Kosta Browne Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir 2016
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Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Soft and elegant nose with aromas of lifted red fruits; such as pomegranate, white tea and raspberry. Bright and high energy palate. Structured tannins backed with slight minerality. Layered fruits including hints of truffle, ripe Bing cherries and dried figs.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
While it’s easy to think of the appellation blends as being the entry-level cuvées, with the quality always being higher with the single vineyard release, don’t make that mistake. The appellation blends can often surpass single vineyard releases and, in my experience, can age just as gracefully. The 2016 Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills is a beautiful wine well worth your time and money. Offering classic cherry and framboise fruit, complex spice, forest floor, and rose garden nuances, medium body, and a seamless, savory personality, it’s going to keep for 8-9 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills was aged nine months in 47% new French oak. Pale to medium ruby, it opens with bright cranberry sauce, pomegranate liqueur, red and black cherries, cured meats and peppercorn with potpourri and earthy touches. It's light to medium-bodied with bright, fresh, crunchy fruits accented by spices and earthy notions. It has fine, grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and spicy.
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Wine Spectator
Plump, rich and juicy, this lithe, graceful charmer is centered on blackberry and wild berry flavors and smoke and charcoal accents. Easy to drink and has the balance for short-term aging. Drink now through 2024.
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James Suckling
I like the smoky, burnt orange peel and dark fruits on the nose that follow through to a medium body. Firm and silky tannins and a salty, beautiful finish.
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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.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
A superior source of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills is the coolest, westernmost sub-region of the larger Santa Ynez Valley appellation within Santa Barbara County. This relatively new AVA is unquestionably one to keep an eye on.
The climate of Sta. Rita Hills is a natural match for Chardonnay and Pinot noir, thanks to the crisp ocean breezes and well-drained, limestone-rich calcareous soil. Here, grapes ripen just enough, while retaining brisk acidity and harmonious balance.