2016 Pinot Noir Mount Carmel
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Tasting notes
The 2016 Pinot Noir Mt. Carmel Observations Series aged 16 months in 51% new French and 20% new Hungarian oak. Medium ruby, it has a wonderful perfume of cinnamon toast, saline, dried lilac, violet and garrigue with touches of white pepper, eucalyptus leaf, wild blackberries and loads of pure red berry fruits at the core. Light to medium-bodied, it's silky and intense with perfumed fruits and a pleasantly firm frame of very finely grained tannins, lifted by mouthwatering acidity and finishing long and layered. Yes! 225 cases were made.
Critic scores
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Jeb Dunnuck
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
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A wine that’s not released through the mailing list or distribution (it’s a cellar door release only), the 2016 Pinot Noir Mount Carmel comes from a beautiful site in the Sta. Rita Hills. Seeing 30% stems and 50% new oak, it’s a serious, powerful wine that has loads of crème de cassis, toasted spice, dried earth like minerality, and subtle new wood. This full-bodied effort has a deep, velvety texture, ripe tannin, and a big finish. Give it a year or two. Winemaker Nico Cueva continues to fine tune his approach at Kosta Browne, experimenting with new vinification and aging vessels. While the wines were richer and more upfront in the past, today, they have slightly more freshness and tension while not abandoning the beautiful fruit and texture that defines California wines. As I hope these notes show, these are distinctive, singular wines up there with the crème de la crème of the region.
The 2016 Pinot Noir Mt. Carmel Vineyard is a total mystery. So promising a year ago when I tasted it from barrel, today the Mt. Carmel comes across as lean, tart and lacking in fruit, with only modest complexity and little of the depth it showed as a young wine.
Two years ago I stumbled across rows marked 'Kosta Browne' up at Mt. Carmel, one of the most distinctive sites in Santa Barbara. KB's first wine off this rugged, exposed hillside site captures all the personality and character I had hoped and expected to see. Super-expressive mineral and acid-driven notes are intertwined with layers of dark fruit. Even at this early stage, the Mt. Carmel Pinot is a total knock out.
About the producer
Kosta Browne is one of California's most acclaimed wineries, renowned for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay that express the character of top vineyard sites across Sonoma and beyond. Combining meticulous sourcing with thoughtful winemaking, the wines offer richness, precision, and remarkable sense of place.