We have never spent any real substantive time in Sonoma, much to our detriment. When Kosta Browne offered a special event featuring six of last season’s Top Chef contestants, we jumped at the opportunity to make it a long weekend.
Thursday after checking into Hotel Healdsburg, we hit the Stonestreet and Hartford Court tasting rooms which are down the street from the hotel. We had a very nice experience at both, and really enjoyed the wines. I picked up some Stonestreet cabs, which they strangely shipped on a Friday for Sunday delivery to my business. I questioned why a winery would ever ship over the weekend, and they seemed to think it was quite normal. I wasn’t happy but it was too late to stop the shipment. For dinner, we headed to Barn Diva where we had a superb meal. I highly recommend eating there if you haven’t had the opportunity. Family owned and run, worth the trip. I am still fantasizing about the fried burrata special.
Friday am, we did our first tasting at Steve Kistler’s new Occidental property. We are on the list and big fans of his pinots. The property is beautiful, with a new modern winery and office facility. Mia gave us a tour of the winery, and then tasted us on 3 2017’s - (from memory) the Bodega Headlands Cuveé Elizabeth, