Dream-come-true wines from western Sonoma County.
Valravn is the core domestic brand of Valkyrie Selections. The evolution of a dream that started years ago with another label they created out of frustration, Banshee Wines. It began as a singular Pinot Noir made to provide value in a category living almost perpetually at $60 retail. At that time in the market, if it wasn’t $60, it was absolute crap. So you were either quality driven and pricey, or manufactured yuckiness, literally engineered for every day drinking. Baron Ziegler, Steve Graf and Emily Peterson refused to believe it wasn’t possible to have something worth drinking, at a price they could personally afford to pay. They came from European wine backgrounds over many years, most recently Baron and Emily at Eric Soloman Selections (primarily Spanish wine), and Steve at Martine’s Wines (Burgundy), and those beginnings helped shape the sense of place and vibrancy people came to expect from Banshee–at an amazing price. Fast forward some years, and they ended up selling Banshee, but keeping the contracts with the growers they had developed relationships with over the years, and subsequently creating Valravn. They began working with winemaker Rob Fischer, whose own relationships and experience in the area only elevated their game. They make Pinot Noir (of course), Chardonnay, Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon in Sonoma County. Each of those wines, every vintage, is an almost impossible equation to balance, but they manage to pull it off. Awesome fruit, exceptional vineyards, respectful winemaking, amazing prices. Magic? No. But pretty dang close.
