A brilliant trio from Lioco

IPOB, In Pursuit Of Balance, is a manifest to look for and celebrate totally balanced wines of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, crated in 2011 by master sommelier Rajat Parr of Michael Mina and RN74, and Jasmine Hirsch of Hirsch Vineyards in Sonoma Coast.

One of the members is the 10 000 cases young wine company Lioco, founded in 2005 by sommelier Kevin O’Connor (Spago, in Beverly Hills) and wine merchant Matt Licklider (North Berkley Import). Longing for other types of wines than the fruit driven, full bodied and oaky wines that came in fashion during the 1990s, they started out to craft elegant wines with low alcohol, high natural acidity, and a good expression of their terroir.
   They hired John Raytek as their winemaker, purchased Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from cool vineyard sites in Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast, Chalone and Anderson Valley, and old vine dry farmed Carignane from Redwood Valley in the northern Mendocino, and begun to make a series of fine tuned wines with a true expression of the variety and its birthplace.

The wines are all “hands off made” with early harvested grapes, normally at 21-23 Brix, which end up in wines with alcohol levels at around 12.0 to 13.5 percent. The Chardonnays are slowly whole cluster pressed and then fermented with their natural yeast in either stainless steel tanks or smaller steel drums. There is no oak at all! Due to the high levels of malic acid, all wines are full malolactic, but there’s enough of acidity to make them taste super fresh. They are all bottled after six months on their lees, with just some bâtonnage.
   Chardonnay would be their mayor production, but they also make a series of very fine and elegant Pinot Noirs that shouldn’t been overseen, and a superb old vine Carignane called Indica.
The very good news is that these wines are not expensive, they range from 20-50 dollars!  

This is one of the most thrilling producers of the new age of California winemaking. Don’t miss them!

2010 Russian River Valley Chardonnay / 90 p

This is not a second wine, it’s a wine crafted from two vineyards, one in the central part of Russian River Valley, and one much cooler at Bodega Highway in the southwestern corner of Green Valley. Since the grapes are very slowly whole cluster pressed, the juice is in contact with the skins for almost eight hours, which add a good structure and a touch of golden color. The funny thing is that it reminds me of a more classic wine from Meursault, due to its slightly diacetyl flavor and creamy texture. As in the other wines, there’s a steely touch to it, but there’s so much more complexity than in most of the steel fermented Californian Chardonnays. There are no traces at all of alcohol, and yes, it’s just 12.3 percent. That’s the beauty, and the persuit of balance! This is the first vintage of this 400 case bottling.
Drink it 2012-2016

2010 Chardonnay Demuth Vineyard / 92 p
The Demuth Vineyard is located at 520 meters of altitude in the high end av very cool part of Anderson Valley, north of Roederer Estate. It was planted 40 years ago with the Old Wente clone, and although the vines were planted on their own roots, there are just small signs of phylloxera and the yields are less than 20 hectoliter per hectare. Of all Chardonnays in the line up from Lioco, this is the most astringent and mineral driven one, the most Chablis like if one should compare to the French wines (which normally if a quite stupid and meaningless idea, yet common).
   This is an absolute pure expression of Chardonnay, more marked by its birthplace, the cool climate, which results in a cooler and crisp fruit (lemon, green apples) and high acidity and, the poor slate soil, which add a load of minerality and structure to the wine. Although note the same chalky minerality of Chablis wines, it offers a lovely energy that lingers for a minute, and it’s really delicious. Serve it at 12 degrees Celsius, and with some air in the glass (or decanted 20-30 minutes), it will be even more complex.
Drink it 2012-2020

2010 Chardonnay Hanzell Vineyard / 91 p
The famous Hanzell Vineyard was planted to Chardonnay over 50 years ago, and they have never sold grapes to anyone in the past. Of pure interest to find out how a wine from their grapes in the hands of Lioco, with their minimalistic philosophy, would taste like, they decided to sell some grapes to them in 2010. This wine is made from the clones Old Wente, Robert Young and the Hanzell Selection, harvested at 22.7 Brix. Of the trio, this is the most powerful wine and in that sense it is the “grand cru” of them. It offers a rich and slightly nutty, almost toasty nose with a flinty minerality, its medium bodied and very intensive with a rich and creamy texture, but lively acidity and a tickling minerality. With its 13.4 percent alcohol, it’s quite Burgundian in its structure. It’s a very good wine, that opens up just lovely with decanting, just lika the wines from Burgundy.
Drink it 2012-2016

A trio of pinots from Anthill Farms

I have had the opportunity to taste and drink the wines from Anthill Farms quite often the last year, at my home, with my friends, at top restaurants in Napa Valley and Sonoma, and I also visited the winery in Dry Creek Valley to find out more about this small operation.
Anthill Farms is the result of three friends with a passion for Pinot Noir. Anthony Filiberti was born in Sonoma and worked with wines at Bergström Winery in Oregon and later on in Sonoma. Webster Marquez grew up in Virginia and didn't have any connection with wine, except from loving it and drinking it. The third guy, David Low, was born in Kansas but went to university in Berkeley and found his passion for wine there.

The common denominator was the legendary pinot producer Williams Selyem, where they all worked as cellar rats over a couple of years. Inspired by the outstanding quality of the wines, the dream of making their own wines was inevitable. In 2004 their dream came true.
They bought some grapes, and rented space at Papapietro Perry Winery in Dry Creek Valley, where David Low worked (and still does) as assistant winemaker with Ben Papapietro. Since this is a small winery, Papapietro Perry produces around 8 000 cases annually, they have now moved into a neighboring warehouse to make their wines, around 2 000 cases of 12 bottles per year.

