Kosta Browne picked as world's best
Blog: Winemaker's Journal
November 23, 2011
Kosta Browne Winery's superb Pinot Noir may be a California wine, but its roots are right here in Wenatchee.
Wine Spectator, the nation's largest wine magazine, released its Top 100 world wine selection this month. At the top of the list as Wine Spectator's Wine of the Year was Kosta Browne's 2009 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir.
Good luck finding a bottle, even if you do have the $52 the winery charged at its release. You can bet that price has gone up astronomically since then. The small winery's website says it can take several years to get on their list of preferred clients that are offered limited allotments of wine.
But you never know. You can always call in your Wenatchee connections.
Michael Browne, the winemaker who owns the Sonoma County winery with Dan Kosta and Chris Costello, was raised in Wenatchee and graduated from Wenatchee High School in 1986. He performed with the Wenatchee Youth Circus from 1981 to 1987.
His parents, Robert and Sharon Browne, live in Malaga. Robert Browne worked as an entomologist at the Washington State University Tree Fruit Research Station before his retirement.
Kosta Browne's pinot noirs have showed up on Wine Spectator Top 100 lists several times since 2003. Browne and Kosta made their first wine in 1997 and decided to focus on pinot noir in 2002. Demand for their wines skyrocketed after the 2004 release of the movie "Sideways," which greatly popularized wine made from the puny pinot noir grape.
"It's been quite a ride," Browne told me in 2007 interview after the winery's 2004 Russian River Pinot Noir was rated number 7 on Wine Spectator's 2006 Top 100 list.
You can bet the ride just got wilder.
Kosta Browne on the web: www.kostabrowne.com
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joanne 6 months ago
Kosta Browne picked as world's best
Nice one, Rick. I remember that interview and your good article on Mike. I do remember that he nicely appreciated it. We stopped in Sebastopol at the winery last spring. They make a lot of good wine and we got to drink some from the barrel. I don't remember which wine, but it was wonderful.
steigmeyer 6 months ago
Kosta Browne picked as world's best
Lucky you Joanne! Their wine sounds amazing.
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