Radio-Coteau

Radio-Coteau takes its name from a French colloquialism for word of mouth, literally broadcasting from the hillside, and Eric Sussman's resume explains the accent. The New York native studied agriculture at Cornell, worked organic viticulture in Washington's Yakima Valley, then spent the 1995 harvest at Baron Philippe de Rothschild in Pauillac and 1996 in Burgundy at Comte Armand in Pommard and Jacques Prieur in Meursault. After a year at Bonny Doon and four years as associate winemaker at Dehlinger, he launched Radio-Coteau in 2002 with purchased fruit from cool coastal sites in western Sonoma County and Anderson Valley, including Savoy Vineyard Pinot Noir and a dry-farmed old-vine Zinfandel from a ridge-top ranch above Occidental.

That 1892 ranch became the estate. Sussman farmed its Goldridge soils for years and later purchased the property outright, a 42-acre block at 800 feet elevation just eight miles from the Pacific, where 20 planted acres of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Syrah, Zinfandel and Riesling sit at the meeting point of the Russian River Valley, Green Valley and Sonoma Coast appellations. The farm runs as a whole organism, goats, chickens, apple trees and a flower garden grown for biodynamic preparations, and the operation has been Demeter certified since 2008, a rarity among American wineries. In the cellar, an old apple-processing plant near Sebastopol, native yeasts, free-run juice and a single racking keep the wines restrained and fruit-forward rather than oak-driven; County Line is the approachable second label. Wine and Spirits has named Radio-Coteau a Top 100 winery three times.

Not Yet Reviewed

Quivira Vineyards & Winery

California · Sonoma

Not Yet Reviewed

Quivira Vineyards Dry Creek

California · Sonoma

Not Yet Reviewed

Radio Coteau Wine Cellars

California · Sonoma

Not Yet Reviewed

Raen Winery

California · Sonoma

Not Yet Reviewed

Ram's Gate Winery

California · Sonoma

Not Yet Reviewed

Ramazzotti Wines

California · Sonoma