The first vintage of Anthill Farms (the name doesn't mean anything, it's just a funny name revealing the trio is working with small vineyard lots) was 2004, and it didn't take too long before word to mouth gave them a red hot reputation.

The ambition is simple, to produce outstanding and elegant wines without too much influence of oak. It sound pretty much what I hear in Burgundy, where I travel a total of four weeks every year. They never use more than 40 percent of new oak (less for the elegant Mendocino wines), which is very smart, but not too common in California. If the vintage allows, they work with some whole cluster (up to 20-25 percent), and compared to the wines of Papapietro Perry (even though it is a completely different company, I think the comparison is relevant), the Anthill Farms trio works with longer cold soak prior to the fermentation.
As of the 2010 vintage, Anthill Farms produces six wines of Pinot Noir and two of Syrah. "We're not aiming for more than that", David Low says. Focus is important, and besides that they all love their other jobs.
These are some of the finest Pinot Noir wines made in California today, still they are not too expensive. They sell for around 40-50 dollars a bottle in the few shops that have them.

2007 Pinot Noir Comptche Ridge Vineyard / 92 p
Grapes for this wines is purchased from a tiny vineyard, 0.80 hectares, north of Navarro Vineyards but outside the appellation of Anderson Valley, hence the generic Mendocino County designation. It's owned by the Weir family and planted to the old Pinot Noir clone from Swan Vineyards in Russian River Valley. It's just a few miles from the coast, so it's a very cool site.
To be a Pinot Noir, color is quite dark, but that's not so unusual for Pinot Noir grown in such cold regions, where the grapes gets small and the skin grows thick. It's a lovely wine with a great personality and a quite intense perfume of dark cherries, ripe wild raspberries and sloe, and there's almost a Gevrey-Chambertin like punch to it as well. The oak, just 20 percent new, is beautifully well integrated, and alcohol at 13.7 percent. Therefore it's no surprise the one may put it in Burgundy if tasting it blind. It's medium bodied but intense and very silky, with a slightly sweetish texture and a lively acidity. I tasted it the first time a year ago, and again some months later, and found it to be a bit closed in the finish then, but now it's lovely. I prefer to decant it just prior to pouring it, so the aromas evolve a bit.
This time, I left a glass in the bottle to taste the day after, and although I still loved it for its intensity and lingering aftertaste, I missed some of the more aromatic perfumes from when it was newly opened.
Drink it 2011-2017

2007 Pinot Noir Abbey Harris Vineyard / 91-92 p
The 0.60 hectare Abbey Harris Vineyard is a lease, it's located at 330 meters altitude above Boonville in the warmer southern part of Anderson Valley. That's the reason why this wine have slightly higher alcohol, 14.1 percent. Compared to the Comptche Ridge Vineyard selection, this wine see around 30 percent new French oak barrels, but again the oak is not at all important in the flavor profile. Again, one could call this wine "Burundian like", at least when talking about the aromas. However, it doesn't have the Burundian mineral nuances. I forgot to ask David Low from Anthill Farms when I tasted the wine with him, if they use some whole clusters in the fermentation, at least there's some herbaceous notes reminiscent of stems. At this level, I like it (as I love the wines from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, where they uses a hundred percent whole clusters), and it certainly adds some complexity to the wine. Acidity is lively and it gives freshness to the slightly more riper fruit, and the aftertaste is long and delicious. Decanting recommendations are the same as for the wine above (and all wines from Anthill Farms), and I'd prefer to serve it at 16-17 degrees Celsius. I'd probably use a burgundy glass with a wide bowl, but intense pinot wines like these may also be served in Bordeaux shaped glasses.
Drink it 2011-2017

2008 Pinot Noir Tina Marie Vineyard / 90 p
Please understand this tasting note is 2008, a vintage that in some parts of Sonoma (the coast line especially) to some extent was affected by the forest fires in Mendocino in August. Growers all over Sonoma Coast and the western part of Russian River (this vineyard is located in the cool Green Valley) told me that the smoke from the fires went out to the ocean, and was then pushed back in over land further south in Sonoma. I have tasted some wines from Sonoma, even down in Carneros (!) that had that smoky taint, that reminds me of the smoky flavor in some South African wines. Based on this theory, and I find just a "shadow" of burnt grape skins in this wine, I'm very positive about the 2008 vintage of the Tina Marie Vineyard. Yet, I have given the 2007 vintage a higher score (92-93 p) in previous tastings.
Okay, back to the wine.
Color is relatively dark for Pinot Noir, again it's a very cool site in Green Valley (which is cooler than most parts of Sonoma Coast), and the perfume is so seductive with its intense floral (rose petals) and reddish fruitiness (raspberries, sweet cherries, rosehip). Like the other pinots, it's silky and fresh with a moderate alcohol and lively acidity, the oak is perfectly integrated, and the aftertaste lingering. Compared to the wines from Mendocino, this one have a deeper and more concentrated fruit, therefore it's not as classic as those. However, it's seductive enough to make you wish for another glass, and another.

