Tasting Notes
The 2024 ‘Golden Mean’ opens with delicate, layered aromatics of fresh strawberries and crunchy cranberries, graphite and crushed earth, sweet peas and soft rose petal. Velvety in texture with layers of minerality, vibrating acidity leads into a juicy, mouthwatering finish. It's feather light yet possesses great breadth and power.
About Golden Mean
‘Golden Mean’ is a philosophical term that explores the harmonious middle between two opposite ideals. A seamless juxtaposition of two distinctive clonal selections, Swan and Pommard, Swan’s layered aromatics and ethereal character meld with the sublime texture and power of Pommard.
Winemaking Notes
Each block was harvested by hand at night, with firm, cool clusters delivered to the winery before sunrise. The fruit was hand-sorted and fully destemmed before being gently elevated by conveyor into stainless steel tanks for five to six days of cold maceration. Fermentation was carried out by native yeast; the cap was punched down by hand, with frequency and technique guided by tasting each tank daily. Exclusively free-run wine aged in 228L French oak barrels, 38% new, for 15 months before being bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Vintage Notes
The 2024 Wayfarer wines are the product of an even, warm vintage that brought all components into balance, yielding great complexity, texture and depth. Rainfall was moderate throughout the cool winter months and into early spring, replenishing the vines without saturating the soil. Bloom occurred on schedule in late May, and warm weather continued throughout June and July, leading to even veraison during the first week of August. Harvest was also right on schedule, lasting from September 5th to the 30th. While peak temperatures throughout the growing season were above average, nighttime temperatures dipped lower than usual – the greatest diurnal shift on record at Wayfarer. This pronounced daily temperature swing developed intense flavors, bringing great character and structure to the wines, while maintaining a vibrant core of acidity. The vintage also brought more coastal wind than usual, which thickened the grape skins and focused the vines’ energy on berry development, deepening the nuance and density of the wines. Open and generous now, the 2024s will age gracefully over the next ten years.
Blocks
5, 20Clones
Pommard, Swan
Critics
95-97 Points
Antonio Galloni, Vinous, January 2026
The 2024 Pinot Noir ‘Golden Mean’ is impressive. Brisk and poised in the glass, with striking translucence, the 2024 impresses with its energy and tension. Deeply pitched floral and spice notes meld into a core of red cherry/plum fruit, blood orange, spice and pomegranate. Time in the glass reveals the wine’s substance and overall palate presence. What a gorgeous wine this is.
96 Points
Audrey Frick, Jeb Dunnuck, June 2026
The 2024 Pinot Noir Golden Mean is a bright jeweled ruby hue and comes from Pommard and Swan selections. Only whole clusters that add spice are retained in the blend, allowing the purity of fruit to shine. Pure red cherries, refined tannins, and polished texture define the wine, which remains youthful and vibrant despite only recently being bottled. Drink 2026-2046.
96 Points
James Suckling, James Suckling, June 2026
Aromas of ripe strawberries and hints of seaweed, pine needles and brine. Medium-bodied with round, creamy tannins, but tight and poised with a persistent and polished finish. Lovely to drink now. Drink or hold.
Wine Data
- Winemaker:
- Todd Kohn
- Origin:
- Wayfarer Vineyard, Fort Ross-Seaview
- Pruning:
- Double guyot
- Vine Yield:
- 3.2 lbs/vine
- Harvested:
- September 5-11, 2024
- Bottled:
- February 1, 2026
- Release:
- September 2026
- Composition:
- 100% Pinot Noir
- Alcohol:
- 14.1%
- pH:
- 3.46
- TA:
- 6.8 g/L
- Cases Produced:
- 180
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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
