Harper’s Rest Pinot Noir Moon Dust Vineyard 2023

This is the end of an era, and it’s bittersweet as hell. The 2023 vintage marks the final chapter for Arista Winery—one of the best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay producers in California. After 22 years of crafting exceptional wines in the Russian River Valley, the McWilliams family made the incredibly difficult decision to wind down the brand after selling their estate to focus on family and their real estate business.

Here’s what makes this opportunity incredible: because they were in the process of selling when the 2023 vintage was made, these wines never got sent for scoring. Arista wines almost always receive somewhere between 95-99 points, but without those scores, we get an incredible discount today. This is the last vintage made entirely by them, and it represents everything that made Arista legendary.

Under winemaker Matt Courtney – the former assistant to Helen Turley at cult winery Marcassin – Arista became one of the hottest names in American wine. In 2018, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate rated 10 of his wines at 95 points or higher. In 2019, that number ballooned to 12. Courtney and Arista put themselves in a category all by themselves, outpacing famous Russian River Valley neighbors like Williams Selyem.