Drink it 2011-2016

Greg LaFollette renaissance

WINEMAKER OF THE YEAR 2010


It’s an honor to name Greg LaFollette the California Wine Report Winemaker of the Year 2010. Greg is very skilled and a well respected winemaker who has worked in the business for two decades. With degrees in biology, chemistry and food science, he left UC Davis in 1991 to work with research in the laboratory at Beaulieu Vineyards. Here he got the opportunity to meet and work with the legendary wine consultant André Tchelistcheff.
Winemaking led him to Australia, where he worked at Yarra Ridge for a while. After that he came back to Napa Valley and Beaulieu Vineyard, then Jarvis and later on Kendall-Jackson. Greg’s main focus were now Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and he was very close to break through on his own with these varieties, when he was appointed as the winemaker at the newly established Flowers Vineyards out in the true Sonoma Coast in 1996.
Over the coming years, Flowers gained a cult status, and Greg LaFollette was now a name to watch. It was during these years, the idea of making wines under an own label came. In 2001, Greg LaFollette and his friend Greg Bjornstad founded their own label Tandem. With contracts in some of the finest vineyards in Sonoma, they started to craft some very interesting wines out of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, as well as tiny amounts of Pinot Meunier and Sangiovese (which was a very good wine!).
While making his own wines at a custom crush winery in Sebastopol, he was also hired by the new owners of De Loach Vineyards in Russian River Valley to introduce natural farming and biodynamical techniques, as well as restore and improve the quality if their wines. He didn’t only bring his skills to De Loach Vineyards, he also introduced a wide range of exciting single vineyard wines in their portfolio. By then, De Loach Vineyard was, more than in the past, a winery to count on.
A few years ago he left De Loach Vineyards to focus more on his own label, as well as consultant for other wineries. One of them was Quivera Vineyards in Dry Creek Valley, where he introduced biodynamical principles in their farming. This also resulted in big a step forward for Greg LaFollette when the owners or Quivira Vineyards, Pete and Terri Kight, bought Greg’s label Tandem in 2008 and reorganized it to LaFollette Wines. “For me it was great”, Greg told me. “Now I can focus on the vineyards and the wines – I don’t have to take care of either administration or sales”.
The new LaFollette portfolio is based on the same first class vineyards in Sonoma that Greg worked with in the past, but the wines seems to be a bit more distinct. It’s truly a renaissance for Greg LaFollette.




2009 Chardonnay Lorenzo Vineyard / 94 p
This is a great expression of 100 percent Chardonnay from the renowned 4.05 hectare Lorenzo vineyard, which was planted with (today) not specified clones back in 1974 and 1975. The vineyard itself is great, but wouldn’t have been well known unless Helen Turley made it famous under her prestigious label Marcassin in the 90s. This wine, though, is much better and far more complex. With a pH of 3.31, and no adjustment of acidity, the wine has sufficient amount of acidity to balance out any bitterness there may be from the 40 percent new French oak used for the upbringing of this wine.
Color is, of course by the young age of the wine, very pale, but clear and bright. There are a lot of things this Californian chardonnay isn’t – like big, sweet, oaky and overly alcoholic. No, this wine combines the finest of California terroir with the wise hands and skills of a smart winemaker. Greg really knows what he’s doing, and in this bottling his skills transform the grapes into something extremely lovely, and complex. The nose reveals a pure, cool and not too ripe fruit quality, but with “not too ripe” I actually mean – the nose is exceptional in its cooler style, with lemon peels, citrus, golden apples and crunchy pears. To be very honest without bragging about my frequent trips to the greatest estates in Burgundy two to three times per year, I find this wine to be quite burgundian like! However, there’s no chalky mineral aroma or flavor, but there’s enough structure in the wine for it to be described as very classic! The oak, in this wine very well integrated, is also a bit more spicy than in its burgundian counterparts.
Drink it 2010-2019.

2009 Chardonnay Manchester Ridge / 91-92 p
Located 600 meters above sea level on the first ridge from the Ocean in Mendocino, is really a challenge to work with. It ripens very late – in this vintage Greg harvested the grapes November 4, at 20.8 Brix! It covers 12.15 hectares and is planted various clones of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and in this wine there’s only the Clone 809, which is also called Chardonay Musqué. And you can tell, it adds floral and spicy notes to the wine. What Greg does, is to use a certain yeast strain to break down the linalool, the ester that give this floral note, and therefore it’s not as floral as it would have been. However, he let the juice cold soak with the skins for 32 hours during the press to extract that aroma as well as structure, and you’ll find some very fine and gentle tannins in the wine.
It’s a very interesting and elegant and highly aromatic wine with the expected floral notes as well as citrus and just a texture rather than flavor of the oak (it’s fermented and kept in neutral French oak). On the palate, its medium bodied, very fresh and lively with just a touch of tannins, and the same floral notes and fresh citrus flavors as on the nose, and the aftertaste lingers for a while. It’s good, very good, but it’s nothing for those who enjoy big, ripe, buttery and oaky American chardonnays.
Drink it 2011-2017.

