Kosta Browne Keefer Ranch Pinot Noir

 It is still Independence Day in the US. Therefore, I have decided to drink and review a US wine, even though it is not available in the rest of the world. I have been a collector of Kosta Browne wines for many years, as an example of excellent American Pinot Noir. I have stopped buying these wines, however, as since the takeover by Duckhorn, prices have been lifted by over 150%. (This is an unfortunate story we all face: we discover a good wine, enjoy it, and then prices get raised to 'crazy' levels, and we have to look for the next thing; Hill of Grace, Mt. Edelstone, anyone?)

This eight year old 2013 Kosta Browne Keefer Ranch Pinot Noir, from one of their key vineyards in the Russian River district, is still fruit driven, with a firm acidic backbone. The wine is fresh, with dark cherry, kirsch and raspberry flavours. Its elegance and smoothness delivers a near perfect new world example of Pinot Noir, with good minerality, saline notes, fine tannins and excellent high quality oak integration.

This Pinot Noir delivers the right mix of filling the mouth while providing enough drive and energy. Therefore, this is not really a Shiraz drinker's Pinot Noir despite the full mouthfeel. One aspect which is missing, however, are any significant savoury notes. I would have expected this after eight years - and this wine was under cork. Still, this should not detract from a very enjoyable experience.

Score: 95/+++  

Felton Road, Kosta Browne, Dumol Pinot Noirs

Felton Road and Kosta Browne are leading Pinot Noir producers in New Zealand and the US. I recently tasted a few of their wines from 2010 and 2011. As not many of you will have access to these wines, I will just make some general comments of my impressions.

The Pinot Noir wines of these producers age well. Primary fruit is still strong after 7 years and the structures are holding up well. However, and this is a big however, it is not obvious that the wines have improved with age. When these wines are young, they are just as attractive to drink; well balanced, great oak integration.

There are many similarities: red and black cherry fruit, not much forest undergrowth character, silky tannins, smooth finish.

The main difference is the fuller mouthfeel of Kosta Browne, but it is not a blockbuster, it is a pleasing sensation. The Felton Road wines are a bit edgier and have more drive. Overall I call it a draw.

Where these leading new world wines are still behind grand cru Burgundy: These French wines show more complexity on the palate after some years and an expanding finish, which is only rarely experienced from new world Pinot Noir.

Another star producer in the making is DuMol from Sonoma. Their estate vineyard has the highest density planting in California. I recently tasted two of their 2014 Pinot Noirs. The Russian River Pinot Noir has a profile of very black fruit, cherry and licorice. It is elegant with good length. The Estate Pinot Noir is similar, with more concentrated fruit. The hallmark of DuMol is the combination of fruit intensity and elegance. This is a producer well worth seeking out.

An Extraordinary Pinot Noir Tasting

I attended an amazing Pinot Noir tasting with a cross section of the best producers from Australia and New Zealand, and a smattering of good Burgundies. As often is the case in such comparisons, the Southern Hemisphere does very well because of the higher fruit intensity in its wines. Having said this, there were a number of Burgundies I would only be too happy to drink on their own with a meal.

Essentially, I would group the wines into one of four categories. The best wines would show incredible finesse and super silky tannins. The next group would show predominantly savoury and earthy characteristics. Group three would include fruit dominated wines, and group four would consist of less intense wines with a less than perfect structure. (This has to be seen in the context of a very high standard to start with.)

I put into the first group the 2014 Bindi Original Vineyard Pinot Noir, 2013 Mount Mary Pinot Noir, 2013 Bass Phillip Premium Pinot Noir,  2012 William Selyem Bucher Vineyard Pinot Noir (Russian River), and the 2008 Domaine Confuron-Cotetidot Grand Cru from the Clos de Vougeot site. The stand out wine was the 2013 Mount Mary. This is a sensational wine with the often experienced finesse, but more intensity then usual. The wine is precise, very elegant and silky with super fine tannins and a long finish (97 points). The Bindi is in a similar style, but not quite the same quality. The Bass Phillip is bigger than the Bindi, not quite as elegant and refined as the Mount Mary. The William Selyem is super smooth, whereas the Clos de Vougeot showed the biggest aroma and some attractive minerality.

Some of the French wines, not surprisingly, would fall into the second group. I am not reviewing them in detail here because of their small volumes. Also in this group is the 2013 By Farr 'Farrside' Pinot Noir. This is quite a powerful wine, only partly destemmed, quite perfumed, savoury, with a good structure and silky finish.

All the New Zealand wines fell into the third category. Beautiful fruit, but some Central Otago wines almost showed Shiraz-like characteristics. These were 2014 Burn Cottage 'Moonlight Race', 2013 Fromm 'Clayvin Vineyard', 2013 Escarpment, which was a bit more restrained,  2014 Felton Road 'Cornish Point' (quite sweet), 2012 Rippon 'Tinker's Field' and 'Emma's Block'. The 2013 Curly Flat and the 2013 Giant Steps 'Sexton Vineyard' also belonged to this group.

There were a couple of Burgundies and the 2014 Yabby Lake Single Vineyard Pinot Noir and the 2013 Dog Point in this final group. Against the others, the Yabby Lake was disappointing, with a weaker structure and little intensity on the palate.

An interesting wine was the 2008 Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche. This wine retails for $900 per bottle. It had intense fruit and a long finish, but a strong brett character. To me, this wine was faulty.

This hopefully gives a bit of an idea of the tasting. I will now be off for 10 days, most likely.

Kosta Browne Russian River Valley Pinot Noir

The 2008 Kosta Browne Russian River Valley Pinot Noir opens up beautifully. The nose consists of intense red and black cherry flavours. These continue on the palate. The wine is quite soft and smooth, despite the deep cherry and plum flavours. They open up more and more towards the back palate. The expanding and long finish is held together by silky and velvety tannins. This wine has an excellent texture, fruit flavours and acids are well balanced. - A perfect example of a new world Pinot Noir.

Score: 96/+++