This vineyard sits high on a rock strewn, windswept hill directly overlooking the Petaluma Gap, the coastal mountain feature that feeds the cool Pacific air into the Russian River basin. Usually the last vineyard we pick each year, and often the most tannic of our wines, the 2017 offering has a softer, less tannic and more resolved composition. Intense aromas of black cherry, citrus peel, dark cocoa along with hints of mushroom-forest floor intermingle and intertwine. Gap’s Crown Vineyard is a very long-lived wine that rewards patient cellaring for many years to come. Classy forest floor, mulberry, black raspberry, spice, and incense notes emerge from the 2017 Pinot Noir Gap's Crown, a beautifully elegant, seamless, classic Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. This is a great vineyard. Producer Information Patz & Hall is a Sonoma-based wine producer, specializing in the production of small-lot Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from single vineyards around California. The collection is sourced from more than 30 different vineyards in Napa Valley, Carneros, Russian River Valley, Mendocino County, Sonoma Coast and Santa Lucia Highlands. The estate was established in 1988 by James Hall, Anne Moses, and Donald and Heather Patz. Collectively, they established contracts with growers around northern California to create a full portfolio of site specific wines. In the vineyard, grapes are hand-picked to preserve phenolics and prevent excess oxidation. Fermentation takes place in both stainless steel and French oak barrels. Patz & Hall has a unique stave wood program where it dries, seasons, and ages its own Burgundian oak staves for three years before the barrels are coopered, around 18 months longer than normal. The percentage of new oak the winery uses on each wine varies between 50 and 70 percent. In 2016, Patz & Hall was purchased by Chateau Ste. Michelle of which in turn was purchased by Sycamore Partners Managment in 2021. A total of around 20,000 cases of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are produced annually.