2009 Pinot Noir Van der Camp Vineyard / 92-93 p
Originally planted as a sparkling wine vineyard, the Van de Kamp vineyard has turned out to be an outstanding source of Pinot Noir for still red wine. This wine is a true example to that. Color is medium high and at first the nose is a bit closed. After a few minutes in the glass, it starts to open up, and reveals a medium high intensity with a very sophisticated fruit that combines darker sweet and sour cherries with sweet raspberries. There’s also a very fine earthy note that adds complexity, and overall it’s more European in style that typical Californian – not that this is always preferred or regarded as better – after all, the wine comes from California – it’s just the impression I’d like to share. And, to be very honest, it’s just lovely. As always the wines from Van der Kamp Vineyard has a good structure of tannins and lively acidity (which is a good asset when making sparkling wines), so the wine benefit from a few years of cellaring. I kept the open bottle and tasted the wine over a period of four days, and it was just in the fourth day it lost its brightness and intensity. Day two, it actually tasted better and more complex than it did a first!
Drink it 2011-2025.

2008 Pinot Noir DuNah Vineyard / 92 p
As a consulting winemaker, Greg made wine for many wineries and families. One of them was Rick and Diane DuNah between 2003 and 2008. Their vineyard, just about four hectares in size, is situated in the cool southern eastern area of Sonoma Coast of Petaluma Gap, overlooking Cotati and San Francisco (on a clear day). It was planted in 1998 with Pinot Noir of Dijon 115, 667 and 777 clones and some Chardonnay, and prior to making their own wine all grapes were sold off to Flowers. The 2008 vintage marked the last vintage under their own label, but Greg continued to make wine from their grapes, under the LaFollette label.
“Compared to what Rick and Diane wanted, I harvest my grapes almost ten days earlier at lower Brix and pH, therefore my wine is a bit brighter and more elegant, and I also use less new oak on this wine, approximately e third compared to 40 or sometimes ever 50 percent”, Grey says. This has resulted in a much more elegant and perfumed wine.
The nose is very elegant but intense, absolutely pure with fine notes of red berries, rhubarb and blood orange, and there’s also a touch of charcuteries that adds spice and complexity. The oak is well integrated and supple, acidity as fresh and lively as expected, and the aftertaste light and elegant without any sweetness, alcohol or oak bitterness. It’s a truly lovely wine to be enjoyed by those who prefer elegance to power.
Drink it 2011-2018.

2009 Pinot Noir Sangiacomo Vineyard / 91-92 p
As for the chardonnay, the grapes for this Sangiacomo bottling, comes from the cooler western part of the vineyard, and it’s made from the clones Swan, Dijon 777 and just a little bit of Dijon 114. Vinification is the same as for the other pinots. On the nose, the wine offers a wide range of red berries, also a slight red floral note, just a slight spiciness of the oak, and a kind of wild earthiness that Greg often refer to as “sauvage”, and that might derive from the Dijon 14 clone (if I’m correct), which adds an interesting energy to the wine. On the palate, there is a fine sweetness (I often find it in the wine from this site) which is perfectly well balanced with a lively acidity, the texture of the oak, and a good but ripe and well balanced tannic structure that will help this wine to age.
Drink it 2011-2019.

2009 Pinot Meunier Van der Kamp Vineyard / 90 p
The Pinot Meunier section in this vineyard was planted in 1959 and 1960, and these are the oldest vine of that champagne variety in California. I find it very interesting and exciting that Greg actually makes a varietal wine out of it – it’s rarely seen elsewhere on Planet Wine. The grapes are whole cluster fermented in closed stainless steel tanks (almost the maceration carbonique method) with its natural yeast. It’s a fine wine for sure, but it doesn’t offer the same complexity as the pinots, still you’ll find floral notes, raspberries, strawberries, a good acidity, just a hint of earthy notes (from the stems, I guess) and a fine tannic structure in your tasting notes. In this vintage, Greg made just 48 cases. It’s a fun wine to pour in a blind tasting, but I’d rather finish it with a roasted chicken or some veal with mushrooms. Serve it as the pinots, at 15-16 degrees Celsius in a burgundy glass.
Drink it 2011-2017.

2005 Zinfandel Ponzo Vineyard two styles

Russian River Valley is home to many fine zinfandel wines. The slightly cooler climate, compared to that of neighboring Dry Creek Valley and Alexander Valley up north, results in a slower ripening process with more intense perfumes and a fresher acidity, and quite often a more elegant and lighter colored fruit flavor. The Ponzo Vineyard is situated off the Old Redwood Highway, just south of Healdsburg, and it’s owned and farmed by the Ponzo cousins, Phil and Bob. The vineyard was originally planted in 1900, and there’s still around 4.25 hectares of vines from that year. Later on it was expanded with more blocks and it survived through the prohibition thanks to the admittance of making 200 gallons of wine per year and household over the country. Later on, some vines were replanted, and new blocks were planted, almost four hectares in 1985 and five hectares in 1999 and 2000. In the older blocks, some Carignane and Petite Sirah vines are planted mixed with the Zinfandel wines.

2005 Zinfandel Ponzo Vineyard from Ridge Vineyards / 90-91 p
This blend of 97 percent of old vines Zinfandel and three percent Petite Sirah comes from three distinct lots within the vineyard, the Old Vine Block, Triangle Block and Back Block. This may be one of the reasons for being so different from the Nickel & Nickel selection. Another reason is the different oak philosophy – at Ridge all wines are raised in American oak barrels. For the old time winemaker Paul Draper, it’s crucial to make the wines to be age worthy, and therefore they always show a good balance and a great structure. Compared to the previous wine, this wine offers a deeper and more concentrated body, not that it is sweeter, it just slightly more ripe and intense. Still it’s a bit closed compared to what I expected. Using American oak may often result in a sweetish and vanilla like flavor in the wine, but there are no such flavors here, which I find positive. Tannins are present but ripe, so there’s no bitterness whatsoever. To be a Ridge wine, alcohol is quite high – 14.9 percent – but it is very well integrated. As always with these wines, they need time to open up and show all their glory, and even if it’s good to drink today, I recommend just a few more years of cellaring for this particular wine.
Drink it 2012-2025.

