2018 Meeker Pinot Noir, Petaluma Gap, Sonoma County
Tasting Notes
After having a nice sabbatical from Pinot Noir for a few years, this vineyard in the Petaluma Gap presented itself at the very last minute during the 2018 harvest. The Petaluma Gap AVA is the newest federal appellation in Sonoma County, and the “gap” is named for the gap in the hills between Petaluma in the coast, and the cold air in the evenings blows in quickly creating a cooler climate that grapes like Pinot Noir love.
With a bright, juicy core of classic cherry fruit, the wine quickly dives into a spicy bramble of baking spices and savory herbs. It should age well but we recommend to drink between now-2027
Specs
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Appellation: Petaluma Gap, Sonoma County
Alcohol: 14.3%
What’s Included
3-bottles:
3x 2018 Meeker Pinot Noir, Petaluma Gap, Sonoma County
Case:
12x 2018 Meeker Pinot Noir, Petaluma Gap, Sonoma County
Charles and Molly Meeker bought their first vineyard at the north end of West Dry Creek Road in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley in 1977. After years of clearing, planting, and tending to 60+ acres of vines, the Meekers began producing wine with the 1983 vintage. In 1984, Charlie and Molly crushed the first grapes in their own winery—The Meeker Vineyard—with Charlie as the winemaker. In its early years, the winery specialized in Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay all made from estate fruit.
In the late 1990’s Charlie and Molly sold their original winery property and opened a tasting room in the 113-year-old Geyserville Bank building in the farm town of Geyserville, about six miles north of Healdsburg between Alexander and Dry Creek Valleys. Later they established a new winery located three blocks from the Healdsburg Square in downtown Healdsburg.
The Meeker Vineyard is truly a family operation. Molly is President and in charge of marketing and accounting. Charlie served as CEO until his passing in 2021. Molly & Charlie’s son Lucas joined the winery full-time in 2007 after graduating from Colgate University. Starting off scrubbing tanks and washing glasses in high school, he is now COO and Head Winemaker and runs daily operations. Molly & Charlie’s daughter Kelly lives in Bozeman, Montana. Kelly has her own career but also guides the winery’s social media, website, and marketing.
The Meeker family takes pride in an unconventional attitude towards wine. As Molly would love to tell you with a smile: “We take nothing seriously but the wine itself.”
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IA, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, RI, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WI
Thanks to Alice at WCC for the chance to rat another wine from Meeker! I was fortunate enough to rat a Meeker Merlot last year, and was pleasantly surprised to see the familiar label again. This time around the wine is a 2018 Pinot from Sonoma. The bottle presents very nicely, with tasteful and elegant label and a just a dab of wax on the cork which seems to be popular these days. We popped this bottle after ~24 hours in the wine cellar. Our raw notes:
Appearance - very light cranberry color, remarkably clear.
Nose - almost non existent at first pour. No alcohol, and just a light whiff of fruity sweetness.
Taste - light. Nicely balanced, no edges, but lacking in depth. A bit of tart sour cherry fruit on the tongue. Again, very well balanced, but little depth of evolution. Clean finish.
Food Pairing - light pork and potato dish complimented the delicate flavors well. A bit of salt on the palate and air in the glass helped the wine open up.
An hour later - The wine opened up quite a bit more when left for an hour. Tannin structure appeared and provided strength against the still delicate but much more present fruit, along with a nice bit of Pinot’s characteristic baking spice. Still light, delicate, and very well balanced.
We enjoyed the wine, but it is a more delicate pinot to be sure. If you enjoy very light reds, or perhaps would like to stock a red to serve to friends with an aversion to the typical tannins of red wine, this might well be something to try. Cheers!
A few notes and specs lifted from The Wine Spies April 2021:
We can’t replace a world-class red Burgundy, but we can dish out this sublime Pinot from Meeker. It’s Pommard-styled, but from a single vineyard in the Petaluma Gap, the newest appellation in Sonoma County, loved by growers for the cool climate - perfect for growing Pinot Noirs of distinction.
This is NOT your full throttle, jammed-out, oaked-up, beefcake Pinot. It’s feminine, full of style, grace, and elegance. Definitely fits the bill if you lean more towards the IPOB (In Pursuit of Balance) spectrum. Acidity dialed in. Extracted ripeness dialed back. Brimming with bright Bing cherries, nutmeg, and other baking spices. A dream for many food pairings.
