Winemaker Notes
Blueberries, pomegranates, crushed violets and blood orange notes. Medium to full body with bright acidity and a pure finish.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Seeing 15% whole clusters and roughly 30-40% new French oak, the 2016 Pinot Noir Koplen Vineyard offers a ripe, voluptuous, yet always classy profile, and I wrote “classic KB” in my notes. Blueberries, pomegranates, crushed violets, and blood orange notes all emerge from this medium to full-bodied 2016 that has plenty of fruit as well as integrated acidity.
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Wine Spectator
Young and sturdy, with a firm tannic backbone amid loamy, dusty earth and dried berry scents. This should benefit from a short nap in the cellar. Best from 2019 through 2024.
Founded in 1997, Kosta Browne is one of North America’s most revered wineries, recognized for making some of the world’s finest Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. Located in Sebastopol, Sonoma County, and guided by an acclaimed team that includes renowned Winemaker Julien Howsepian, Kosta Browne makes appellation and single-vineyard wines from the most coveted cool-climate vineyards across the Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast, Anderson Valley, Sta. Rita Hills and Santa Lucia Highlands appellations. In addition to partnering with the finest growers in California, Kosta Browne has an estate program that features 170 acres of vineyards through ownership or long-term leases that includes the Cerise Vineyard in Anderson Valley, Keefer Vineyard in the Russian River Valley, and a prized section of the Gap’s Crown Vineyard on the Sonoma Coast. Kosta Browne has earned a place on Wine Spectator’s annual list of the world’s “Top 100 Wines” seven times since 2005, including “Wine of the Year” in 2011.
The Sonoma Coast AVA is large in area but, not counting overlapping regions like Russian River Valley, only has a few thousand acres of grapevines—and it’s no wonder. Much of the region is rugged and not easily accessible. Its proximity to the Pacific Ocean’s fog and cool breezes limits the varieties that can be cultivated, but it proves to be an ideal environment for high quality Pinot Noir.
Since fog is a frequent fact of life here, as are heavy marine layers that sometimes bring rain, the best vineyards are wisely planted above the fog line, on picturesque ridges that capture enough sun to provide even ripening. That, with the overnight drop in temperature that reliably preserves acidity, results in fine expressions of Pinot Noir that often receive tremendous critic and consumer praise alike, and are often in high demand.