Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
The nose of this Pinot is lifted by aromas of fresh berries, Bing cherries, pithy orange peel, and black tea. The palate brings neatly balanced tannin and acid, with ripe cherry-berry fruit flavors and savory spice melange ebbing and flowing through the finale.
Editors' Choice -
Tasting Panel
If there's a superstar site in Petaluma Gap, it's Gap's Crown Vineyard, where persistent winds and fog ensure a long hangtime. The results show in this exciting whole-cluster red aged 15 months in (45% new) French oak. A pinch of earthiness lightly touches cinnamon-dusted cherries as the liquid's delicacy graces the palate like a lace veil. Pomegranate is spiced with clove and bright acidity imparts freshness, satisfying through the juicy, dark-fruited finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A touch reductive, the 2023 Pinot Noir Gap's Crown Vineyard delivers expressive notes of ripe cherries, peppery lift, fresh flowers, sweet herbs, orange peel, and terrific clarity. It benefits from a bit of air if opening now and carries about 25% whole clusters.
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James Suckling
On the nose, crushed raspberries, chalk, tart red berries, pink peppercorns and orange zest. The light-bodied palate is bright, with tart, juicy red fruit, citrus oil and an undercurrent of resinous herbs. A long finish and seamless tannins are woven into the abundant acidity.
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Wine Spectator
This shows the succulent, fresh, charming aspect of the vintage, with red tea, rose hip, cherry and raspberry notes laced together with a light sandalwood accent. Puts on a little weight in the glass. Delicious. Drink now through 2031.
Three Sticks Wines is a boutique, family-owned winery recognized for pinot noir and chardonnay. Proprietor Bill Price III (nicknamed “Billy Three Sticks”) owns six Grand Cru level estate vineyards in Sonoma County, including three Heritage vineyards–Durell, Gap’s Crown, and Walala and three Monopole vineyards–One Sky, Alana, and William James. An intimate relationship with each property shines through in each of the Three Sticks wines, reflecting a keen understanding of how working with great vineyards, along with a meticulous winemaking style, produces inspiring results.
The Vallejo-Castenada Adobe (built in 1842) was built by Captain Salvador Vallejo, brother of General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, the Commandante Generale of the northern territory of Mexico (modern day Sonoma). The Prices purchased the property in 2012 and embarked on a two-year preservation project. The Three Sticks team worked with Sonoma historians and the Sonoma League for Historic Preservation to restore and protect the fabric of the property. They commissioned San Francisco-based designer Ken Fulk and his team to design the ambience of the Adobe, as it is known locally. The historic landmark in downtown Sonoma is now home to the hospitality of Three Sticks.
The Sonoma Coast AVA is large in area but, not counting overlapping regions like Russian River Valley, only has a few thousand acres of grapevines—and it’s no wonder. Much of the region is rugged and not easily accessible. Its proximity to the Pacific Ocean’s fog and cool breezes limits the varieties that can be cultivated, but it proves to be an ideal environment for high quality Pinot Noir.
Since fog is a frequent fact of life here, as are heavy marine layers that sometimes bring rain, the best vineyards are wisely planted above the fog line, on picturesque ridges that capture enough sun to provide even ripening. That, with the overnight drop in temperature that reliably preserves acidity, results in fine expressions of Pinot Noir that often receive tremendous critic and consumer praise alike, and are often in high demand.