2005 Zinfandel Ponzo Vineyard from Nickel & Nickel / 89-90 p
Nickel & Nickel are more famous for their Napa Valley tier of cabernet wines from various vineyard of interesting terroir, and they are also the ones to really look after. For this wine, they lease and work since 1997 with a 4.45 hectare block of dry farmed vines planted in 1920 in the Ponzo Vineyard (this is one of only two zinfandels they make. Compared to the Ridge wine, this is a bit lighter and less concentrated, and it also shows a bit more red fruit. Ripeness is most likely more or less the same, at least both wines are dry and both have the same level of alcohol (in this wine, 15.0 percent). The main thing that separates these two wines is the tannic structure, that in the Nickel & Nickel wine is much more marked, and therefore it seems to be a bit younger. Also the acidity is slightly higher, and the oak – French in this case – is actually a bit more present, especially in the aftertaste. All these characteristics corresponds pretty much to what is expected from Nickel & Nickel – their philosophy if a bit more French in that sense. It’s a good wine, but not great, and I suspect it to be a bit more elegant in a few years from now.
Drink it 2012-2020.

Kistler Vineyards in Russian River Valley may well be more known for their chardonnays, but there is actually a quite substantial production of pinots here as well. Around 10 to 20 percent of the total annual production of 23 000 to 28 000 cases of wines (depending on the vintage) will be made of Pinot Noir. Of that, the pinot from Kistler Vineyard is by far the most important.
Yields are always kept low, normally at 23-25 hectoliters per hectare, and there’s always a first strict selection in the vineyard before the grapes are trucked to the well designed winery at Vine Hill Road in the heartland of Russian River Valley. There will then be another selection at a sorting table, before the clusters are destemmed. Each single block and clone of Pinot Noir is fermented in separate lots in small open top tanks of stainless steel, and prior to the fermentation there will be a few days of cold soak at ten degrees Celsius. After almost four weeks of fermentation and gentle pigeage, the free run wine it then transferred into French oak barrels, approximately 40-50 percent new, to complete malolactic fermentation, (this will occur completely natural without any enzymes in slightly heated chambers in the underground wine cellar.
In the early days, the pinots were a bit more concentrated and oaky, but over the last ten vintages, there has been a slight change into something more elegant - lower alcohol, less new oak - just as for the chardonnays . Still, these wines are by no means fashioned in a burgundian style. They are Californian, and should be, whether you like it or not!

2008 Pinot Noir Kistler Vineyard / 92-93 p
This cuvée consists of Pinot Noir from several vineyard lots and of several clones, the Dijon 777 and the two older American selections Calera and Swan. It have spent a good year in oak. There have been some issues regarding the fires in 2008, and some wines from the vintage are tainted by smoke. This is not.
On the nose, it’s quite intense, and at first glance there are some quite interesting, fruit forward, dark scented and earthy aromas reminiscent of those in modern wines from Vosne-Romanée. However, there is a slight sweetness here, and no chalky mineral qualities, and of course there’s a good portion of oak, but not to that extent it makes the wine unbalanced. It’s just young, and it needs some time. I noticed, over the 30 minutes I had the wine in my glass, that the fruit opened up with air as the spicy oak almost went away, so decanting may be a good idea if drinking it young. The 14.1 percent of alcohol is well balanced by the medium intense body, but tannins are young but ripe and almost – at this stage – totally balanced by the fine, dark scented and sweet cherry fruit. I particularly like the lingering aftertaste – it’s noble, but young and not as silky as it will be in at years or two. Around 25 700 bottles were made.
Drink it 2012-2020.

Two 2007 pinots from Kosta-Browne

I’m a bit confused over the wines from Kosta-Browne. It’s always one of the most exciting visits and barrel tastings one can do in California – then the wines show great finesse and complexity, and friends of mine with great skills as wine tasters, have been very excited after these barrel tastings, and even compared them with tastings in the cellars of great domaines in Burgundy. Then, when the wines are bottled and retasted back home, it's most likely they will taste more full bodied, riper and sweeter with a notable higher alcohol compared to what you remember from the cellar tasting. I know impressions will be the same in many cases at a lot of wineries, and the explanation is (most likely) that the cellars are cooler than your dining room, therefore the wines tend to show more of their elegance, and less of oak, sweetness and alcohol.
Still I continue to buy the wines from Kosta-Browne. I want to see which way they will go with age. And, I’m happy to say that they will become more elegant with just a few years of bottle age. At the moment, I just love to drink the 2005s of Kosta-Browne. Part of being a wine writer, wine connoisseur or wine lover is to understand how a certain wine evolves with age. Now I know how to treat these wines.

Kosta-Browne is an 11 000 cases per year operation based in a custom crush winery in Sebastopol, Russian River. It’s the Pinot Noir counterpart of wineries such as Kistler, and the range of pinot wines consists of a selection each from Russian River and Sonoma Coast, 8-9 vineyard selections per year plus a top selection of the four best barrels each year, logically called Pinot Noir 4-Barrel. Alsp you will find some syrahs here.

