Kosta Browne Pinot

for any Kosta Browne Pinot fans, the '04s scored nearly off the charts by James Laube and the WS.... a 98 for the Kanzler bottling..

not that we care about points, right????

[Jenise]

Wow. That just about puts the kabosh on any plans I had to ever get my hands on a bottle of KB.

i've got em..

[Jenise]

I know, you dog. I'm about five years behind on keeping up with California pinots. Just got my first Copains, for gosh sakes.

Funny thing:

I had a Kosta Browne Pinot. Matter of fact, I had a couple of them.

And yet....and yet, my life has not changed. I had no revelations. I'm not one whit better looking than I was. I'm sure not any smarter. My good will toward humanity has not appreciably changed.

It's pretty good wine, but isn't this caliber of stuff supposed to change your life or something? You know, make you a better person, or win you a Nobel Prize. whatever?

[Jenise]

Hoke,

Maybe it's a matter of expectations? The first time I tasted a KB pinot was at the Family Winemakers show, and I had never heard of them before. I simply was moving from table to table (in search of pinot and cab franc) and when I tasted the KB wines, bells went off. They were my favorite pinots of the day. Since then I've heard a lot about them, of course, and I've never doubted that the accolades were deserved. But when I'm on the other end, tasting a wine for the first time that I've heard big big things about, it's a lot harder to impress.

Jenise:

Ah, don't mind me. I was just gently poking at one of the things about wine geeks that can be so amusing (and I count myself as one of those, have no doubt). We can smirk at the Points Sheep, and look down our collective nose at people who follow the lifestyle wine glam mags...but in truth we are just as likely as the people we snigger at with our willingness to go haring off after the Next Great Wine.

We snark at folks who are willing to pay heart-stopping prices for things like Screaming Eagle....yet we willingly engage in breathless anticipation of the next discovery, while not coincidentally assisting in driving up the prices remarkably while in pursuit thereof. (Then, of course, we can sit back and complain that the owners must be soooo arrogant because they make a couple of good wines and start boosting their prices like they are ExxonMobil, for godsake!!!)

Of course, within a year or two. someone will find a KB that is less-than-stellar and we'll start undressing the emperor right down to his thong. It will become cliche to talk about KB, for the next Great Wine will be on the scene. And off we go again.

But that's what we do. That's who we are. We just need to step back and be aware of from time to time, thassall. Our version of the Human Comedy.

(And by the by, I like the Kosta Browne wines. And Dan Kosta is a great guy too---long time sommelier/wine consultant who realized one of his dreams by going into the production side, and made it in a big, big way. Good on him. I'd say nice things about the other side of the partnership, but I don't know him.)

We are having an off line on Saturday with all the '04 KBs and a bunch of the older ones too.. should be interesting now with this hype....

According to my notes I have had KB Pinot on two occasions. I don't clearly remember either experience. However, unlike Hoke, my looks did improve significantly after I drinking Kosta Browne. Notes say "Fruit, smoke, long finish".

Tanzer not as enthusiastic about these wines (chunky, fruit driven pinots), but I have not yet tasted.

Based on my one tasting experience I got on the KB mailing list and then passed the offer by because unexpected auto expenses left me with a cash flow problem. Hope they will e-mail me an offer again for future vintages.

autos v. wine, JC, and autos won?? We may be forced to revoke your wine geek license if this continues!!!!

[Jenise]

Rumpole,

Chunky, fruit-driven? Not what I remember of what I tasted. What I remember is that the fruit seemed restrained, and there was tons of spice. Maybe they were just travel-shocked.

Here's the path: auto = get to work; get to work = get paid; get paid = buy more wine in the future!

Jenise - Tanzer's description not mine. I haven't had the opportunity to taste any KB wines (but will, when I do).