Last year when I attended the Hospices of Sonoma Pinot Noir Barrel Auction in Sebastopol I was looking for the wines that were not just great but represented the hard-to-define "rare air" of Pinot Noir; those that had the pedigree for greatness. As these were wines from 2006 vintage tasted in early spring of 2007 many were still in a "cocoon phase" requiring some rigorous evaluation.
Interestingly a pair of lots I purchased were from Keefer Vineyard's and planted to Wadensvil Clone 23; the same as used by Kenneth Juhasz for his stunning back to back 100 point Auteur Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard. The Keefer lots were 2006 Siduri and 2006 Kosta Browne.
The invitation to collaborate with some of the most critically acclaimed Pinot Noir producers in blending a special one-of-a-kind lot is an honor like none other. I had the opportunity to blend the Hospices of Sonoma 2006 Donum lot with Kenneth Juhasz in the summer of last year and posted those results at Free Run Juice. Just last week I received a call from Michael Browne of Kosta Browne to schedule some time later in the week to join him at the winery and help blend Vinfolio's barrel from the Keefer Vineyard. We settled on Wednesday morning as I was arriving from San Francisco.
When I arrived, Michael had a lineup of the current release Kosta Browne wines from the 2005 vintage waiting for me.
2005 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Russian River Valley; VF 92
Bright cherry and violet hints in the nose with a touch of herb leading into the plum and dark berry flavors.
2005 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast; VF 92
A nose of tarry cherry; smooth and round. The palate has forward and focused dark cherry, licorice and toast.
2005 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Amber Ridge Vineyard; VF 95
Beautifully polished nose of black cherry, violets and berry. The palate is smoothly formed and ripe with smooth tannins and flavors of cherry, dark currant and licorice/violet.
2005 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Koplen Vineyard; VF 97
Comprised of 25% whole cluster, the nose is saturated with licorice, prune and jasmine. The palate shows intense extraction with impressive weight.
2005 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Kanzler Vineyard; VF 96
Nose of violet pastille, blueberry and graphite. The palate is licorice, dark cherry and christmas spice. Carries itself beautifully.
2005 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Miron Vineyard; VF 90
Shows a tarry, sour cherry nose with a polished red raspberry feel. The palate is intense and full.
2006 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast; VF 90 - 92
Scheduled for release May 1, 2008. All the parts are here for a very good wine. Shows excellent texture and aromatics. needs a year before final evaluation.
With the "warm-up" completed Michael then led me to the pad where over twenty barrels of his 2006 Keefer Pinot Noir were lined up and due to be racked into tank for final blending in two days. The last remaining task was to come up with Vinfolio's barrel to be bottled in magnum; an incredibly rare size for Kosta Browne that is only used for charitable donation. We tasted through ten barrels seperately and I noted them sequentially as 1 through 10. Below I have listed the specifics of the barrel, cooper and clone as well as impressions
1. Clone 23 Press lot #1 neutral barrel: lean, elegant with bright cherry backbone
2. Clone 23 Press lot # 2 neutral barrel: A little more weight than #1 but still showing bright acidity
3. Clone 23 New Rousseau: herbs, cherry and violet
4. Clone 23 New Rousseau: more color extraction than #3, bigger flavors with more meatiness
5. Clone 23 New Remond - Troncais MTL: bright nose of black fruits, open, porous texture on palate.
6. Clone 23 New Remond - Allier MTL: broader nose with violet and cherry. beautiful texture
7. Clone 23 New Remond - Allier MTL+: smooth but light on the palate
8. Clone 23 New Remond - Bertranges: very extracted, a monster
9. Clone 2A Neutral Rousseau: cherry, vanilla smoothness on the nose. beautiful mouthfeel, lilac and honey
10. Clone 2A New Rousseau: this barrel was originally destined for the iconic "4 Barrel", 100 cases of the best Kosta Browne makes every vintage. cinnamon and black fruits in the nose with a touch of smooth honey. very extracted.
Now that the raw material was identified we began to assess different blends of 25% proportions of different barrels
Blend 1 - All Clone 23; 1, 2, 6, 3: Pretty violet nose with hints of creamy vanilla. Nice structure but there was no length. 87 points
Blend 2 - 75% Clone 23, 25% Clone 2A; 2, 2, 10, 6: Chalky licorice nose, the palate is rich and long with toast, cherry and herbs. The intensity builds on the palate with some air. 93 points
Blend 3 - 50% Clone 23, 50% Clone 2A; 2, 6, 9, 10: beautiful balance in the nose. licorice, violet and cherry.The mouthfeel is smooth cherry, pomegranate and licorice showing a solid structure for aging (50% new oak).97 points
Blend 4 - 75% Clone 23, 25% Clone 2A; 2, 2, 8, 10: including the "monster" Bertranges did nothing for the blend. no notes.
Blend 5 - 50% Clone 23, 50% Clone 2A; 2, 3, 9, 10: very similar to blend 3 except it has a new Rousseau barrel of Clone 23 instead of the new Remond Allier MTL. the prevalent feel was compact toastiness and black cherry. 84 points
The clear winner was Blend #3 that displayed all of the inherent values that Michael and I agreed were important for the wine to have as it is being custom bottled in magnum formats.
Look for thes and the other Hospices of Sonoma magnums appearing in a Vinfolio offering soon.
Why do I call it the Wadensvil Butterfly? The definition of a butterfly is a creature with two pairs of wings. In this case it is 2 pair of barrels from different clones that will take a few years in the cocoon to show the full brilliance.