Meeker is the ultimate boutique address in the idyllic Sonoma countryside. They’ve been making wine since 1984 and today it’s a multi-generational family affair. Lucas Meeker grew up at the winery, and learned the ropes from his father, growing up with terroir in his blood. We enjoy buying wine from small family producers in our hood, and Meeker is certainly worthy of our love.
Surrounded by highly sought-after sites such as Sangiacomo Roberts Road, Gap’s Crown, and Sun Chase, the teeny ‘weensie Vineyard’ (not just ANY vineyard!) that this Pinot Noir is entirely sourced from happens to be owned by a prominent doctor, college professor, and research scientist. The attention to detail here is therefore impeccable, and the merits of the fruit show in the quality of the wine.
Wine Enthusiast has woken up to the riches of this young AVA: “While the Petaluma name gives it a sense of place, it’s the Gap that gives the new appellation meaning. A 15-mile-wide opening in the coastal mountain range brings cold air from the Pacific Ocean and pulls it east over land to the San Pablo Bay… Yields are low and grapes ripen slowly. The wines offer rich, textured intensity within a context of cool-climate aromatics and undeniable acidity.”
Continuing that “The area is defined more by vineyard sites than wineries, as grapes from the same established vineyards go into bottles from a wide assortment of producers like Kosta Browne, Rodney Strong, Ramey Wine Cellars, Patz & Hall and Walt Wines. More and more producers, both big and small, are noticing Petaluma Gap’s potential.”
This vineyard saddles a small crest that sits about 60ft above the valley floor. The blocks wrap around the crest in a way that gives varied sun exposure, developing varied ripeness and phenolic complexity. One of the best features of this Eastern part of the Petaluma Gap is the evening wind that runs from the coast inland, and quite forcefully during late summer and fall. This cool wind creates a sharp diurnal shift, which shortens the hot part of the day and extends hangtime. We picked this fruit 4 weeks later than we would typically pick Russian River fruit, for example. The vine rows run with the wind direction, allowing the vines and fruit to cool quickly in the evening. The coastal gap also feeds fog into the region, shielding the fruit from the sun in the early morning and balancing the diurnal windows.
The vineyard is in markedly sandy loam, one of the sandiest topsoils I’ve seen in Sonoma County. This encourages quick drainage and prevents vines from getting too much water, keeping the fruit concentrated. Cool climate Pinot Noir, especially from Pommard clones, can often deceive during fermentation. It’s typical for most PN to smell bright, fruity, and fresh during fermentation. This lot, however, smelled like baking spices, cola, and crushed rock. It was out of the ordinary enough that we were a little worried about it. But as we got to the end of fermentation, clean PN character started to shine through with the deep complexity that cooler climate fruit carries.
I was chosen to rat the Meeker Vineyard 2018 Pinot Noir from Petaluma Gap, Sonoma County CA. I’ll preface this review by saying I’m pretty picky about Pinot Noir. I like about 25% of the bottles I’ve tried, can take or leave 50%, and don’t care for the last 25%. I’m a tough Pinot Noir customer, FWIW.
I let the bottle rest for two days before I opened it. The Meeker features a natural cork with a wax cap. I poured a glass and saw that the wine was a lovely ruby red in color with good clarity, and slender, fast legs.
Nose: initially, not much. Maybe a hint of fruit and minerality. It was a little disappointing for me, because nose is half the pleasure of wine for me.
Initial taste : dry, with red fruit and a lot of tannins. The finish was hot with alcohol. It actually burned a bit in my mouth with a sensation that reminded me of moonshine.
As I continued sipping, I found hints of tobacco, terroir, and leather on the end, but it was obscured by the alcohol burn.
I decided to cork the bottle and give it another day.
2nd day:
Still not much of a nose. Slight red fruit and minerality, but pretty faint. The flavor has improved considerably. The alcohol burn has disappeared. The flavor is soft with raspberry and plum on the front, and finishes dry with darker fruit (raspberries, blackberries and plums) and leather. There’s some black pepper, and a little terroir and minerality on the finish as well.
Day one, I wasn’t interested in buying, but day two was like a whole new wine. My recommendation is to decant this wine. It really needs aeration. As tight as it was on day one, I think it would age well. If you are a pinot noir fan, I think you will be pleased with this one.
@WCCWineGirl Yes, it needs serious aeration. Just leaving it in the glass for 20 minutes was definitely not enough. But once it had time to sit with a little air in the bottle, it really improved.
