“During a recent visit to Russian River Valley we met up with Radio-Coteau winegrower, Eric Sussman to taste his new releases for Spring 2010. Our timing was perfect as Eric was about finished bottling his wines, and we were ready to enjoy them. Readers will recall that last year in January we reported enthusiastically on Radio Coteau’s 2009 Spring releases. This year we are no less enthusiastic. Eric Sussman is a talented winemaker who makes high quality, handcrafted wines in small quantities. He sources his grapes form low-yielding organic and biodynamic vineyards such as Benzinger’s Sonoma Coast vineyards and uses native yeasts in conducting his primary fermentation. Eric has made wine in Burgundy and in California with Bonny Doon and later at Dehlinger before launching his own winery in 2002. The wines reviewed here are outstanding examples of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah winemaking. Most the wines are from the difficult 2008 vintage, which saw poor fruit set due to late frosts, resulting in 30-40% reductions in yields in some vineyards.”
–M. Potashnik and D. Winkler