Winemaker Notes
From its dramatic dark ruby color to its mesmerizing aromas of crushed black raspberry, chocolate, cherry liqueur, five spice and lavender, this is a vibrant and alluring Pinot Noir. On the palate, flavors of strawberry jam, sweet tobacco leaf, cracked pepper and coffee glide across soft, rich tannins to a long persistent finish that is as complex as it is satisfying.
One of the Sonoma Coast’s great vineyards, Gap’s Crown was first planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in 2002. Located in the foothills of the Sonoma Mountain, above the Petaluma Gap, it offers a variety of soil types at elevations ranging from 300 to 800 feet. The prized sections we work with are on the flank of the mountain. They are two of the highest blocks on the vineyard and are planted to clones 667 and 828, in Goulding series soils, with some heavier clay interspersed with volcanic rock and lots of gravel. These soils are extremely well drained, and coupled with the site’s wind and fog, help to ensure low yields. Gap’s Crown is one of the last vineyards we harvest each vintage.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A base of supple and attractive, fresh red cherries, married to a neatly integrated dose of toasty French oak, delivering a pinot that offers immediately appealing, drinkable style. The palate is utterly convincing in its balance and depth. There’s plenty on offer here. Drink now or hold.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2015 Pinot Noir Gap's Crown offers a more vibrant, crisp, tight style. Black cherries, currants, graphite, crushed rocks, and hints of charcoal all emerge from the glass. Deep, nicely concentrated, with integrated acidity, it has building tannin and notable structure as well as sensational purity of fruit. Give bottles a year and enjoy over the following decade.
Rating: 94+ -
Wine & Spirits
The team at Patz & Hall has been bottling a Gap’s Crown Pinot Noir since 2007, soon after the vines, planted in 2002, began to bear fruit, and well before Bill Price purchased the vineyard in 2013. Located in the wind-and-fog corridor of the Petaluma Gap, this vineyard rises up on a hillside heading toward Sonoma Mountain. Patz & Hall works with two blocks, where the soil is clay mixed with gravel and volcanic rock. Between the barrage of wind and the heavy clay, the wine presents itself with deep-set tannins, and though it’s challenging to approach when first opened, it’s clear that the dark red fruit and earthy intensity has plenty of stamina to sort itself out. With a day of air, the clarity of the fruit matches the energy of the tannins, predicting a long life ahead.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium ruby-purple colored, the 2015 Pinot Noir Gap's Crown Vineyard opens with notes of garrigue, forest floor and lavender over a core of warm cranberries and red currants. The concentrated, medium to full-bodied palate has a firm backbone of finely grained tannins supporting layers of red fruits and earth-inspired flavors, while the long mineral-laced finish offers great tension.,br>Rating: 92+
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Wine Enthusiast
Layered tannin wraps around smoky oak and big flavors of marshmallow in this full-bodied densely concentrated wine from the well-known site. Black cherry, earthy forest floor and classic cola combine to form a juicy core of succulence beneath the power.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
A vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.