Sam Lando started his career working for some of the large global wine producers, and soon identified his true love of working with and enjoying Pinot Noir.
While his emphasis was sales and marketing, he realized early on the need to understand as much as possible about differing winemaking and viticulture techniques. After working with and becoming friends with some of the best new world wine producers, it was a natural evolution to begin hobby winemaking.
After working for five years with one of the most sought after Russian River Valley Pinot Noir producers, he departed at the end of 2012. His work with dear friends was a deeply rewarding experience…personally and professionally. They worked (and played) so well together because of a love and passion for what they did. In addition to their shared affliction for Pinot, they enjoyed the company of great people and food.
In the middle of the 2012 vintage, Sam and his wife Jennifer decided to take the leap and take the winemaking hobby to the next level. They borrowed against their savings and began building the foundation to develop a small Pinot Noir focused winery. The goal is to make intense, yet elegant and balanced wines from the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast appellations. They push themselves to make great wines they enjoy drinking and take great pride in sharing with their dear friends.
Thanks for taking the time to learn about us and we hope to share our Pinot’s with you soon.
— Sam, Jennifer, Henry, and Emma Lando
We believe in producing intensely flavored and yet balanced wines. Our definition of balance relates to beautiful and lush aromatics, a sensuous and saturating mid palate, and a lengthy captivating finish – a complete wine from start to finish. These are the wines we enjoy drinking and sharing with friends and family. The majority of our wines are offered to our mailing list friends. Please sign up and join the mailing list to acquire an allocation of our next release of Pinot Noirs & Chardonnays.
For the calendar year of 2026, we will offer six very limited and special pinot noirs and three limited production chardonnays to our mailing list friends from the 2024 vintage. We release most of our Russian River Valley wines in the spring release and Sonoma Coast wines in the fall release. However, this year, we will do a special early summer release offering featuring our HALO Chardonnay and a special new pinot noir, HENRY ROBERT! True to our form, each of these wines are intense, yet elegant, and delicious. Our mailing list friends will receive full details and updates in the release newsletter (emailed with the Save the Date reminder & the Start of the Release email) and via email reminders during the release periods. Thank you for the interest in our wines. In these challenging times, and ss a small family winery, your support means the world to us and we couldn’t do what we do without you!
WINES BEING RELEASED IN THE 2026 SPRING RELEASE:
2024 RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY PINOT NOIR
Release Date: March 2026
Cases Produced: 375
Cases Available to the Mailing List: 250
Alcohol: 14.2%
Time in French Oak Barrels: 17 months, 45% new, 35% once used, and 20% neutral
Recommended Drinking Time: Now to 10 years from release. Should you open a bottle early, please decant or allow to breathe for an hour for maximum enjoyment.
Tasting Notes: Rich flavors of raspberry and ripe cherry dominate the nose. The layers of fresh berry fruit, baking spices, and sassafras caress the front and mid-palate. This wine settles and saturates the back of the palate and gains intensity to a lengthy finish. It is everything you want from a Russian River Valley Pinot Noir – intense, complex, and yet elegant. Most of all, delicious.
2024 HEINTZ VINEYARD VINEYARD CHARDONNAY, RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY
Release Date: March 2026
Cases Produced: 100
Cases Available to the Mailing List: 80
Alcohol: 14.1%
Time in French Oak Barrels: 11 months, 75% new barrels & 25% once used barrels
Recommended Drinking Time: 6 months to 5 years from release. Should you wish to open a bottle early, please decant or allow to breathe for an hour for maximum enjoyment.
Tasting Notes: It’s hard to say this is a single vineyard. Yes, it is from one vineyard, but for us, it’s more specific – a single row in Charlie Heintz’ acclaimed vineyard. It’s hard to write different tasting notes when this wine is so consistent. It’s wonderfully perfumed, with essence of lemon blossom, honeycomb, and nutmeg overtones that recede to a core of pear and bake apple cobbler. The mid-palate is viscus and sultry. Hints of honeysuckle and tropical flavors intermingle with supportive acidity/minerality. This wine is nuanced and downright delicious. However, we only have 80 cases to allocate for the release.
