2014 Black Kite Cellars Pinot Noir Gap’s Crown Sonoma Coast 750 ml

Gap’s Crown: Cherished By Kosta Browne & Duckhorn

Given their penchant for sourcing from California’s top Pinot Noir vineyards, it’s hard not to compare Black Kite Cellars to the state’s cult Pinot producers. To wit: The 2014 Black Kite Cellars Pinot Noir Gap’s Crown is sourced from the very vineyard that was not only made famous by Kosta Browne, which purchased the site in 2013, it was back in the news with Wine Spectator’s recent headlines of Duckhorn’s purchase of Kosta Browne! If it isn’t clear: the California will stop short of no outlandship multi-million dollar deal for such valued assets. Add to that Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate ranking 2014 as California’s best Pinot Noir vintage of all time—and the 2014 Black Kite has it all. Wine Enthusiast called it “exotically spicy, complex and full-bodied,” while Vinous found it simply a “Brilliant red.” 

The Sonoma Coast AVA is too big to highlight any specific area’s unique properties, so the growers from one of AVAs most prized regions, the Petaluma gap, have lobbied hard for an identity of their own: They filed for AVA status back in 2015, and finally, in December of 2017, the promotion came through. Starting with the 2018 vintage, the name Petaluma Wind Gap will codify what wineries like Flowers, Ramey, and Kosta Browne have long known: that the growing region is without a doubt one of the best in California for Pinot Noir.

The Gap’s Crown Vineyard is the jewel of the new AVA because no location better showcases the virtues of this 15-mile opening in the coastal mountain range: the powerful, vine-cleansing winds that keep the grapes’ sugar in check and facilitate slow ripening, or the fog and cool temperatures that keep acid buzzing. The site was put on the map by the cult Pinot-seekers Kosta Browne, who have built their entire mythos on their ability to source top fruit. The vineyard’s importance is not only evidenced by its role in Kosta Browne Pinot Noir that was honored as Wine Spectator’s #1 Wine of the Year in 2011, but by the sheer fact that it sold for $13M a few years back.

Then, on July 17, 2018, Wine Spectator broke the news that Duckhorn bought out Kosta Browne, noting the “sale price was not disclosed.” Surely, a bit more than $13M. Imagine our first emoji following this notion—a “wink,” no doubt.

The brilliant site in question? Black Kite’s parcel at Gap’s Crown consists of 23 rows of Dijon 777 Pinot Noir clone, farmed to their specifications. Black Kite winemaker Jeff Gaffney gives the Gap’s Crown Pinot a Grand Cru-like treatment, ageing the wine for ten months in 50% new French oak. The finished wine is a deep, dense, and aromatic with a silky and persistent finish. A beautiful wine that adds to the aura of one of the Golden State’s top Pinot vineyards.