2007 Pinot Noir Gary’s Vineyard / 90-91 p
Gary’s Vineyard is one of the finest in the Santa Lucia Highlands, and for many winemakers who buy grapes from here, that selection will be one of their best wines. This is also what I have found at Kosta-Browne in some previous vintages – but not in this one. Perhaps it’s just because the wine is young and a bit sturdy, but even after an hour in the glass, the wine didn’t open up in the way I expected. Not that this is a bad or boring wine, not at all, it’s actually a very good wine, but compared to the lovely wine from Amber Ridge Vineyard, it doesn’t show. The color is slightly paler, the nose more acidic with sour cherries rather than sweet raspberries (this is something I like), but it doesn’t have the same intensity or body.
Drink it 2010-2015.

2007 Pinot Noir Amber Ridge Vineyard / 93 p
I have often found that the Amber Ridge bottling is one of the most elegant of the pinots of Kosta-Browne. It comes from a 12.15 hectare vineyard near Windsor in one the coolest parts of Russian River, which to a great deal explains the elegance and fine acidic structure of the wine. The vineyard was planted in 2000 with the French clones Dijon 115, Dijon 667 and Dijon 777 and the soils is, as so often out here, the fine goldridge. Vinification and oak regime is the same as in the wine above, but still the oak is a bit more integrated with just a slight sweet scent of vanilla. The overall balance is absolutely fine, the quality of the fruit is impressive – although the ripeness is high which have made the texture lush and silky, there is still a nice fragrance of sweet and freshly crushed raspberries with a lighter and more aromatic quality than in the wine from Gary’s Vineyard. It’s just in the finish of the taste the almost 15 percent of alcohol strenght reveals itself, so to avoid any “problems” with that, I recommend a serving temperature of around 16 degrees Celsius. You may decant this wine if you like, but it is not necessary.
Drink it 2010-2017.

2007 Chardonnay line-up from Kistler Vineyards

Kistler Vineyards belongs to the better producers of chardonnays in California, and since their first vintage 1979, they have both put more focus and refined their ways of farming and making great wines, as well as gained some kind of a cult status for their wines. In the 80s and early 90s, the wines tasted richer with more forward oak flavor, now vintner and winemaking team Mark Bixler and Steve Kistler have found a much finer alance and therefore greater complexity in their wines.
They own around 24 hectares of vines in Sonoma Valley and Russian River Valley, and besides that they either farm and buy or only buy grapes from several top notch vineyards in Carneros, Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast. The grapes are whole bunch pressed, and the juice is then fermented with its natural yeast in small French oak barrels, of which 40 percent at the most are new, with the balance of one and two year old barrels. In the past, much more new oak was used.
Thanks to the same vinification across the range of wines, each vineyard selection will display the terroir of each appellation and vineyard. That makes Kistler Vineyard quite unique, only a few other producers in northern California works with such a wide range of Chardonnay vineyards as they do (Patz & Hall will be another very good example).
The total production is around 15 000 cases annually.

2007 Dutton Ranch / 92 p
The Dutton Ranch, or Dutton Ranches as one should call the wine if one wanted to be more correct, was the first wine made by Kistler already in 1979. The grapes are normally sourced from four of the several dozens of vineyards which covers a total of 380 hectares that Dutton family owns in Russian River. This is one of the most elegant wines in the range and it offers a lovely bouquet of citrus, white flowers, honey and bees wax, and just a fine touch of oak. On the palate it is medium bodied with a lively acidity (the vineyards are all located in the cooler parts of Russian River), a silky texture and just a dash of roasted hazelnut flavors from the oak barrels. As all wines, it benefits from decanting to breathe half an hour before enjoying it.
Drink it 2010-2014.

2007 McCrea Vineyard / 93-94 p
According to Steve Kistler, this vineyard gives one of the finest chardonnays in Sonoma County. It’s located at 240 meters of altitude in Sonoma Mountain and was originally planted with old low yielding clones back in 1970. The wine is elegant with a fine cool climate fruit aroma (citrus and yellow apples), and the oak is very well integrated with just a dash of roasted hazelnuts which is part of the signature of Kistler chardonnays. The cool scented but ripe, intense and almost fat fruit flavor is on finely balanced with acidity and oak (more flavors that actual taste) and there’s also a lovely salty taste of mineral. It’s easy to agree with Steve Kistler, this is a very fine wine. For those who seek a more refined taste, I would recommend a few more years of bottle age – this is one the wines that turns quite burgundian over the years.
Drink it 2010-2016.

2007 Durell Vineyard / 92-93 p
The Durell Vineyard is located very close to San Pablo Bay in the south of Sonoma Carneros, so it therefore belongs to the Sonoma Coast appellation. The soil is poor and stony and the vines in the lot that Kistler works with, was planted in 1993 with low yielding clones from Hyde Vineyard and of the Old Wente selection. As expected of this cool site, this wine always show a zesty citrus flavor, a fresh acidity and a touché of mineral. Perhaps the winemaking philosophy should be a bit more careful, the oak is at the moment more present on both the nose and the palate since the body is slightly lighter, and also since the acidity and mineral notes makes the aftertaste a bit shorter. That oak flavor will of course soften over the coming year, and it may be a good idea to let the wine mature for another six months or so before pulling the cork.
Drink it 2010-2016.

