Press & Reviews

Press

Fall 2025 Release Letter

By Cleo Pahlmeyer, September 2025

FALL RELEASE 2023 Wayfarer Pinot Noir 'Mother Rock'2023 Wayfarer Pinot Noir 'Golden Mean'2023 Wayfarer Pinot Noir 'Paige's Ridge'2023 Wayfarer Pinot Noir 'The Traveler'2023 Wayfarer Chardonnay 'Cuvée Cleo' Dear Friends, Great things take time to reveal themselves.  Getting to know a person deeply, living in a place long enough that it becomes a community, truly taking in a work of fine art, savoring a wonderful meal – these things both take time and enrich our lives immeasurably. … Read More

Do American Vineyards Deserve Grand Cru Status?

By Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen, Robb Report, September 2025
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In the mid-1990s, around 10 years after he wowed the wine world with the first vintage of his Cabernet Sauvignon-based Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red, Jayson Pahlmeyer wanted to do the same with Pinot Noir and began searching for a vineyard. Working with a close friend who was a wine importer, he located two Grand Cru plots for sale in Burgundy and arranged for his winemaker Helen Turley to work hand-in-hand with Michel Niellon at his winery… Read More

Summer 2025 Release Letter

By Cleo Pahlmeyer, May 2025

SUMMER RELEASE 2023 Ways of Wayfarer Pinot Noir Prince Hill Vineyard2023 Ways of Wayfarer Chardonnay Waters Ranch Vineyard Dear Friends, I am delighted to introduce to you a new chapter in my family’s legacy in wine: Ways of Wayfarer.  Venturing beyond our Wayfarer estate vineyard, Ways of Wayfarer explores new exceptional cool-climate hillside sites, chosen for their established track record of excellence in farming and distinctive fruit character.  Significantly, these vineyards… Read More

Spring 2025 Release Letter

By Cleo Pahlmeyer, March 2025

SPRING RELEASE 2023 Wayfarer Pinot Noir 'The Estate'2023 Wayfarer Chardonnay 'The Estate'2024 Wayfarer WF2 Rosé Dear Friends, What is a home?  It is a thing to take pride in, to take care of.  It is a place to shelter, to work, rest and grow.  It is a place to make memories.  For the first time in my family’s 40 years in wine, we have a home.  While we planted Wayfarer Vineyard in 2002, we have never had a winemaking space to call our own.  In 2024 we managed… Read More

Fall 2024 Release Letter

By Cleo Pahlmeyer, September 2024

FALL RELEASE 2022 Wayfarer Pinot Noir 'Mother Rock'2022 Wayfarer Pinot Noir 'Golden Mean'2022 Wayfarer Pinot Noir 'Paige's Ridge'2022 Wayfarer Pinot Noir 'The Traveler'2022 Wayfarer Pinot Noir '10th Anniversary'2022 Wayfarer Chardonnay 'Cuvée Cleo' Dear Friend, There are few things we consume in our lives that we learn about in letters.  A letter is personal as it tells a story; it contains emotion. I think that is why we in the wine world still write letters.  There has been much… Read More

Spring 2024 Release Letter

By Cleo Pahlmeyer, March 2024

SPRING RELEASE 2022 Wayfarer Pinot Noir 'The Estate'2022 Wayfarer Chardonnay 'The Estate' Dear Friend, The 2022 vintage marks Wayfarer’s 10th anniversary, but our journey was set in motion more than two decades ago. In 1998, my father, Jayson Pahlmeyer, fell in love with the land that would become Wayfarer Vineyard.  Our winemaker at the time, Helen Turley, brought Jayson to this remote site, and as he breathed in the cool ocean air and bathed in the warm sun, he knew instinctively that… Read More

Fall 2023 Release Letter

By Cleo Pahlmeyer, September 2023

Dear Friend, I am honored to introduce the final release of our 2021 wines, the Wayfarer Block Selection Pinot Noirs and Cuvée Cleo Chardonnay. The 2021 vintage is Wayfarer’s tenth, but Wayfarer’s beginnings started more than 20 years earlier when my father, Jayson Pahlmeyer, first stepped foot on the warm earth and breathed in the cool coastal air of what would become Wayfarer Vineyard. Read More

Cleo Pahlmeyer's Pinot Passion Project Has Become the Main Attraction

By James Molesworth, Wine Spectator, June 14, 2023
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On the West Sonoma Coast frontier, Wayfarer's fruit-driven Pinot Noirs stand out Read More

Spring 2023 Release Letter

By Cleo Pahlmeyer, April 2023

Dear Friend, As spring brings new beginnings, I have been reflecting on Wayfarer’s new beginning that was set in motion three years ago. Wayfarer first came to be when my dad, Jayson Pahlmeyer, discovered the site and planted Wayfarer Vineyard in 2002. A decade later, I introduced the first Wayfarer estate wines. Read More

Amazing Grace

By Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent, January 19, 2023
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These are wines of amazing grace without sacrificing structure and layers. Read More