Yesterday I had the great pleasure of joining Steve and several other Pinot fanatics for yet another Rigisich-organized mid-week mystery tour. Up this week: An afternoon in the Freeman caves with Michael Browne and Ed Kurtzman. True to form, we were lead through the depths Russian River wine country in what may have appeared to the casual observer as Steve being hopelessly lost, but was actually a cunningly sly way for him to give us a scenic tour of roads we would never have had reason to travel otherwise, as they lead nowhere we needed to go.

A bit late for our appointment, we were nonetheless warmly greeted by the affable Michael Browne and Tony Velebil, and whisked off to the caves to get started on a long afternoon of tasting. We began with the finished wines of Kosta Browne, from bottle:

2005 Kosta Browne Rose
Bright, fresh aromas of strawberries, light sweetness on the palate, bright acidity, quite broad on the palate, clean and fresh, this wine is well balanced and a perfect summer sipper. 88-89 points.

2004 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
Very nice nose, showing black cherries, spice, and some nice earth notes. On the palate this wine is richly textured, and the fruit has laser-like focus, very fine ripe tannins, nice depth, very well balanced, and a pleasing mid-long finish. 92 points.

2004 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
A great contrast to the Sonoma Coast, this wine shows a classic RRV profile, with a bright nose of red fruits and spice, with raspberry and cherry notes. Lively on the palate, with clean acidity, excellent structure, very fine tannins, and a great focus, the wine finishes long and with light earthy notes. 92-93 points.

2004 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, Amber Ridge Vineyard
Shows an absolutely beautiful, complex nose of cinnamon, red cherries, milk chocolate, and cloves, great depth. Quite bold, powerful, and broad on the palate, with excellent structure, firm ripe tannins, excellent balance, and a long fine finish. Needs some bottle age, but is stunning now. 94 points.

2004 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, Koplen Vineyard
A full throttle nose roars in rich aromas of opulent red fruits – red cherries, raspberries, while the palate lives up the nose – packed to the brim with bold pure fruit, this is a big rich wine but yet somehow stays shy of overdone, pulling it off with balance and depth. Finishes long and spicy. 92 points.

2004 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, Kohn Vineyard
Really terrific nose, showing wonderful complexity with earth notes, spice, chocolate, and dark fruits, this is a really interesting and intriguing wine. On the palate this shows great structure, with fine firm tannins – actually quite tannic, but beautifully balanced. This wine needs a few years in the cellar. Long finish. 92-94 points.

2004 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, Kanzler Vineyard
Some of the finest aromatics of the lineup, really alive and intriguing, with aromas of spice, earth, and red cherries. Good structure, firmly tannic and ripe, with nice complexity. 92-93 points.

2004 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, 4-Barrel
Wow. This stuff is really amazing, just an outstanding nose, with wildly complex aromas of rich cherry, earth, spice, and milk chocolate – just to name a few of the things going on here! Lush, silky, and full on the palate, with beautifully fine-grained tannins, deep complexity, outstanding balance, finishing long and fine. Beautiful now, it should get even better of the next several years. 95+

2003 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, 4-Barrel
Popped and poured, this wine saw no air, and I think suffered as a result. Quite reticent on the nose, and quite tannic on the palate, but still showed the promise of greatness lingering below.

2004 Kosta Browne Syrah, Amber Ridge
Great Syrah nose, with a big kick of white pepper right off the bat, along with black cherries and meat notes. Firm tannins on the quite broad and rich palate frame a wealth of beautiful fruit, this shows some serious N. Rhone characteristics. Fine balance, good acidity, very well done. 93+.

We also tasted through the Freeman lineup, but since I just tasted these a couple weeks ago, I didn’t take notes again - here are my notes from two weeks ago (not all these were tasted again on this trip):

2004 Freeman Ryo-Fu Chardonnay
Nice minerally nose accented with terrific spice notes, ont eh palate the wine shows good citrus notes, a touch of oak, and a short, but pleasing finish. 89 points.

2004 Freeman Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast
Excellent lush red-fruit profile, with minerals and earth, this wine is balanced, with fine tannins, fine texture, but a somewhat short finish. This should really improve with a few years of age, 89+

2004 Freeman Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
An elegant nose, with the classic RRV profile of sweet red fruits and spice, this is a plush wine, with fine tannins, nice balance, and a classic frame. 90+

2004 Freeman Pinot Noir, Akiko’s Cuvee
Clearly a standout, the Akiko’s is a hand picked selection of the very best barrels. This wine is similar to the other Freeman Pinots, but just kicks it up a notch in terms of depth and complexity, with notes of cherries, cranberries, and spice. On the palate this wine shows very fine tannins, great structure, and a fine long finish. I would expect the palate to just get even silkier and more integrated as the wine ages, this is excellent. 93+

2004 Freeman Pinot Noir, Keefer Ranch
Classic Keefer profile, very spicy with plenty of red fruit, bing cherries. On the palate this is vibrant and lively, with excellent balance, fine texture and structure, and a long finish. 92.

