WTN: A Visit w/ Pax/WindGap

A Visit w/ PaxMahle/WindGap (8/19/09)
Susan & I went an hour before our Inaugural NAP get-together to try Pax's current WindGap releases.
I've followed Pax from the very start, back when he was a home winemaker, and he wanted me to try his
Syrah he was making before he went commercial. I was favorably impressed. He then went on to start
his eponoymous PaxWnry. He left that venture several yrs ago and started up his new wnry, WindGapWnry.
It is located in the heart of metropolitan Forestville, one block off the main drag. It is located in
the former TaftStreet wnry bldg. The bldg was built long/long ago as an apple processing facility and
still has a lot of that decrepit equipment around. It had been abandoned by TaftStreet some time ago
and was in pretty bad disrepair. Pax has put a lot of effort in refurbishing the facility. Still
a bit threadbare around the edges, he was about to complete his white wine production part of the wnry.
What interested me most was the large concrete fermentors he had in there. They were imported from
France, looked liked big oblate eggs, standing on concrete legs, w/ SS fittings. It strongly resembled
FatMan w/ the fins on the wrong end. Were it air-dropped from a B-29, it would make quite a splat and
shake the ground...though maybe not the requisite 16 kT. Pax was in the middle of hand-bottling magnums
of the three wines that the mobile btlg line was going to deal with the next morning. As Susan set off
for a jaunt down the RailsToTrails hiking path right behind the wnry, I tasted myself thru the current
WindGap offerings:
1. WindGap SonomaCnty (50% from PetalumaGap) Chard 2007: Pale gold color; strong appley/melony/pure
Chard fruit clean light oak lovely nose; tart crisp/clean appley/melony/Chard some minerally flavor;
very long minerally clean/Chard/fruit/melony/appley light oak finish; a lovely balanced clean minerally
Chard.
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2. WindGap BrosseauVnyd/Monterey Chard (12.2%) 2007: Light gold color; low-key bit earthy/minerally appley/
Chard slight apple pie very light oak nose; tart appley/Chard/apple pie rather minerally slight earthy
flavor; tart/rich rather minerally light earthy strong appley/Chard/apple pie/spicy very long light
toasty/oakfinish; packed w/ flavor yet showing a certain restraint.
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3. WindGap RussianRvrVlly PinotGris (12.3%; 1/3rd fermented on skins) 2007: Med.gold color; beautiful/
powerful floral/carnations/ripe apple very perfumed/aromatic nose; tart very rich/lush some minerally
ripe apple/floral/carnations bit minerally flavor; very long/lingering minerally/ripe apple/floral/
spicy finish; great balance & structure; plenty of acidity but a richness and texture on the palate;
one of the best Calif PinotGris I've had; not particularly Alsatian in style, though.
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4. WindGap Syrah ClaryRanch/ChileanoVlly/PetalumaGap (13.1%) 2006: Dark color; stunning very cracked black
pepper/spicy some blackberry/Syrah very smokey/roasted/Rhonish perfumed complex nose; tart very roasted/
Rhonish/espresso intense cracked black pepper/blackberry/Syrah bit herbal/bell pepper rich complex
flavor; very long/lingering complex cracked pepper/roasted/coffee strong blackberry/Syrah slight herbal/
dusty finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; loads of roasted/Rhonish/cold-climate Syrah character;
a terrific Syrah.
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5. WindGap Grenache/Mourvedre/Syrah JamesBerryVnyd/PasoRobles (14.9%) 2007: Med.dark color; very ripe
strawberry/Grenache/boysenberry slight chalky/earthy light toasty/oak slight licorice/jammy nose;
tart/lean some buttery/toasty/oak ripe/boysenberry/strawberry slight pungent/Rhonish slight tannic flavor;
long tart strong boysenberry/strawberry/Grenache light toasty/oak finish w/ some tannins; very structured
for Paso red blend and needs several yrs of age.
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. A was quite struck by these wines of Pax's. They showed a restraint that you don't often see in Calif.
Yet they were packed w/ flavor and had a purity of fruit; they are not at all thin & vapid kind of
wines. With their anemic alcohol levels; they will not go over big with the "gobs of hedonistic fruit"
crowd...will not go over big w/ Monktown attourneys. It's off to the woodshed for Pax I suspect.
Tom

[David M. Bueker]

they will not go over big with the "gobs of hedonistic fruit"
crowd...will not go over big w/ Monktown attourneys. It's off to the woodshed for Pax I suspect.

Probably do not have long to wait. I am betting that things turn out more positive for Pax.

1. A was quite struck by these wines of Pax's. They showed a restraint that you don't often see in Calif.
Yet they were packed w/ flavor and had a purity of fruit; they are not at all thin & vapid kind of
wines. With their anemic alcohol levels; they will not go over big with the "gobs of hedonistic fruit"
crowd...will not go over big w/ Monktown attourneys. It's off to the woodshed for Pax I suspect.

Thanks for the notes Tom. Good to see some more positive writeups re. Wind Gap, I've heard some very positive things about the wines (and the alcohol levels certainly sound pleasant!)
I'm sure they won't go over big with the pointy/hedonistic crowd, but there are a number of people interested in lighter styled Californian wines with less alcohol that I'm sure these would appeal to based off your notes. Although as far as the Monkton attorneys go - I thought I saw some pretty positive scores at least for the white wines from RMP.

[David M. Bueker]

I didn't realize the reviews were already out (I don't read RP's California section much anymore), but Salil is right, the results were pretty good. All 90+ except the '06 Syrah which got an 88 but a very positive note.