
Michael Browne is stepping beyond, but not out of, Kosta Browne.
In 2014, the co-founder and winemaker at the Sonoma County winery synonymous with a stable of fine Pinot Noirs is adding a new wine called Cirq. The 2011 vintage is from Treehouse vineyard, which he and his partners lease in Russian River Valley.
You have to wonder how many people really like those super-sized wine bottles that most of the ultra-high-end Napa Cabernets come in (though the hefty bottle phenomenon is by no means limited to California). I know many of the vintners who use them like them. Maybe they're saving money on a gym membership by hauling them around all day.
It was a weekend intended to honor two fine winemakers. Instead it turned into mourning for their loss. Margo and Don Van Staaveren were to be feted this past weekend at the Sonoma Valley Wine Auction for their contributions to Sonoma wine. No couple has ever been more deserving. But in as tragic a turn of events as one could imagine, the Van Staaveren's lost their only son, Coby, 22, on Thursday. He was killed in a skateboarding accident in San Luis Obispo, where he was a student entering his senior year at Cal Poly SLO.
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