2007 Hyde Vineyard / 95 p
In whatever bottle the grapes from Larry Hyde’s vineyard ends up, the wine tend to taste pretty good. In the hand of the magicians Steve Kistler and Mark Bixler, it should taste better than good. And it does! This is normally one of my personal favorites from Kistler. As young as it is today, it offers a ripe and intense nose and palate with a spicy note of oak – however in full balance. But looking beyond the oak, there is a fabulous nose and taste that is reminiscent of a very fine and serious wine from Meursault (domains such as Roulot and even Coche-Dury, but slightly riper). The quiz weather this is American or burgundian is more apparent on the palate, where the texture is superb, silky, viscous and ripe as a grand cru wine, with a fresh acidity, very well integrated oak (it’s more of a texture than a taste) and a lingering aftertaste. This is a beautiful wine that will age just perfectly over the next years. And the burgundian equality will be more obvious in, let’s say, 3-4 years from now.
Drink it 2010-2017.

2007 Hudson Vineyard / 91-93 p
Lee Hudson is one of the best growers in Carneros, and Kistler have since 1994 been buying grapes from the famous E-Block that was originally planted with the Old Wente clone for Helen Turley. Compared to the Hyde vineyard selection, this wine is more dense and ripe (which surprised me a bit) and therefore more Californian in style. Still you’ll find some classic notes on the nose. The fruit is slightly sweet, and to be honest a little bit to warm and ripe to offer that brightness and finesse I expected, but since the wine is young and (perhaps) a bit closed, and it opens up during the time it sits in the glass, I expect it to taste a bit dryer and more elegant within a year or two. Of all the wines in this horizontal tasting, this was the one that confused me most. I look forward to taste it soon again.
Drink it 2010-2014.

2007 Parmlee Hill Vineyard Stone Flat / 94-95 p
Although the Parmlee Hill vineyard far out in Sonoma Coast was planted in 2000, it shows already a great potential to make one of the best and most impressive wines in the range. The nose is open and expressive, for the cool climate typical with its intense and almost sweet scented stone fruit qualities (due to the extended hang time on the vines), and there is also a slightly smoky aroma that I suppose comes from a combination of the soil and the oak barrels. On the palate it rich, finely textured and marked by fresh acidity, and although the oak is present with both a young bitterness and sweet vanilla flavors, it’s well integrated in the long aftertaste. During the 30-40 minutes I had the wine in my glass it gradually opened up and became more and more complex. It was a very positive first meeting!
Drink it 2010-2016.

2007 Vine Hill Vineyard / 93-94 p
Vine Hill Vineyard covers 8.10 hectares of vines and is one (the second) of two estate vineyards. It’s located at Vine Hill Road in the heart of Russian River Valley, and was planted in 1988 with a suitcase clone of Chardonnay that is said to have been taken from Corton-Charlemagne. It may well be so, at least this wine normally show the lightest body and finest texture of the chardonnays from Kistler. On both the nose and the palate, finesse is the dominant personality. The oak is perfectly well integrated, so the delicious floral note shines through and adds elegance to the wine. Acidity is lively but well balanced, and although the aftertaste is fine and harmonious, I miss the magic in the finish. Still it is a very fine wine. Perhaps it’s just a bit too young at the moment.
Drink it 2010-2015.

2007 Kistler Vineyard / 94-95 p
When Kistler Vineyards was founded in 1979, this was their first estate vineyard and the home of their small winery. At that time, the 14 hectares at 600 meters elevation above Sonoma Valley was planted to Chardonnay of the Martin Ray clone from Mount Eden Vineyards in Santa Crus, as well as some Cabernet Sauvignon which is not longer there. In 1995, two more hectares of Chardonnay was planted. I was surprised how closed this wine was at first, but that shyness also made the wine even more burgundian and classic. Even though the cooler fruit flavors of citrus and yellow apples are most evident, there’s also a touch of butterscotch, but the oak flavors are very mild. It’s really a beauty, and it will taste just phenomenal in the next year or two.
Drink it 2010-2016.

2007 Cuvée Cathleen / 92-94 p
This is the white special cuvée of Kistler (there are few top selections of Pinot Noir) and the source of the grapes varies depending on the vintage. Normally, a majority of the wines comes from either Vine Hill Vineyard or Kistler Vineyard, but since this is a cuvée of the best barrels in the cellar, there will always be a blend of vineyards. In this vintage, most or even all grapes comes from Kistler Vineyard, and as always it is the most concentrated wine. It’s not, a huge wine as so many “reserve” selections can be – the house style and finesse is still evident. However, there are more oak flavors here, both some spiciness and a sweetish note of vanilla, but thanks to the acidity the overall balance is just fine. One of the tasters made a very interesting remark, that this wine shows a little bit of everything – both the depths, the higher aromatics, the intensity, the lightness, the mineral notes and the acidity.
Drink it 2010-2016.

2007 Pinot Noir Cahill Lane from Walter Hansel Winery

Car dealer and vintner Stephen Hansel runs his estate in the heartland of Russian River Valley in Sonoma with his heart. His 30 hectares of vineyards are planted to equal parts with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and in both disciplines he offers several site and clone selections (North Slope Vineyard, South Slope Vineyard, Cahill Lane Vineyard and the ripe, rich and lush Cuvée Alyce, the reserve style of the estate.
It all started when the late Walter Hansel planted his first vines in 1978 just for the love of farming. When his son Stephen later took over, he founded the Walter Hansel Winery in 1994 and begun to make wines, to his father’s surprise.

