Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

A Guide to the California’s Petaluma Gap Wine Appellation

Mark Stock
By

In wine, the influence of the ocean can’t be understated. The sea provides wind, cooler temperatures, moisture, and more, all of which combine to temper the makeup the flavors of wine grapes and the resulting wines. Geological and climatological character breeds personality in wine.

The Petaluma Gap is one of those storied map features, a unique region in northern California. Extending from the Pacific Ocean to San Pablo Bay, it invites gusty marine air in and through its many corridors, treating the inland foothills to, well, an almost constant breath of fresh air. In 2018, an American Viticultural Area of the same name was granted recognition by the feds, honoring the special set of conditions that unfold here. But the Pertaluma Gap’s affects extend beyond its own namesake appellation.

Recommended Videos

In the Petaluma Gap AVA, Pinot Noir is dominant, making up about three-fourths of what’s planted. Syrah and Chardonnay flourish here as well, along with a little bit of Albariño, Riesling, Grenache, and a few other varieties. Grape growing in the region dates back to the 1830s when the governor of Mexican California planted vines. The first commercial operation came about a half-century later.

Related

The marine layer here is dramatic, the stuff of post card images even. The mornings are shrouded in coastal fog before it’s burned off by the sun in the afternoon. The climate is Mediterranean in nature, with a significant diurnal shift. Steady breezes in the afternoon funneling in from the coast concentrate flavor and limit yields in the vineyard. And because the elevation remains fairly low, there’s not much getting in the way of this significant marine influence.

Other AVAs altered for the better by the Petaluma Gap include the Russian River Valley and the Sonoma Coast. This is not the sunbaked California we like to think of. Here, high temperatures hover around the mid-70s, extending the growing season and securing a lot of the chemistry (sugar and acid balance especially) that winemakers adore. There’s plenty of precipitation here as well, with a Willamette Valley-esque annual amount of close to 40 inches. Better still, there’s a certain convenience about the Gap, as it starts just 25 short miles north from San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge.  

Here are a few labels to look out for that champion the distinctive ways of the Petaluma Gap. Together, these brands are helping to elevate this relatively new California appellation with every vintage. 

Patz & Hall

Patz & Hall
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Patz & Hall launched in 1988 and has since established itself as one of the leading labels of the appellation. Its specialty is single-vineyard Burgundian varietals like Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The label dabbles in a number of northern Californian AVAs, including the Santa Lucia Highlands, but some of its best work comes out of the Petaluma Gap. Look out for Gap’s Crown Vineyard on the label, an elegant site offering fruit and wines with a real depth of character and nuance.

Keller Estate

Keller Estate
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Located in the town of Petaluma, Keller Estate is very much worth the visit, situated on an eye-catching estate. But while the pandemic keeps us mindful of travel and group tastings, look out for the label’s stunning estate wines, including some outstanding Syrah. The Chardonnay out of La Cruz Vineyard should also be on any wine enthusiast’s short list, made from grapes grown on an ancient seabed near San Pablo Bay near the mouth of the Gap.

Karah Estate

Karah Estate
Image used with permission by copyright holder

It sounds a lot like the above winery, but Karah Estate is injecting its own bit of skill and creativity into the Petaluma Gap wine scene. The Coati operation pulls from 144 acres in the Sonoma Coast and makes truly lovely Pinot Noir and even some Chenin Blanc. Ever-crafty, Karah Estate also makes a Beaujolais-inspired nouveau wine.

Sangiacomo Vineyards

Sangiacomo Vineyards
Image used with permission by copyright holder

A label in its own right and one worth sampling, Sangiacomo also sells a lot of its fruit to esteemed area producers. The outfit tends some 1,600 vineyards in the Sonoma area, including the Roberts Road Vineyard within the Petaluma Gap. This site in particular, previously used for hay and corn, has become a playground for highly sought-after Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mark Stock
Mark Stock
Contributor
Mark Stock is a writer from Portland, Oregon. He fell into wine during the Recession and has been fixated on the stuff since…
Interview With Vice Wines Vineyard Founder Malek Amrani
Malek Amrani, founder of Vice Wines.

Ever wonder how much global effort goes into a simple bottle of wine? In addition to the liquid inside, that glass has to be sourced from somewhere. When the Trump administration put tariffs on imports, this included an 18-percent duty on glass. And when the price of that glass goes up, so does the price of a bottle. Alongside the fallout from wildfires, a decades-long Western drought, pandemic-caused supply issues, and a dwindling cork supply, the wine industry faces a deluge of issues.

Malek Amrani, the founder of Napa Valley’s The Vice Wine, is no stranger to this turbulence. After founding the artisanal maker in 2016, Amrani is experiencing firsthand the supply chain, labor shortage, and inflation issues beleaguering vintners, and subsequent consumers. A spike in orders for Vice wines over the last two years is tempered by what the company reports is a 30% price increase on labels, corks, and capsules (the protective, over-the-cork sleeves on wine bottle necks).

Read more
A Guide to Sicilian Wines, the Best-Kept Secret of Italy
Aerial shot of Cefalù, Sicily.

While frequently overshadowed by other regions of Italian wine, the island of Sicily actually produces some of the finest wine in the world. Home to several native grape varieties, Sicilian wine is delicious, with complex flavors that rival any wine-making region. In previous decades, Sicilian wines weren't held in high regard, overshadowed by Italian or French wines. At that time, Sicilian wine had a poor reputation, viewed by many wine drinkers as beverages produced with an emphasis on quantity rather than quality.

According to Rob Walsh, Sicilian wine expert and Director of Fine Wine at Disaronno International, a New Jersey-based wine importer, this perception is rapidly changing.

Read more
The Most Influential Black Voices in Wine
Simonne Mitchelson profile pic on Jackson Family Wine Facebook.

Wine is not fair. Despite a diverse American population, only roughly 1 in every 1,000 winemakers in this country is Black. The percentages are a little better for the industry at large, but not by much. The wine tides are changing, thankfully, but there's much work to be done in the name of creating an inviting, diverse, and dynamic community.

The drinks industry is evolving and there are more and more Black voices entering the conversation. Wine has been particularly slow to shift, perhaps because it's always been so bound to tradition and has a history of elitism. Fortunately, it's shifting towards a younger, broader core audience, just ask boxed wine and Pinot Gris in a can. A major part of that shift involves having the wine scene actually reflect the landscape it inhabits.

Read more