Wine Enthusiast Scores for 2019 Waits-Mast Pinot Noir, 2021 Pinot Noir Blanc: 96, 93, 92 & 90 points
Wine Enthusiast - April 2023, August/Sept 2022

Wine Enthusiast reviewed two different Waits-Mast Pinot Noir wines in the magazine's April 2023 issue, and we're excited to share the ratings and complete tasting notes from senior editor Stacy Briscoe. One of the wines had our highest score ever, from any publication: the 2019 Waits-Mast Pinot Noir, Nash Mill Vineyard at 96 points (Editor's Choice). PURCHASE

We're also pleased with the score for our 2021 Waits-Mast Pinot Noir Blanc, Filigreen Farm Vineyard: 92 points (Editor's Choice). PURCHASE

And last year, our 2019 Pinot Noir, Wentzel Vineyard received 93 points, our 2019 Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley received 92 points, and our 2019 Pinot Noir, Mariah Vineyard received 90 points. Below are two reviews and tasting notes from Wine Enthusiast editors Stacy Briscoe and Jim Gordon.

Waits-Mast 2019 Nash Mill Vineyard Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley (96 Points, Editor’s Choice): This is a beautiful Pinot Noir with a depth of flavor that will only increase in complexity over time. Find pronounced aromas and flavors of bright red cherry, strawberry and pomegranate, forest floor, toasted wood and violet. Fine-grained, silky tannins slide off the tongue; elevated acidity brings lightness and freshness from start to lingering finish. - S.B.

Waits-Mast 2019 Pinot Noir Blanc, Filigreen Farm, Anderson Valley (92 Points, Editor’s Choice): Super light, easy and fun, this white expression of the Pinot Noir grape offers aromas and flavors of jasmine and orange blossom, honeysuckle, green apple, lime leaf, white peach, nectarine and just-ripe mango. There's a slight effervescence that adds a zing of freshness alongside a balanced acidic structure; a slight phenolic grip adds textural integrity and intrigue. The finish is long, lingering, inviting another sip. - S.B.

Waits-Mast 2019 Wentzel Vineyard Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley (93 Points, Cellar Selection): A nervy, chewy texture seems to energize the clear raspberry and red cherry flavors in this ruby-tinted, super well-structured and mouthwatering wine that was grown in the organic Wentzel Vineyard. Aged in 33% new French barrels, it's not big but is well balanced, sip after sip. - J.G.

Waits-Mast 2019 Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley (92 Points): This warm and ripe-tasting wine coats the palate with rich but not heavy red and black cherries, sweet plums and a touch of sour cherry on a soothing texture of light tannins and mild acidity. It's delicious and easy to sip. - J.G.

Waits-Mast 2019 Pinot Noir, Mariah Vineyard, Mendocino Ridge (90 Points): Almost sweet plum and mulled cherry flavors ride a supersoft, pillowy texture in this medium-bodied, melts-in-your-mouth wine. Light woodsy, savory elements add a bit of complexity. - J.G.

2019 Winemakers to Watch 
San Francisco Chronicle - Dec 2019

In December 2019, San Francisco Chronicle wine editor Esther Mobley revealed the 2019 class of Winemakers to Watch and featured Waits-Mast winemaker Shalini Sekhar.

You can read the full article online, but here are some highlights:

California’s got no shortage of boutique wine labels producing single-vineyard Pinot Noirs. But Shalini Sekhar’s Pinots stand out — and they’re being made, of all places, in a San Francisco warehouse.

Pinot Noir is the connecting line through Sekhar’s career, beginning with Williams Selyem. Waits-Mast, a 600-case label owned by Jennifer Waits and Brian Mast, sources fruit from Mendocino County, mostly Anderson Valley. Sekhar loves the community-oriented spirit up there. “There’s still a sense that anyone’s success is everyone’s success,” she says.

