Kosta Browne Winery
Dan Kosta and Michael Browne pooled tips from a Santa Rosa restaurant in 1997 and ended up with an eighteen-month waiting list. Both of them were gone by 2017.1
Why go
The Press Democrat's own summary is that this winery helped put luxury Sonoma County Pinot Noir on the map for wine lovers across the world.1 It makes about 30,000 cases a year and sells roughly 85 percent of it direct, with new customers waiting eighteen months to get on the list.1
The fruit comes off 170 acres owned or held on long leases, including Cerise in Anderson Valley, part of Keefer Ranch in the Russian River Valley and Gap's Crown on the Sonoma Coast.1 Small lots go into concrete tanks.1
Ownership has moved twice. Duckhorn Wine Co. bought the winery from the Boston firm J.W. Childs Associates in 2018, and Duckhorn was itself owned by TSG Consumer Partners.1 Michael Browne's own label, CIRQ, was kept out of the deal.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Observations Flight at $150, which is the one that walks you through the production facility before you sit down.2
- Order: the Appellations Exploration at $125 if you want Chardonnay and Pinot Noir set against each other across their favorite sites.2
- Avoid: improvising. Every flight is prepaid on Tock and daily availability is limited.2
What locals & experts say
- Bill Swindell, The Press Democrat (17 July 2018), on what changed hands:
Sebastopol's Kosta Browne winery – which helped put luxury pinot noir from Sonoma County on the map for wine lovers across the world – has been sold from one private equity group to another private investment firm.
1 - Alex Ryan, president and chief executive of Duckhorn, on taking it over:
My first job is not to screw up Kosta Browne.
1
Good to know
- The tasting room is in The Barlow in Sebastopol, booked on Tock, with the Reserve Flight at $185 as the top format.2
- Golden Hour is a courtyard series, with dates on 8 August, 5 September and 10 October.2
- I could not read the winery's own site. Every path returned a 403, so the street number here comes from the saved pin and is worth confirming by phone.
- Nobody I read has described the wine, so there is no tasting note in this entry.
Verdict
could-visit — Eighty-five percent of 30,000 cases go straight to the people on the list, and the Press Democrat credits this winery with putting luxury Sonoma Pinot Noir on the world map. The label has passed between investment firms since the founders left, and the fruit comes off 170 acres including Gap's Crown and part of Keefer Ranch, with small lots going into concrete. Flights run $125 to $185, prepaid, and the middle one walks you through the production floor. Nothing in the record describes how any of it tastes, and I could not confirm the street number, so call before you drive.