@gemeinschaft79 I think I get where you’re coming from, but it might help others if you explain more about what sorts of things put Pinots in the “good” or “bad” books with you - aside, of course, from blandness.
@klezman that’s fair. I prefer complexity with a good balance of fruit and spice. I don’t like too much tart or sour fruit, and I hate it when there’s too much alcohol. I love a good nose, and lack of one will definitely lower my opinion of the wine.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations).
2018 Meeker Petaluma Gap Pinot Noir - $40 = 14.27%
2018 Meeker Pinot Noir, Petaluma Gap, Sonoma County
Tasting Notes
Specs
What’s Included
3-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
$504.00/Case at The Meeker Vineyard for 12x 2018 Meeker Pinot Noir, Petaluma Gap, Sonoma County
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IA, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, RI, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WI
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Feb 14 - Thursday, Feb 17
2018 Meeker Petaluma Gap Pinot Noir
3 bottles for $69.99 $23.33/bottle + $2.67/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $239.99 $20/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
waves
I made this.
@lucasmeeker
waves
Sounds yummy!
@lucasmeeker Nice work!
Thanks to Alice at WCC for the chance to rat another wine from Meeker! I was fortunate enough to rat a Meeker Merlot last year, and was pleasantly surprised to see the familiar label again. This time around the wine is a 2018 Pinot from Sonoma. The bottle presents very nicely, with tasteful and elegant label and a just a dab of wax on the cork which seems to be popular these days. We popped this bottle after ~24 hours in the wine cellar. Our raw notes:
Appearance - very light cranberry color, remarkably clear.
Nose - almost non existent at first pour. No alcohol, and just a light whiff of fruity sweetness.
Taste - light. Nicely balanced, no edges, but lacking in depth. A bit of tart sour cherry fruit on the tongue. Again, very well balanced, but little depth of evolution. Clean finish.
Food Pairing - light pork and potato dish complimented the delicate flavors well. A bit of salt on the palate and air in the glass helped the wine open up.
An hour later - The wine opened up quite a bit more when left for an hour. Tannin structure appeared and provided strength against the still delicate but much more present fruit, along with a nice bit of Pinot’s characteristic baking spice. Still light, delicate, and very well balanced.
We enjoyed the wine, but it is a more delicate pinot to be sure. If you enjoy very light reds, or perhaps would like to stock a red to serve to friends with an aversion to the typical tannins of red wine, this might well be something to try. Cheers!
@emribecky Thank you for ratting Meeker again and for the pics
A few notes and specs lifted from The Wine Spies April 2021:
We can’t replace a world-class red Burgundy, but we can dish out this sublime Pinot from Meeker. It’s Pommard-styled, but from a single vineyard in the Petaluma Gap, the newest appellation in Sonoma County, loved by growers for the cool climate - perfect for growing Pinot Noirs of distinction.
This is NOT your full throttle, jammed-out, oaked-up, beefcake Pinot. It’s feminine, full of style, grace, and elegance. Definitely fits the bill if you lean more towards the IPOB (In Pursuit of Balance) spectrum. Acidity dialed in. Extracted ripeness dialed back. Brimming with bright Bing cherries, nutmeg, and other baking spices. A dream for many food pairings.
Meeker is the ultimate boutique address in the idyllic Sonoma countryside. They’ve been making wine since 1984 and today it’s a multi-generational family affair. Lucas Meeker grew up at the winery, and learned the ropes from his father, growing up with terroir in his blood. We enjoy buying wine from small family producers in our hood, and Meeker is certainly worthy of our love.
Surrounded by highly sought-after sites such as Sangiacomo Roberts Road, Gap’s Crown, and Sun Chase, the teeny ‘weensie Vineyard’ (not just ANY vineyard!) that this Pinot Noir is entirely sourced from happens to be owned by a prominent doctor, college professor, and research scientist. The attention to detail here is therefore impeccable, and the merits of the fruit show in the quality of the wine.
Wine Enthusiast has woken up to the riches of this young AVA: “While the Petaluma name gives it a sense of place, it’s the Gap that gives the new appellation meaning. A 15-mile-wide opening in the coastal mountain range brings cold air from the Pacific Ocean and pulls it east over land to the San Pablo Bay… Yields are low and grapes ripen slowly. The wines offer rich, textured intensity within a context of cool-climate aromatics and undeniable acidity.”
