Anthill Farms Pinot Noir Anderson Valley 2021

In 2003, Anthony Filberti, David Low, and Webster Marquez all met one another while working at Williams Selyem, the famed Sonoma winery best known for their world-class Pinot Noir. They joked that watching one another scurrying to get everything done in the winery reminded them of worker ants, a name that stuck when the trio teamed up the following year to start their own small-lot biodynamic project.

Five years after their inaugural vintage, the three worker ants received Food & Wine Magazine’s ‘Most Promising Winery’ designation. A year later, the Wall Street Journal dubbed them “The Rock Stars of Pinot Noir.” All while the three were still in their 20s and all with full-time jobs at other wineries.

Now, exactly 20 years after that first eight-barrel experimental drop, production has grown to 72 barrels or 1,800 cases per year. The three continue to work for other wineries, and yet they maintain this incredible passion project together. Although they’ve grown nine times in size, there’s still a small winery approach, but their pricing — which is still a bargain — is a far cry from its $20 AVA specific, $30 single-vineyard early days.

Now, those prices are more in the $45-$65 range, with buyers across the country scooping up every bottle the winery puts out.