“Who are going to buy these wines, and why do the bottles carry my name”, was the question Walter threw in the face of Stephen.

“Well, I named the winery after you, dad – after all, you were the one who planted the vineyards and started this – and I put your name on the labels just because I want to honor you – and if we can’t sell the wines, we’d better drink them ourselves”, Stephen replied.

After that, Walter didn’t complain, although he still didn’t understand.

Today Walter Hansel Winery produces some of the finest pinots in Russian River Valley. They are normally benchmarks for the vintage. Also, prices are fantastic! “Even if I could sell my wines for 70 or even 100 dollars per bottle, I wouldn’t – I like to keep the prices at a fair level”, says Stephen and explains: “It’s still a hobby, and I do it to honor my late father”.
Think about that when you enjoy these fine wines.

2007 Pinot Noir Cahill Lane Vineyard / 91 p
Having said all that above, I’m not as impressed by this wine (today) that I normally am, and that only because of one single detail in this vintage – I find the oak to be just a bit to toasted and spicy at the moment. The grapes, in this case Pinot Noir of the French clones Dijon 114, Dijon 115 and Pommard (from missal selection), comes from a single block in the vineyard, and after 5-7 days of cold soak, the juice is fermented in small open top fermenters with frequent pigeage. Malolactic fermentation and upbringing is carried out in French oak barrels (from François Frères and Seguin-Moreau), of which as much as 70 percent are new. Apart from the oak – of which the most spicy notes will fade away over the next 12 months or so – there is abundant of lively, sweetish raspberry and strawberry aromas in a very true to its origin style, which is a bit seasoned with red flowers, and it’s very charming. On the palate, the first sip reveals a lovely and quite seductive sweet fruitiness, which at first seems to be lush and rich in glycerol, but within a second or two, the lively acidity an also a touch of mineral notes makes the taste drier and more structured. The tannins are silky, and a part from the youthful oak bitterness, there is no bitterness derived from the skins or the stems (all grapes are fully destemmed). I’d like to give this wine some 10-15 minutes in a decanter to soften the oak a bit, and to let the fruity and floral qualities to arise. Serve it at 16 degrees Celsius.

If it wasn't for the oaky notes, I'd give this wine a higher score. Even so, it's a very good and charming wines, and I guess it'll taste even greater within a year, or two!
Drink it 2010-2017.

Russian River Pinot Noir 2005 from Kosta Browne

It all started in 1997, when Dan Kosta and Michael Browne decided to leave their jobs as waiters at restaurant John Ash & Co in Santa Rosa, to make fine wines of Pinot Noir. During a few months, they saved all the tip money and bought half a ton of Pinot Noir and some barrels. The wine turned out to be quite good, and after some years of trials and errors, and more vineyard sites (on contract, they don't own any vineyards) and tons of grapes added to their business, Kosta Browne had become a well known and respected winery with some great but hard to find wines, especially some vineyard designated wines from Russian River and Santa Lucia Highlands.
I’ve been to the cellar a few times, and it’s really a true exciting experience to taste barrel samples of different clones of Pinot Noir, wines made with or without stems, kept in old or new barrels, and of course from different vineyard sites and appellations. Tasting in their cool cellar, the high alcohol and the ripe fruit is not showing as much as is does from bottle, neither does the oak. These wines are big, for sure not burgundian like. However, from a philosophical point of view, they’re like the Californian counterparts of Lucien le Moine of Burgundy, wines that are much riper, more lush and intensely fruit driven than the wines from their neighbors. They also show higher alcohol (14.5 to 15.0 percent), silky tannins and upfront oak flavors. That’s the way they’re made. Like it or not.
So, do I like them? Yes and no. The range is wide, the wines are different, but overall the quality is high. I’ve tried many of the wines from barrel and young from the bottle, and I’ve always noticed that they need air and some bottle age.
Production is now up at 11 000 cases per year and the wine list consist of a dozen of Pinot Noir wines, and also some wines of Syrah.

2005 Russian River Pinot Noir / 86 p
This wine is made of Pinot Noir from a various range of vineyards in Russian River, predominately from the northern part of the appellation where the climate is a bit warmer. Some of the base wines in this blend are selections from Koplen Vineyard, Amber Ridge Vineyard and Cohn Vineyard, sources of great wines for singe vineyard bottling. Grapes are normally harvested at high 25-27 Brix (hence the riper style and higher alcohol), and after five days of cold soak, the juice is fermented in small open top fermenters (some of them of oak) with regular pigeage, and thereafter the wines are stored in small French oak casks, 30 percent new, for 16-17 months.
Tasted two years ago, this wine was still very young and a bit over the top with its ripe fruit, and I would never have used the description “elegant”. Today I might do that! Still it is fruit forward with loads of sweet raspberries and almost cooked strawberries, but there are also more refined notes of lighter red berries to be found. I like the nose of this wine, and now with some bottle age, notes of chocolate and ancho chile (a secondary mature aroma which I think is complex, although not one you should find in a young Pinot Noir wine like this) have become parts of the flavor profile. Some earthy notes join the slightly sweet and fruity palate, tannins are silky and acidy good but not fresh, and the aftertaste lingers for a minute.
I would serve this wine at 15-16 degrees in a Bordeaux shaped glass rather than the typical Burgundy glass (that’s a bit too big for a ripe and intense wine like this).
Drink it 2010.