Home
: 2017 Westwood "Annadel Gap Vineyard" Sonoma County Pinot Noir

2017 Westwood "Annadel Gap Vineyard" Sonoma County Pinot Noir (Elsewhere $52)

SKU #1489883 93 points Jeb Dunnuck

Outer quote mark The 2017 Pinot Noir Sonoma County should represent a terrific value (I wasn’t able to get a price for this release) and it has a classic, balanced style as well as complex notes of black raspberries, spice, and smoky earth. As with everything from this estate, it’s beautifully balanced, with undeniable elegance and a great finish. I suspect it will keep for a decade. Inner quote mark (6/2019)

90 points Wine Enthusiast

Outer quote mark This is a bold, hugely concentrated wine, jammy in up-front notions of black cherry and baked strawberry. With firm silky tannins that add weight and structure, it shows its oak, letting it settle to reveal appealing accents of dried herb and Asian spice. (VB) Inner quote mark (1/2020)

Connoisseurs Guide

Outer quote mark This is not an especially big and extracted wine, nor is it governed by heady ripeness, but it is a bit taut and tannic all the same and exhibits a slightly tough, youthful edge or two. It does, however, muster a fairly consistent complement of very proper Pinot Noir fruit that should emerge as its ascendant theme as it becomes friendlier and more approachably pliant in feel over the next couple of years. Inner quote mark (11/2019)

K&L Notes

While Westwood's Annadel Gap vineyard isn't named for an official American Viticultural Area, like the nearby Petaluma Gap. It's a unique site in Sonoma County, sharing aspects of the warmth of Sonoma Valley with the cool breezes that rush in, many afternoons, from the Petaluma Gap. Behind it looms craggy Hood Mountain; to the south, the dense Redwood and Douglas fir forest of Trione-Annadel State Park (a favorite of local mountain bikers, hikers, and equestrians alike). Because of a connection to Tablas Creek Vineyard's Rhone varieties project, Westwood initially planted Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvedre in the rocky, partly volcanic soils. But when the winery's former vintner carefully studied results from a weather station, he found that the site was, overall, cooler than the famed "Middle Reach" of the Russian River Valley (think Rochioli), so he added Pinot Noir! In more recent years, Westwood made the switch to Biodynamic farming, hired celebrated wine consultant Philippe Melka--named by the Wine Advocate as “one of the Top 10 Winemakers in the World”--and the rest is history...well, for those few who have discovered the wines of this special estate, anyway. *Biodynamic*

Share |

2017 Westwood "Annadel Gap Vineyard" Sonoma County Pinot Noir

Price: Hidden

JD: 93

WE: 90

Real Time Inventory by location:

The item you have chosen is in stock, and has inventory in our warehouse and one or more stores. Below is the current quantity on hand information for this product within our database. It is never more than five minutes old. Additionally, our shopping cart looks at real time inventory so when you add an item to you cart we will do an immediate check of available inventory and alert you if there are any issues.

Location	Qty
Main Warehouse:	> 36
Hollywood:	> 36
Redwood City:	35
San Francisco:	> 36

Product turnaround time varies by location of inventory and your chosen method of shipping/pickup. For a detailed explanation click here.

Related Items

Product Reviews:

By: Blake Conklin | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: 10/14/2020 | Send Email

I can't think of a more outstanding pinot noir I've enjoyed this year than the Annadel Gap Vineyard pinot from Westwood. And for the price we are selling it, we are simply giving you an offer you can't refuse. With a fantastic mouthfeel, and brilliant acidity, I remember why I tend to lean towards Sonoma pinots the most. Subtle aromas of lavender, and followed by incredible flavors of strawberry, raspberry, and touches of spice (nutmeg particularly) this is not only a complex pinot, it's also an outstanding value, dare I say steal of the century?

By: Kaj Stromer | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: 8/18/2020 | Send Email

Renowned winemaker Philippe Melka has been a mainstay of the premium Napa Valley Cabernet scene as long as I can remember. Having made so many of the valley's most sought after wines, it was just a matter of time before his interest drifted to Sonoma County and the regal Pinot Noir. At Westwood Estate, his wines have been met with great critical acclaim as they build their consumer fan base. This wine is about as seemless and charming of a Pinot Noir gets. The nose has a brilliant combination of ripe red cherries and roses that rise from the glass. These sensations continue on the palate. This is a gorgeous mid-weight Pinot Noir whose finish lasts for a minute plus. I'd pair this with duck breast cooked to perfection. A perfect match. Thanks to a strong relationship with the winery, we were able to negotiate a "must buy" price for our customers.

Additional Information:

Varietal:

Pinot Noir

- One of France's most legendary grapes and the grape that earned Burgundy its reputation. The parent of varietals like Pinot Gris/Grigio and Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir is blue to violet to indigo in color with relatively thin skins, and it is said to have been cultivated in France for more than 2,000 years. At its best, Pinot Noir creates elegant wines that are filled with primary red fruit aromas and flavors while young, revealing with an array of secondary characteristics like earth, smoke, violet, truffle and game with age. The varietal is also known, perhaps better than any, for its ability to translate terroir, or a sense of place. While the best Pinot Noir still comes from Burgundy, it is being produced with increasing success in cooler climates around the world. In France, it is part of the trifecta of grapes that can go into Champagne, and it is also grown in Alsace, Irancy, Jura, Savoie, Lorraine and Sancerre. Outside of France it is produced under the names Pinot Nero and Blauburgunder in Italy's mountainous regions, as Spätburgunder in Germany and as Blauburgunder in Austria. In the US, Pinot Noir has found suitable growing conditions in the cooler parts of California, including Carneros, the Russian River Valley, the Anderson Valley, the Sonoma Coast, Monterey County, the Santa Lucia Highlands and Santa Barbara County, as well as in Oregon's Willamette Valley. In recent years, New Zealand has demonstrated its ability to interpret this hard-to-grow varietal, with successful bottlings coming from careful and attentive growers in Central Otago, Martinborough and Canterbury. Chile is also an up-and-coming region for Pinot Noir, creating fresh, fruit-forward, early-drinking and affordable Pinots from the coastal Casablanca Valley and the Limari Valley.

Country:

United States

- When people consider domestic wine, they normally think about the state of California. The fine viticultural Region within California, including the Napa Valley, Sonoma, Santa Cruz Mountains, Mendocino and Santa Barbara, are capable of growing grapes of world-class quality. But there's plenty of fabulous wine coming from other states, too. Oregon, Washington and New York are also causing eyebrows (and glassware) to be raised around the world.

Sub-Region:

California

- With the explosive growth that California's wine industry has seen the past several years, it's easy to view winemaking and grape growing in the Golden State as a recent phenomenon. And while it's true that California's viticultural history is brief compared to several European countries, this state's roots date back well over 200 years. Due to the enormous response to California wine within the United States and worldwide, there are thousands of excellent and diverse wines being produced within the state each year.

Specific Appellation:

Sonoma County

- Second in fame only to Napa, this "other" valley offers just about every climate and topography imaginable. From its cool and fog-enshrouded coastal regions on the far west, to the sprawling Alexander Valley on the boarder of Napa and the many little dips and peaks in between, Sonoma has been a vital wine-grape-growing region since the mid 1800s. Important sub-AVAs include Chalk Hill (known for chardonnay and sauvignon blanc), Dry Creek Valley (where zin is king) Knights Valley (largely cabernet land), Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast (both celebrated pinot and chardonnay zones).