2012 Wind Gap Pinot Noir Gap’s Crown Sonoma Coast

The Heralded Fruit of Gap’s Crown

We’ve long sung the praises of the cool and windy Petaluma Wind Gap. The daily dance of wind and fog allows sugars to develop more slowly than further inland, allowing growers to pick late without worrying about overripeness, high alcohols, or acidity. In the foothills of Sonoma Mountain, the Petaluma Gap finds its best expression in Gap’s Crown.

Famously cold and rocky, the western-facing Gap’s Crown was planted by Napa winegrowing legend Bill Hill, the Johnny Appleseed of ideal Pinot Noir vineyards. Gap’s Crown peers over the mouth of the Petaluma Gap, yielding rich, wound-up, high-toned Pinot Noir, buttressed by the electrifying acidity of the fog-shrouded coast, and renowned for its superb persistence.

Vinous founder Antonio Galloni has raved about the “ample, structured Pinot full of personality” that comes off Gap’s Crown, and even top producers have to get in line for its heralded fruit. Years back, Kosta Browne laid claim there to what Michael Browne calls “killer” fruit; it’s since become the backbone of Kosta Browne’s Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, which won “Wine of the Year” honors from Wine Spectator in 2011. Then came Patz & Hall and MacPhail. Add Pax Mahle, Wind Gap’s winemaker, to that list of heavy hitters who’ve worked their magic with Gap’s Crown fruit.

Pax Mahle has been called “irrefutably brilliant” by Robert Parker. Galloni has said Mahle is producing “some of the most gorgeous, nuanced wines being made in California today.” We’d go a step further and argue that Mahle’s stylistic about-face positions him as one of the most versatile winemakers in the U.S. In the mid-2000s, Mahle pivoted from making ultra-concentrated, collector-coveted, muscular reds, to fresher, lower-alcohol wines comprised of high-elevation, cool-climate fruit. All the while, the 90+ scores continued to roll in.

But Mahle had begun his career in the world of wine on the restaurant floor, not in the cellar. On his way to becoming a Master Sommelier, Pax travelled to France, to work the cellars in Burgundy and the Rhône Valley. Chance meetings with Henri Jayer, the visionary of Vosne-Romanée Pinot Noir, and Jacques Reynaud, the godfather of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, inspired an epiphany: Pax needed to be the guy making the wine, not the guy with the bowtie and tastevin.

Playing the long game, Mahle arrived in St. Helena in 1997 to take on the role of corporate wine buyer for the upscale Dean & Deluca stores. After a couple years there, Pax had secured funds from a backer to rent space in a warehouse in Santa Rosa. Perhaps more importantly, he was granted carte blanche to make whatever style of wine moved him. With almost no training save for the advice of his cellar neighbors (Carlisle, Copain, and Siduri), he managed to locate outstanding vineyard sites and land lengthy contracts. Under his first label, Pax Wines, Mahle forged his own path, making multiple single-vineyard Syrahs. Two years after the first wines rolled off the bottling line, Parker had lobbed six 95+ ratings on Mahle’s “Hermitage-like” Syrahs.

But it was with Wind Gap, established in 2006, that Pax truly realized his vision. It is with the cool-climate Pinot grapes of Gap’s Crown that Mahle has authored his most-realized tribute to what he gleaned from the masters of Burgundy and the Rhône. The result is a subtle, pure-fruit expression, with impeccable structure and even-keeled acid.

The 2012 growing season in California saw temperatures remain mild throughout the summer, and the deep-rooted vines planted in Gap’s Crown shrugged off the drought, delivering outstanding small-berry clusters. Sugars were sufficiently high, while acids were electrifying.

The 2012 Wind Gap Pinot Noir is opaque ruby in color, sporting lavish dark-fruited aromas, tinged with sweet spices and new-wood cedar. Richly textured and juicy on the attack, with dark-berry fruit elevated by vibrant red floral notes, flamed orange peel, and hints of cardamom and fleshy plums. Antonio Galloni called it “one of the darker, more powerful Pinots I have tasted from Wind Gap” and slapped on a 93-point rating.

Only 207 cases were bottled. 240 bottles have been earmarked for WineAccess. Just $55 per bottle (while they last!!) for the heralded fruit of Gap’s Crown. Not to be missed!

• ABV 13.50%
• Enjoy right away
• % Pinot Noir