Spring 2025 Release Letter
SPRING RELEASE
2023 Wayfarer Pinot Noir 'The Estate'
2023 Wayfarer Chardonnay 'The Estate'
2024 Wayfarer WF2 Rosé
Dear Friends,
What is a home? It is a thing to take pride in, to take care of. It is a place to shelter, to work, rest and grow. It is a place to make memories.
For the first time in my family’s 40 years in wine, we have a home. While we planted Wayfarer Vineyard in 2002, we have never had a winemaking space to call our own. In 2024 we managed to finish constructing our winery just in time to receive our first fruit of the harvest. Now, we have finished our tasting room and are delighted to begin welcoming guests.
I feel so much pride when I drive up to our winery, a nondescript warehouse north of Healdsburg square. In front, there is a line of trees with lime-green leaves in the spring and summer that contrast so strikingly with the charcoal exterior.
Walking into the barrel room, the cool, humid air suspends beautiful smells of French oak barrels and gently aging wines. Dim pendant lights gently sway overhead from the force of the air blasting from the aging chiller, the only thing in the winery that isn’t brand new.
Ahead is the warm, welcoming glow of the tasting room, situated intentionally in the heart of the winery. Sightlines from the tasting room into the tank room show a contrasting space: bright, white and gleaming with a nesting doll array of stainless-steel tanks. Hints of the glorious smell of Pinot Noir fermenting in tanks linger from last harvest.
Here, in our new home, we can fully and with purpose pursue Wayfarer’s ethos of continuous improvement through observation, experimentation and attention to detail. We believe that if we are not constantly working to improve, we are going backwards. This is why I am so excited every vintage to present our new wines. By constantly paying attention to the little things in both the vineyard and the winery that will turn the dial bit by bit each year, we work to continually present you with wines of greater complexity, refinement and character.
2023 is a vintage of elegant finesse with quiet power. The mild temperatures and extended harvest in 2023 brought beautiful flavor and tannin development with vibrant acidity, truly exceptional and classically styled wines with great aging potential.
We are now booking appointments for Wayfarer tastings in our new winery and tasting room in Healdsburg, California. Our hospitality experiences can be found on the ‘Visit’ page of our website, or please feel free to call or email us. We hope to welcome you in our new home very soon!
All my best,
Cleo Pahlmeyer
