyard divided into 20–25 individual blocks across different clones and exposures. The wines are as much a product of place as they are of craft — and the West Sonoma Coast has no closer advocate.