2018 Furthermore Pinot Noir Gap's Crown Vineyard Sonoma Coast 750 ml

Famously cold and rocky, the western-facing Gap’s Crown Vineyard peers over the mouth of the Petaluma Gap. Here, a daily dance of wind and fog allows the grapes to ripen more slowly than they do further inland, achieving striking balance and precision. 

There isn’t a French-style classification system for California’s Sonoma Coast, but if there were, Gap’s Crown Vineyard would be a Grand Cru. Pinot Noir legends like Kosta Browne, Lutum, Gary Farrell, Three Sticks, and Passalacqua have done some of their best work off this prized vineyard, resulting in classic bottlings that nabbed lofty scores. Kosta Browne’s 2011 Wine Spectator Wine of the Year, their 2009 Sonoma Coast Pinot, was heavily sourced from Gap’s Crown. 

The right winemaker can work wonders with the vineyard’s fruit, and Ross Cobb is a Pinot savant with a golden CV. An alum of Williams Selyem and Flowers, he learned his love of Pinot Noir from Littorai’s Ted Lemon and Cristom’s Steve Doerner. For our money, Cobb’s 2018 Furthermore Gap's Crown is one of the best buys you can find off this hallowed site. Stylistically based in the Old World, he favors lithe Pinots that show the kind of elegance and fine-boned grace exemplified by this release.

2018 was a storybook vintage for Cobb and Sonoma County. Wine Spectator called it an “ideal year” and quoted David Ramey, who said he’d had “honestly, the easiest harvest ever.” Wine Advocate concurred, awarding 2018 the top score it’s given for a Sonoma Pinot vintage.  

Buttressed by the electrifying acidity of the fog-shrouded coast, the 2018 Furthermore deftly captures the high-tension beauty that’s made Gap’s Crown one of the best-known sites along the Sonoma Coast.