Waypoint house spotlight
The Waypoint house film from the Melka and Sands cellar, the St. Helena project that bottles this Starscape Vineyard Pinot Noir.
The market on this bottle
Wine-Searcher tracks this 2020 Waypoint Pinot Noir Starscape Vineyard Russian River Valley across the open market. Their published U.S. low is $37.39 and the average is $54.75. Our slash is $38.00.
2020 Waypoint Pinot Noir Starscape Vineyard Russian River Valley, USA
Matt Sands and Philippe Melka's Starscape Vineyard Pinot from Goldridge Middle Reach next to Ritchie, a 2020 you can open at thirty-eight dollars.
The 2020 Waypoint is 100 percent Pinot Noir from Starscape Vineyard, Goldridge rolling hills where the river curves and evening fog rolls in: dark cherry, dried herb, clove, tea, and oak tannin, now $38.
Middle Reach Pinot from the named vineyard beside Ritchie
Starscape sits on Goldridge soil on the rolling hills of Russian River Valley, next to Ritchie, where the river curves in Middle Reach and ocean fog comes in each evening. Waypoint takes two Pinot clones from the steeper-aspect blocks so the fruit stays dense and the tannin stays in line. Virginie Boone found tea and oak on a firm tannin frame, dried herb, clove, and dark cherry in a powerfully built, earthy 2020. This is the bottle that puts a named Middle Reach vineyard on a table at thirty-eight dollars.
The house
Waypoint is Philippe Melka and Matt Sands chasing single-vineyard California sites from a St. Helena bench.
The vineyard
Starscape is Goldridge rolling hills next to Ritchie. Two Pinot clones from steeper blocks, evening fog, Middle Reach.
The wine
100% Pinot Noir. Dark cherry, tea, clove, dried herb, earthy tannin. A 2020 built with weight, not a pale picnic Pinot.
The drinker
Serve 58 to 62 F. Thirty minutes of air. Duck or crispy-skin salmon.
Dark cherry, tea, then clove and earth
Boone called the 2020 powerfully built, earthy, and weighty, with tea and oak on a firm tannin frame and dried herb, clove, and dark cherry through a core of smooth richness. Starscape's steeper Goldridge blocks give a Pinot that drinks closer to Russian River density than to a light coastal pour.
A smaller California red year. Waypoint still bottled this Pinot from Starscape while skipping 2020 Napa Cabernet. The glass keeps tannin, tea, and dark cherry instead of a soft, early-drink costume.
Dark cherry, dried herb, clove, tea, oak spice, earth.
Powerful Pinot frame, firm tannin, Goldridge density, evening-fog Middle Reach fruit.
Earthy, clove, oak. Serve 58 to 62 F. Thirty minutes of air.
Two clones from the steeper Starscape blocks
Waypoint sources Starscape Pinot from blocks with a steeper aspect so the berries keep skin and the tannin stays in the wine. Goldridge soil, Middle Reach fog, a vineyard that sits beside Ritchie. Melka and Sands bottle it as a small-lot site wine, not a valley blend wearing a vineyard name.
The site is the argument. Rolling Goldridge hills, the river curve, evening fog, two clones chosen for fruit and balance.
Serve 58 to 62 F. A short decant lets tea and clove come forward before duck or salmon.
A waypoint next to one of Sonoma's famous benches
Waypoint was built to name the vineyard. Starscape is the Russian River Pinot in that map, planted where Middle Reach fog meets Goldridge soil.
Matt Sands and Philippe Melka hunt Northern California sites and bottle them as small lots from St. Helena.
Starscape sits next to Ritchie on the southern end of Middle Reach. The river curves. The fog comes in. The soil is Goldridge.
The 2020 label names the vineyard. That is the authority in the glass.
Duck on the board, then salmon
Starscape tannin wants bird fat and a hard sear on fish. Duck takes the clove. Salmon takes the tea and earth.
Two plates. One roast duck. One crispy-skin salmon. Both can take this Pinot.
Serve 58 to 62 F. Thirty minutes of air. This is a weighty Pinot, not a fridge-door pour.
Roast duck
Crisp skin, dark fruit glaze.
Why it works: Duck fat and Pinot tannin keep each other honest.
View Recipe for pan-seared duck breast (opens in a new tab)
Crispy-skin salmon
Hard sear, lemon, dill, potatoes.
Why it works: Oil and citrus keep a Pinot or Chard upright.
View Recipe for pan-seared salmon (opens in a new tab)Put Starscape Pinot in the cart
Melka and Sands, Goldridge Middle Reach, a named vineyard next to Ritchie. Thirty-eight dollars.
Put it in the cart. This is Starscape Pinot with tannin and clove, not a pale supermarket Pinot.
