First harvest for new Petaluma Gap AVA

Now months removed from the announcement that literally put 4,000 acres of local vineyards on the map, Petaluma Gap winemakers believe the distinction as an official American Viticulture Area has so far been more of an emblematic achievement, one that will require time for the rest of the world to catch on to.

With Wine Country harvest officially beginning earlier this month, there was little fanfare or symbolic gestures commemorating the first vintage under the newly-crowned AVA.

Instead, while laborers were busy plucking grapes in warmer regions nearby, most production teams in the Gap were simply concluding their prep work in anticipation of the first pick, which industry members said will likely take place this week.

The cooler temperatures that help distinguish the area leads to lengthier growing seasons, often resulting in more complex and full-bodied wines since the grapes take longer to ripen. The combination of whipping winds, foggy mornings and strong afternoon sun usually puts Petaluma 10 to 14 days behind its peers, said Reid Kinnett, winemaker at Karah Estate Vineyards & Winery.

Wineries can now put “Petaluma Gap” on anything that was bottled in 2018, which, for many local outlets, includes wines from the 2017 harvest. However, some companies are hesitant to completely adopt the brand new moniker right away.

“Everyone’s real firmly behind the Gap and it’s important, but I think a lot of people’s marketing departments are nervous about making a light-switch change,” Kinnett said. “But I think that pride is still there. I just think no one is trying to have foolish pride.”

For decades, Petaluma Gap wines were associated with the sprawling Sonoma Coast AVA, which spans more than 500,000 acres and, because of its size, made specificity hard to come by.

The Petaluma Gap is defined by unusual wind patterns created by the perpendicular mountains that begin in Bodega Bay and run across the northern border of Marin County. The Pacific Ocean breeze carries the coastal fog until it hits Sonoma Mountain, and then funnels it south toward the San Pablo Bay.

“That’s constant,” said Ana Keller, director of Keller Estate. “It happens almost every day throughout the year.”

Still, the Sonoma Coast is world-renowned and has plenty of clout, and many labels are including both AVAs through the transition.

“We put both making sure that people could refer to either/or and feel comfortable knowing where the wine is coming from,” Keller said.

Recently the grapes in the Gap have been completing one of the final stages of the growing process known as veraison, which is signaled by changes in pigment from green to red as the acidity starts to decrease and sugars begin to develop.

“Right now is when we have to start worrying about bird damage,” Kinnett said. “We’re going through and putting up bird netting. We’re getting clearer pictures on crop estimates of yields.”

While the two most coveted grapes in the region are Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, the climate allows growers to cultivate a wide range of fruits. Keller Estate, which first planted its grapes in 1989, also grows Syrah, Keller said.

Most wineries offer different styles of rosé and sparkling wine in addition to the traditional wines created from the region’s marquee grapes.

Thanks to the marine influence and longer growing season, the Petaluma Gap has been developing notoriety for winemakers with broader interests in different stages of maturity and alcohol content. Keller described it as a “shopping spree” for grape buyers.

“We are able to offer winemakers who come to buy fruit from this area a really interesting, wide range of time in which they can harvest fruit and pick it if they like lower alcohol,” she said. “They can still get maturity at lower alcohol, or, if they want a mature flavor, they can let it hang for a little bit longer and pick later.”

Wildfire season also runs parallel to key periods of ripening when grapes are more susceptible to smoke taint, Kinnett said.

With the Mendocino Complex fires - the largest in state history - ravaging Lake and Mendocino counties, local winemakers have been monitoring any ill affects of smoke and poor air quality over the last month.

Last year, when the October wildfires hit Sonoma and Napa counties, smoke taint was a far greater reality. Thankfully this season the distance from the fires have been greater - so far - and Petaluma Gap wines have been able to avoid any sort of disturbance.

“The fires are so far north and east that it’s not having a huge impact on most of the premium winegrowing,” Kinnett said.

(Contact News Editor Yousef Baig at yousef.baig@arguscourier.com or 776-8461, and on Twitter @YousefBaig.)