Between The Wines Between The Wines

march march 22023 023

Kosta Browne

In the boom times for California wine in the 90’s and 00’s, it seems like there was a new Napa Cabernet brand every week. And it also seemed that all of them seemed to sell well. High flying consultants were part of the formula as well It was not uncommon to tell a customer: ‘we have this new Cab, its called blah blah, Michele Rolland is their consultant, it got 95 points from Parker and they only made 500 cases’, and voila, it was in Selling Pinot Noir was quite different. First, though coastal Pinot Noir was starting to boom too, it was on a much smaller base, and they didn’t kick these wines off with the pomp & circumstance that the Napa folks were inclined to do. Much lower key, these vintners drove pickups instead of Range Rovers. More often than not, they were typically the winemakers too…no consultants necessary. But most importantly, their audience was different too: Pinot Noir (generally speaking) is lighter than Cabernet, more elegant and nuanced, less age-worthy as well. Cabernet drinkers like the power that grape can deliver, whereas Pinot drinkers liked subtlety. But then came a new breed of Pinot Noir producers that started making Pinot Noir for Cabernet drinkers: powerful, rich, extracted renditions of Pinot Noir. Some Pinot purists we know called them Pinot Syrah. On the leading edge of these showstopping Pinot Noirs was Kosta Browne

Founded in 1997 by Dan Kosta and Michael Brown, their early vintages relied on very ripe, sugar rich grapes which led to highly extracted Pinot Noir, which led to massive critical acclaim If there were any Pinot Noir producers whose wines enjoyed the cult status of things like Screaming Eagle or Harlan, Kosta Brown and Williams Selyem were it. The good news, even though the style of their wines might not be ‘classic’, it brought a lot of new drinkers under the Pinot Noir tent. After their 2009 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir was named as Wine Spectator’s #1 wine of the year in 2011, it got crazy So crazy that they decided to cash in and sold to a private investment group in 2015. Then---the good news Duckhorn Wine Company purchased the brand from that group in 2018 and now we get to bring the wines to you. As tastes and fashions change, so too has the original style of Kosta Browne The wines are much more like Pinot should be: rich for sure, but fresher, more balanced, and with gobs of complexity… serious Pinot Noir that appeals to a wine audience. They are still in fairly high demand/short supply mode, but the wines are worth the effort to acquire. Do yourself a favor