We also tasted (this trip) the 2004 August West Syrah, Rosella’s Vineyard, but I found it unyielding, completely closed, and firmly tannic.

I guess tasting the finished wines were just a warm-up, because the hard work of barrel tasting was just about to begin! I had come to expect a “workout”, and this experience lived up to my expectations . Notes get pretty sparse (or non-existent) from here on out, as we power-tasted barrel after fabulous barrel:

2005 Freeman Chardonnay, Keefer Ranch – Excellent, focused, minerally, pure.

2004 Freeman Chardonnay, Rosella’s – Broad palate, rich, balanced.

2005 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, Keefer Ranch, Clone 23
WOW, this is going to be great – spice, cherries, classic Keefer, but kicked up a notch, pure and focused, amazing balance, (94-96), I loved this.

2005 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, Koplen Vineyard, 100% destemmed, neutral barrel
All fruit, no complexity, some C02, plenty of fruit, should make a good blending component.

2005 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, Koplen Vineyard, 100% destemmed, barrel fermented
Definitely a more complete wine, nice spice, big fruit, getting interesting.

2005 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, Koplen Vineyard, whole cluster
Whoa! What’s this? Now we’ve got something interesting, wild aromatics, complex and intense, great palate, I may just be coming over to a “stem inclusion” kinda Pinot guy!

2005 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, Rosella’s, free run, neutral barrel
Wow, this thing is jam packed with sweet fruit, spice, and citrus. Really, a Pinot this young should not be this tasty already, I could drink it today. Yum.

2005 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, Rosella’s, new Remond barrel
Bright red fruits, vanilla, and spice – really interesting to see the effects of the new barrel up close like this. Alone this would likely have a bit too much new wood, but it will add nice complexity to the blend.

2005 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, Rosella’s, barrel fermented
Wow again, this wine has wildly huge aromatics, bright red fruit, spice, utterly lush and seductive, with excellent complexity. Outstanding.

2005 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, Kanzler, whole cluster
One of my “barrels of the day”, this thing is off the charts good, with huge aromatics, deep complex aromas, chocolate and all manner of fruit. Beautiful fresh acidity, soft tannins, awesome balance, stunning.

2005 Kosta Browne Syrah, Amber Ridge, some wild-ass mix of free run and barrel fermented whole cluster crazy thingy
I asked three times and still could mark down exactly what it was we were tasting, just suffice to say that this is going to be really good, no matter where it ends up, excellent Syrah character, complex.

2005 Freeman Pinot Noir, Keefer, Clone 23
Doesn’t matter what I write here, we’re probably not getting any the way Steve is lobbying to own the entire barrel. Seriously good stuff tho, I hope Steve shares.

And those are just the barrels I noted, there were others when I had put my notebook down and just given up trying to keep up, just giving in to the tasting gods instead.

All in all, a great way to spend a Wednesday afternoon. A huge thank you to Michael, Tony, and Shane for being so incredibly generous with your time, a very interesting and educational afternoon!

But the day didn’t end here…

After 3 ½ hours in the caves it was time for some grub! So we hauled up to Willie’s Seafood in Healdsburg, where they did a fantastic job of feeding us as we simply put ourselves in their hands and told them to keep the hits coming until we tell you stop! I don’t have all the details of the wines from dinner, but here’s most of them – hopefully others will chime in to correct/update the list:

2000 meeeersault (need vintage/producer)
2001 Koonsgaard Chardonnay - outstanding
2003 Ramey Hudson Chardonnay - outstanding
2003 Foley Claret – My WOTN
2003 Saxum Bone Rock - unfortunately not as good a showing as the last bottle I raved about, I think Tony is going to start “subtracting 5” on me!
2004 Brogan Cellar Pinot Noir RRV – didn’t taste
2004 Unti Grenache – eh, so-so
2000 Swan Trenton Estate Pinot Noir - outstanding
2003 Kosta Browne Russian River Pinot Noir
2003 Pax Rose of Syrah – not-so-good, should have been drunk up a year or more ago.
2004 Freeman Akiko's Cuvee Pinot Noir - outstanding

I had a great time, can’t wait until our next tour!