The Starr Ridge Vineyard, owned by our close friends the Baker Family, is the warmest of our Pinot Noir sites. Being north of the transition where the Russian River turns west toward the Pacific Ocean, it has a more diffused nature to the fog and reaches temperatures a couple of degrees above those of our own Soul Patch vineyard most days. It's a very slight difference but added up over the 240-day growing season, it is just enough to give a unique and luscious mid-palate and darker red fruits than the other single vineyard bottlings of Pinot Noir that we produce.

2013 Sonoma County Harvest Fair - Gold
2014 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Tasting Competition - Gold
2014 Houston International Livestock Show & Rodeo Wine Competition - Gold
eRobertParker.com - 91pts.

"Vivid red. Sexy, expressive aromas of raspberry, candied rose and allspice, with a bright mineral overtone. Fresh and focused on the palate, offering tangy red fruit flavors and a subtle note of cola that adds depth. Closes with sneaky, very soft tannins and a lingering floral nuance. Very approcahable pinot that I'd drink on the young side, for it's fruit. 90pts" - Josh Raynolds

Starr Ridge Vineyard is a 20 year old vineyard in the Windsor Hills subregion of the Russian River Valley. The soils are from the ancient Franciscan series, with heavier decomposing volcanic rock and clays rich in iron. The Pinot Noir from this site achieves "the best of both worlds" – great richness from the site's warmer location, and a sensual finesse due to the cooler, eastern facing exposure.


At Davis Family Vineyards we strive to highlight the unique characteristics that make fruit from each vineyard, from each varied mico-climate, so very special and unique. All of our Pinot Noir is aged in French oak for 10 months. 1/3 of the barrels are new, 1/3 are one year old, and 1/3 are 2 year old. In doing so, we are able to benefit from the finesse and structure of barrel aging, while not overwhelming the varietal characteristics of Pinot Noir.

Guy tastes through and then hand selects his favorite barrels for the single vineyard bottling of the Starr Ridge Pinot Noir. The remaining barrels are then used in our Russian River Valley blend.

The fermentation was conducted using native yeast in small, temperature controlled, open top fermentors. Gentle punch downs were done over a 3-4 week fermentation, after a 5-7 day cold soak. The Pinot is then pressed and transferred directly into barrel, using gravity flow.