Our Gap’s Crown 2021 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is without doubt our most successful effort ever in our pursuit to produce a world-class, cellar-worthy white wine. Our winemaker Jason Price has used more neutral barrel fermentation as opposed to stainless steel on the 2021 with increased pressure at the press and limited sur lie stirring. More body and depth, but also increased tension and precision in the wine. 2021 was a perfect vintage on the Sonoma Coast with very low yields, terrific acid structure and elevated intensity of flavor in the fruit. The wine is so young and tight currently that it is just beginning to show the tangerine rind, stone fruit and mineral notes for which Bill Price’s Gap’s Crown Vineyard is known. The presence of new French oak gently influences the wine with a kiss of spice and roundness. As our production has dropped while demand has risen for this spectacular Chardonnay, we now have very little to share. We urge you to take advantage of your access to this wine and then blow the minds of your white Burgundy snob friends in the blind tasting. As always, your purchase goes to support the Tomales Bay Oyster Overpopulation Concerned Citizens Alliance....

Our 2019 Affinity Cabernet Sauvignon comes on the heels of our previous “best ever” vintage, 2018. I was sharing a glass of the 2018 Affinity recently with some industry friends at our home in late January after a load of great food and plenty of iconic import wines, including first growth Bordeaux. We needed that one more bottle, and I didn’t want to open another high dollar wine at that point. After a couple of minutes in an empty water pitcher, that 2018 Affinity was leaping from the glass. Big and dark and supple, and wound. It was everything I would come to expect from a great Coombsville red, like the Favia Cerro Sur (seriously great) from Andy Erickson and Annie Favia that I cracked at the end of January, except that 2018 Affinity isn’t $225 per bottle. Our visiting friends paused after the first taste and said, “What IS this?” Exactly the reaction I would expect. They couldn’t believe that they were having Affinity. I could barely believe it. The 2019 takes things a step further in a vintage that was lower yielding than in 2018. The wine is simply one of the best cabernets to be found in the Napa Valley at any price. Bring your brown bag out in six years and take everyone’s money at the blind tasting table. I am so excited for you to have this wine come to your homes and cellars. Our 2019 Cabernets received some astounding press, and Affinity was marked as our “entry level” offering per usual. It costs us less to farm than the mountain wines, so the price is less to you. Don’t be taken in by the emperor’s new clothes. I’m so looking forward to your comments in emails, texts and social media. 2019 Affinity: don’t sleep on it....

Perhaps better than any other wine in our portfolio, this Merlot beautifully expresses the nature of Howell Mountain. It is estate grown and estate bottled. Sourced primarily from our Candlestick Ridge Vineyard along the summit of Howell Mountain it also includes Merlot from Block 3 on our Winery Estate Vineyard. We add a dash of Cabernet Sauvignon from more elegant lots to soften this wine as it can be a bruiser at the outset. Our 2019 Howell Mountain Merlot was the “biggest” wine we have ever made at Robert Craig Winery. The lab numbers for complex anthocyanin (color and body) and tannin count were off the chart. Despite its size and gravitas, the 2019 Merlot has a lushness and supple quality that make it a joy to drink even while young, though cellaring will improve the wine for the foreseeable future. Deep cassis, blackberry, iron, lead pencil and Howell Mountain stones exude from the nose and expand on the palate. A very limited number of cases exist of what is perhaps the finest offering ever from our winery....

In another year featuring inclement weather at all the wrong times in the mountains as the fruit developed- cold in April for bud break and windy and cold at flower and fruit set — we experienced a mild and prolonged growing window that lasted through harvest with only a couple of heat spikes. The yields were tiny, but the fruit was exceptional in quality. The small number of berries from our Candlestick Ridge and Winery Estate vineyards welcomed extraction, with the only worry being the massive tannin numbers showing in the lab as the color poured from fermentation. As time went on, the tannins have proven ripe, round, and lovely on the middle palate, providing the scaffolding for size and scope of the fruit in the 2019 vintage. As always, a little Merlot and Malbec help to unlock the Cabernet and provide this astounding wine with even greater dimension. As Antonio Galloni noted in his rave review - 97 pts, it is the tension, drive and nerve of this Cabernet that make it exceptional....

In the 2019 vintage we essentially dry farmed an already small crop due to weather and drought. Our little hanging garden that salutes the fair Egyptian goddess of rebirth, Amentet, has reached maturity along the northern border of the Mount Veeder AVA. The Cabernet Sauvignon is blended with the spectacular Cabernet Franc grown there to make a wine that seems more Château Cheval Blanc than Napa Cabernet at times. There’s a savage intensity that is unapologetic, as are the acid, tannins, and deep colored fruit. We have very little of this wine in 2019, but I can easily see why Bob Craig always called this his favorite, though I still keep the final life jacket for the Howell Mountain should our boat capsize. Our neighbors from Bordeaux continue to produce fantastic wine from our old joint next door, yet despite claiming a price point that is four times higher, they have yet to best us with the critics....

I remember the heady days when we used to receive enough fruit to produce up to 500 cases of this single-vineyard Zinfandel. After Chris Jambois and Ashley Sears replanted a large portion of their vineyard to Cabernet, we get barely enough Zinfandel to drink ourselves, and distributors are singing the blues. 2019 was a tremendous vintage on Howell Mountain and this Zinfandel grown along the northern summit ridge is heady and perfumed with the classic exotic spice that makes Black Sears Vineyard unique. As this wine becomes increasingly scarce, this is your time to put a few bottles in the cellar for a later date. If you choose to enjoy this wine young, just give it a rest after shipping and then about two hours in a water pitcher or decanter prior to serving. I cannot stress enough that this wine is truly one of the great Zinfandels to be produced in California year in and year out....