Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine & Spirits
Pax Mahle picked this steep, cool, sandy vineyard at a brisk moment of ripeness, fermenting all of the fruit as whole clusters. The cool site and the even warmth of the 2014 vintage combined to give a wine with a deep magenta color and powerful, dynamic flavors. It’s more ripe and open than some past vintages, maybe a bit less savory, but the warmth seems to have worked to the vineyard’s advantage, allowing the grapes to accumulate an electric black-raspberry flavor inflected by wild, brushy aromas of lavender, green tea and sumac. The stem tannins could use more time to work their way into the center of the wine—best to keep this in the cellar for two or three years, if you can resist its intoxicating youthful charm.
-
Tasting Panel
The 2014 Syrah Nellessen Vineyard is a much more typical wine for Wind Gap. A range of dark red cherry, plum, spice and lavender give the 2014 much of its sensual, inviting personality. Expressive floral and savory notes give the 2014 a kick of freshness on the finish.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
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.