I first discovered Dan Goldfield when he was making Pinot Noirs for Hartford Court, one of Jess Jackson’s jewel-like properties. Hartford Court was once called Domaine Laurier and it’s a beautiful property, sitting in a sun-dappled, vine-surrounded hollow just outside Forestville.

At the time, I was impressed by the small, lean, prematurely balding, peripatetic young man who seemed to be almost bursting from his own skin with his volatile enthusiasm for the grapes that were growing throughout this cool region.
 
That was more than a decade ago, before Pinot Noir was on the radar screen of many consumers, and well before Russian River had been discovered by most wine lovers as the place to make a Burgundian statement.

But Goldfield was already making a statement: his wines were outrageous examples of depth and finesse, a rare combination. Soon after we met a decade ago, he formed a joint venture with Steve Dutton of the famed farming family of western Sonoma County, and today Dutton fruit comprises the majority of the grape sources in the Dutton Goldfield wines. This allows Dan to harvest when he likes, which is typically earlier than most who get fruit from the same vineyards.