After having a nice sabbatical from Pinot Noir for a few years, this vineyard in the Petaluma Gap presented itself at the very last minute during the 2018 harvest. The Petaluma Gap AVA is the newest federal appellation in Sonoma Couty, and the “gap” is named for the gap in the hills between Petaluma on the coast, and the cold air in the evenings blows in quickly creating a cooler climate that grapes like Pinot Noir love.

This vineyard saddles a small crest that sits about 60ft above the valley floor. The blocks wrap around the crest in a way that gives varied sun exposure, developing varied ripeness and phenolic complexity. One of the best features of this Eastern part of the Petaluma Gap is the evening wind that runs from the coast inland, and quite forcefully during late summer and fall. This cool wind creates a sharp diurnal shift, which shortens the hot part of the day and extends hangtime. We picked this fruit 4 weeks later than we would typically pick Russian River fruit, for example. The vine rows run with the wind direction, allowing the vines and fruit to cool quickly in the evening. The coastal gap also feeds fog into the region, shielding the fruit from the sun in the early morning and balancing the diurnal windows.

The vineyard is in markedly sandy loam, one of the sandiest topsoils I’ve seen in Sonoma County. This encourages quick drainage and prevents vines from getting too much water, keeping the fruit concentrated. Cool climate Pinot Noir, especially from Pommard clones, can often deceive during fermentation. It’s typical for most PN to smell bright, fruity, and fresh during fermentation. This lot, however, smelled like baking spices, cola, and crushed rock. It was out of the ordinary enough that we were a little worried about it. But as we got to the end of fermentation, clean PN character started to shine through with the deep complexity that cooler climate fruit carries.

With a bright, juicy core of classic cherry fruit, the wine quickly dives into a spicy bramble of baking spices and savory herbs. It should age well but we recommend drinking between now-2027.