Sojourn Cellars house spotlight
Craig Haserot and Erich Bradley, founders of Sojourn Cellars, appear on the official sojourncellars film. They walk the house vineyards, including Gap's Crown, Sangiacomo, and Rodgers Creek. This bottle is the 2022 Gap's Crown Vineyard Pinot Noir.
2022 Sojourn Cellars Gaps Crown Vineyard Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast, USA
Erich Bradley's Gap's Crown Pinot, dusty cherry and cedar from an 800-foot Petaluma Gap hillside, a 95-point 2022 you can open at thirty-three dollars.
The 2022 Gap's Crown is 100 percent Pinot Noir from the windy, volcanic hillside above Sangiacomo: dark berry, cherry, baking spice, and a lemony acid line, now $33.
The hillside that made Sojourn's Pinot famous
Gap's Crown sits near Cotati at 300 to 800 feet, overlooking Sangiacomo to the west. Rocky, well-drained slopes, northwestern exposure, Petaluma Gap wind. Sojourn has bottled it since 2007. The 2022 saw about 15 percent whole cluster and 50 percent new French oak. Wine Enthusiast 95, Editors' Choice. International Wine Report 96. Owen Bargreen called it the finest Pinot he has tasted from this house.
The site
Planted 2002 and 2005. Clones 115, 828, 667. Clay loam with significant rock. Price Family Vineyards farms it.
The wine
About 15% whole cluster, native yeast, 50% new French oak, unfined and unfiltered. Phenomenal structure, lifted dark berry and cherry.
The scores
Wine Enthusiast 95, Editors' Choice. International Wine Report 96. Owen Bargreen 96.
The drinker
Cherry and cedar first. Serve 55 to 60 F. Thirty minutes of air. Duck or mushroom risotto.
Cherry, cedar, then the hillside tannin
Wine Enthusiast: dusty maraschino cherry and red licorice, then fresh cherry, berry, plum, cinnamon, and cedar, with lemony acid driving a powerfully tannic finish that will unify with time. International Wine Report: wild huckleberry, boysenberry, black tea, clove, cedary herbs.
A warm, compressed Sonoma harvest. This windy 800-foot site with volcanic soils kept intensity. Yields were modest. The wine is concentrated, structured, and built to settle.
Dusty maraschino cherry, red licorice, dark berry, plum, cinnamon, cedar, huckleberry, black tea.
Deeply structured, powerful tannin, lemony acid, 15% whole cluster, 50% new French oak.
Long, tannic, spice-toned. Serve 55 to 60 F. Thirty minutes of air.
Stems in the 828, oak in proportion
Gap's Crown is Sojourn's most concentrated Pinot site: steep, rocky, windy, late-hanging. Bradley ferments clones separately. In this vintage about 15 percent whole cluster went into the blend, then 50 percent new French oak. The house wants the hillside in the glass: dark fruit, baking spice, and a tannin line that needs a plate or a few years.
Much of the intensity comes from vine stress on rocky slopes. The Petaluma Gap keeps nights cool enough for the fruit to hang into late September and October.
Unfined and unfiltered. Decant 30 minutes if you open it now. The tannins are honest. They will unify.
A hillside that collectors already know
Gap's Crown became one of Sonoma Coast's most sought-after Pinot sites, and Sojourn was among the first houses to bottle it as a vineyard designate.
Premier Pacific developed the vineyard between 2002 and 2005. Price Family Vineyards later took ownership. Sojourn's first Gap's Crown Pinot was 2007.
The site overlooks Sangiacomo. Same wind, more rock, more elevation. That is why this bottling is usually the most structured Pinot in the Sojourn lineup.
The 2022 is that hillside after a warm year: Editors' Choice concentration, still a Sojourn wine, still Erich Bradley.
Duck, mushrooms, and a little air
This is the structured Gap's Crown Pinot. Duck with cherry sauce meets the dark fruit. Mushroom risotto handles the tannin and cedar.
Two plates. One duck breast with cherry sauce. One wild-mushroom risotto. Both can take Gap's Crown tannin.
Serve 55 to 60 F. Thirty minutes of air.
Sweet-Tart Duck Breast with Fresh Cherry Sauce
Crisp-skinned duck, fresh cherries, and a bright pan sauce when the Pinot is the table wine.
Why it works: Cherry mirrors the red fruit. Duck fat softens savory tannin while spice and earth stay in the glass.
View Recipe for sweet-tart duck breast with fresh cherry sauce (opens in a new tab)
Wild Mushroom and Red Wine Risotto
Mushrooms, red wine, and Parmigiano. The savory plate Petaluma Gap Pinot was built for.
Why it works: Earth and umami meet forest floor, mushroom, and the mineral close of windy-site Pinot.
View Recipe for wild mushroom and red wine risotto (opens in a new tab)Put Gap's Crown Pinot in the cart
Wine Enthusiast 95, Editors' Choice. International Wine Report 96. Thirty-three dollars.
Put it in the cart. This is the Sojourn hillside Pinot that usually asks for a lot more.
