2018 Black Kite Cellars Chardonnay Gap's Crown Vineyard Sonoma Coast 750 ml

Robert Redford introduced our own Eduardo Dingler to Black Kite’s Pinot Noir long ago, when Eduardo was a server at Napa’s iconic Tra Vigne restaurant. Black Kite Pinot is now a favorite among our members—but their Pinot is only the start of the story.

Their Gap’s Crown Chardonnay—from one of Sonoma’s most coveted vineyards—is just as spectacular. And since the winery makes significantly more Pinot than Chardonnay, it’s always been in short supply outside their mailing list. Finally, after working on securing an allocation for years, we secured not just their Gap’s Crown Chardonnay, but a back-vintage treasure from the exceptional 2018 vintage. 

Gap’s Crown is one of the premier Chardonnay sites in Sonoma, a windswept, rocky hillside that produces dramatic wines of bold fruit underscored by remarkable freshness. Black Kite’s winemaking team gets the most out of this outstanding vineyard. 

The key to Gap’s Crown is the long hang-times that it allows, but winemakers have to be brave and let the grapes ripen on the vine until well into autumn to take full advantage. In 2018, Black Kite took advantage of the perfect weather and picked their grapes in the second week of October, ensuring plenty of richness and deep, succulent fruit flavors—all balanced by the natural acidity that the site brings.

They made only twelve barrels that year, and after a long, slow fermentation plus 17 months of aging in 66% new French oak, bottled this stunner in March 2020. In the intervening four-plus years, it’s only gotten better, growing in complexity and opening up to reveal new layers of fruit, spice and hints of vanilla.