Continuing that “The area is defined more by vineyard sites than wineries, as grapes from the same established vineyards go into bottles from a wide assortment of producers like Kosta Browne, Rodney Strong, Ramey Wine Cellars, Patz & Hall and Walt Wines. More and more producers, both big and small, are noticing Petaluma Gap’s potential.”
This vineyard saddles a small crest that sits about 60ft above the valley floor. The blocks wrap around the crest in a way that gives varied sun exposure, developing varied ripeness and phenolic complexity. One of the best features of this Eastern part of the Petaluma Gap is the evening wind that runs from the coast inland, and quite forcefully during late summer and fall. This cool wind creates a sharp diurnal shift, which shortens the hot part of the day and extends hangtime. We picked this fruit 4 weeks later than we would typically pick Russian River fruit, for example. The vine rows run with the wind direction, allowing the vines and fruit to cool quickly in the evening. The coastal gap also feeds fog into the region, shielding the fruit from the sun in the early morning and balancing the diurnal windows.
The vineyard is in markedly sandy loam, one of the sandiest topsoils I’ve seen in Sonoma County. This encourages quick drainage and prevents vines from getting too much water, keeping the fruit concentrated. Cool climate Pinot Noir, especially from Pommard clones, can often deceive during fermentation. It’s typical for most PN to smell bright, fruity, and fresh during fermentation. This lot, however, smelled like baking spices, cola, and crushed rock. It was out of the ordinary enough that we were a little worried about it. But as we got to the end of fermentation, clean PN character started to shine through with the deep complexity that cooler climate fruit carries.
VINTAGE: 2018
VARIETAL: 100% Pinot Noir
APPELLATION: Petaluma Gap, Sonoma Coast
VINEYARD: ENY Vineyard
ALCOHOL: 14.3%
BRIX AT HARVEST: 23.3°
YIELDS 4.66 tons/acre
YEAST: Williams-Selyem Late Harvest Zinfandel native
PH: 3.7
AGING: 12 months BARRELS: 33% French oak
PRODUCTION: 3 barrels
fwiw
Meeker is an auto buy for me. One of my wife’s favorite wineries.
I was chosen to rat the Meeker Vineyard 2018 Pinot Noir from Petaluma Gap, Sonoma County CA. I’ll preface this review by saying I’m pretty picky about Pinot Noir. I like about 25% of the bottles I’ve tried, can take or leave 50%, and don’t care for the last 25%. I’m a tough Pinot Noir customer, FWIW.
I let the bottle rest for two days before I opened it. The Meeker features a natural cork with a wax cap. I poured a glass and saw that the wine was a lovely ruby red in color with good clarity, and slender, fast legs.
Nose: initially, not much. Maybe a hint of fruit and minerality. It was a little disappointing for me, because nose is half the pleasure of wine for me.
Initial taste : dry, with red fruit and a lot of tannins. The finish was hot with alcohol. It actually burned a bit in my mouth with a sensation that reminded me of moonshine.
As I continued sipping, I found hints of tobacco, terroir, and leather on the end, but it was obscured by the alcohol burn.
I decided to cork the bottle and give it another day.
2nd day:
Still not much of a nose. Slight red fruit and minerality, but pretty faint. The flavor has improved considerably. The alcohol burn has disappeared. The flavor is soft with raspberry and plum on the front, and finishes dry with darker fruit (raspberries, blackberries and plums) and leather. There’s some black pepper, and a little terroir and minerality on the finish as well.
Day one, I wasn’t interested in buying, but day two was like a whole new wine. My recommendation is to decant this wine. It really needs aeration. As tight as it was on day one, I think it would age well. If you are a pinot noir fan, I think you will be pleased with this one.
@gemeinschaft79 thank you for the report. Interesting how it evolve on day 2.
@WCCWineGirl Yes, it needs serious aeration. Just leaving it in the glass for 20 minutes was definitely not enough. But once it had time to sit with a little air in the bottle, it really improved.
@gemeinschaft79 I think I get where you’re coming from, but it might help others if you explain more about what sorts of things put Pinots in the “good” or “bad” books with you - aside, of course, from blandness.
@klezman that’s fair. I prefer complexity with a good balance of fruit and spice. I don’t like too much tart or sour fruit, and I hate it when there’s too much alcohol. I love a good nose, and lack of one will definitely lower my opinion of the wine.
Boo! No love for PA!!!
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations).
2018 Meeker Petaluma Gap Pinot Noir - $40 = 14.27%