In the article, Mobley also highlighted two of the many Pinot Noir wines that Shalini makes with us:

The 2015 Waits-Mast Deer Meadows Vineyard Pinot Noir (13.2%, $58) comes from a high-elevation Anderson Valley site now owned by Littorai winemaker Ted Lemon. It’s concentrated and enveloping but still highly aromatic, with the impression of purple flowers and Chinese five spice. From the Mendocino Ridge AVA, the 2014 Waits-Mast Mariah Vineyard Pinot Noir (13.4%, $42) shows earth, black cherry and salted plum, with a veil of fine tannins.

John Winthrop Haeger on Waits-Mast Pinot Noir
Oenosite.com - Feb 16, 2018

John Winthrop Haeger's book 2004 North American Pinot Noir was an inspiration and influence to us in our early days of dreaming about making Pinot Noir. So it was an honor and pleasure to host a visit from Haeger at our winery a couple of weeks ago. He dug deep into our story and asked great questions as he tasted through different vintages of our Pinot Noir. He followed up the visit with a blog post about the travails, success and promise of our winery, along with tasting notes on the different wines.

Below is an excerpt that captures just a sliver of our story: 

"Waits-Mast is an interesting case study among tiny boutique brands. Like most of the genre, it is minimally capitalized, propelled primarily by passion and hard work, dependent on a host of third parties, and managed in fragile symbioses with important personal realities like family and day-jobs. But it also seems unlike most in several key ways. First it has survived, and garnered recognition. Good luck deserves part of the credit for this, but so does the principals’ seriousness. They have been patient with a gently sloped learning curve. (“Wine is a business you don’t get very good at very fast,” the late Jack Davies of Schramsberg told me years ago.) Second, it has been impressively faithful to Wait’s and Mast’s personal tastes. From the beginning they have known quite clearly what kind and shape of pinots they liked; in conversations with prospective winemakers before their first wines were made, they were able to illustrate their stylistic preferences with examples. Mary Elke’s pinots from Donnelly Creek Vineyard were an early inspiration as were some bottlings of Londer. It may also have helped that Waits and Mast came to pinot without either inspiration or baggage from Burgundy, saving themselves and their winemakers from tilting at windmills. Finally, Waits and Mast still seem to like their day jobs. Even as they can imagine turning to wine as their principal business some day, they are content to learn, and grow, patiently."

Read more at: http://www.oenosite.com/waits-mast-elegant-pinots-mostly-from-anderson-valley/

Wine & Spirits' Year's Best Pinot Noir 2017
Wine & Spirits - April 01, 2017

Every April, Wine & Spirits Magazine culls from its reviews across the year and ranks its top Pinot Noir wines from North America. Out of 1,300+ Pinot Noirs reviewed, only 175 or so make the final cut and our 2014 Waits-Mast Pinot Noir, Deer Meadows Vineyard, Anderson Valley was included in this ranking with a rating of 91 points. Here are the accompanying tasting notes from the review:

"Brian Mast and Jennifer Waits  first sourced fruit from this hillside vineyard in 2009; planted at 1,600 feet of elevation on a southeast-facing slope above Boonville, it often makes their most energetic Pinot Noir. This feels like a hillside wine, with a  firm, sandstone grip that brings to mind Sonoma Coast wines from further south. It’s a bit chewy, but clean and high toned, with a hint of warmth from alcohol spicing up its aromas of orange zest and rose petals. Give it a few years in the cellar to allow its tannins to integrate. (Reviewed by Luke Sykora.)"

To purchase these wines, visit our webstore.

San Francisco Chronicle's Top 100 Wines of 2014
San Francisco Chronicle - Dec. 05, 2014

Our 2012 Waits-Mast Pinot Noir from Deer Meadows Vineyard in Anderson Valley was one of 23 Pinot Noir wines included the San Francisco Chronicle's Top 100 Wines of 2014.

2012 Waits-Mast Deer Meadows Vineyard Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($55, 14%): This vineyard above Boonville has turned out some epic wines, and this collectible effort from Jennifer Waits and Brian Mast is no exception. The lineage of Rich Savoy’s site speaks from the glass: rich with black cherry and boysenberry; heady with allspice, bark and damp leaves; intensified by a profound, dark minerality.