2024 SAUVÉS LA VIE PROPRIETARY BLEND PINOT NOIR, RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY
Release Date: March 2025
Cases Produced: 147
Cases Available to the Mailing List: 125
Alcohol: 14.3%
Time in French Oak Barrels: 18 months, 45% new, 30% once used, and 25% neutral
Recommended Drinking Time: Now to 10 years from release. Should you open a bottle early, please decant or allow to breathe for an hour for maximum enjoyment.
Tasting Notes: Soulful, sexy, and full of love. Briary with lush aromatics of boysenberry & cherry compote. This wine is unfiltered, unfined, and has a velvety texture as it flows over the palate. Bright raspberry notes emerge and intensify. The finish is long and creamy. Truly delicious.
This is the eighth vintage of our Sauvés La Vie Proprietary Blend. For our Proprietary Blend series of wines, we wanted to create wines with names that have meaning and connection to us. The name of this wine is a tribute to the owner of the vineyard. To that end, Sauvés La Vie is the French term for “the act of saving.” We started using fruit from the Lauterbach Vineyard in 2017. Coincidentally, Stew Lauterbach was one of the emergency room doctors (as well as Dr. Lela Emad) who saved my wife Jen’s life after she delivered our daughter, Emma in 2007. As for the vineyard, it is farmed to a high level by our dear friend, the masterful, Lee Jr. Martinelli.
And you might wonder, why we chose to use a French term for life saver? While conjuring up the idea for this wine, one of my favorite barrel cooperage in France, Boutes, reached out and allowed us to take additional time to pay a large invoice due to the damage and issues we had from the fires in 2017. While this special wine originated with the Lauterbach Vineyard, Doc sold the property after the 2023 vintage. Thankfully, we now source exceptionally high quality pinot noir right next door to this vineyard…from the Martinelli’s Seven Mules vineyard. While it’s not the same fruit, the close proximity, inspiration, and meaning still hold true. Everything about this wine is emotional, full of love, friendship, and perseverance. Talking about this wine and what it means, always brings a tear to my eyes.
2024 HALO PROPRIETARY BLEND CHARDONNAY, RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY
Release Date: June 2026
Cases Produced: 150
Cases Available to the Mailing List: 80
Alcohol: 14.4%
Time in French Oak Barrels: 11 months, 75% new barrels & 25% once used barrels
Recommended Drinking Time: 6 months to 5 years from release. Should you wish to open a bottle early, please decant or allow to breathe for an hour for maximum enjoyment.
Tasting Notes: The aromas of white peach and apple cobbler fill the glass. Your palate will awaken from the notes of orange zest and candied ginger…with a hint of mango and lemon peel appear in the long finish. It’s tropical with good acid and minerality. There is a viscosity/complexity, and texture with this wine that is very appealing. This special blend/vintage contains some of our of Heintz chardonnay, a dash from Flora Marie and two new sources. We couldn’t be more excited about this special blend.
This vintage will consist of nine wines. In the spring, our 2024 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir – $55 per bottle, the 2024 Heintz Vineyard Chardonnay, Russian River Valley – $55 per bottle, and the 2024 Sauvés La Vie Proprietary Blend Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley – $65 per bottle.
The summer release will consist of the 2024 HALO Proprietary Blend Chardonnay, Russian River Valley – $55 per bottle and the 2024 HENRY ROBERT Pinot Noir, Sonoma County – $39 per bottle.
The fall release will feature our 2024 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir – $55 per bottle, the 2024 Flora Marie Vineyard Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast – $55 per bottle, the 2024 Resilience Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills – $65 per bottle, and the 2024 Truth & Valor Proprietary Blend Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast – $65 per bottle.
Again, in a typical year, the Russian River Valley wines are released in February, the new summer release in June, and the Sonoma Coast wines in October. We will continue to grow our production slightly and with great care as we’re able to partner with exceptional growers. All orders will take place within our secure website ordering system during the release period (we’ll notify you of the details via email in advance).
Please complete the sign up form to be added to the mailing list for our next release.
The majority of our wines are offered to our mailing list friends. Due to our limited production, we will do our best to offer the majority of them an allocation of each wine. However, that will be determined by each mailing list friend’s length of time on the list and purchase history. As well as the total amount of available bottles Mother Nature has graced us with for said vintage. Details will be emailed to each active mailing list member a few weeks prior to each release in the spring and fall.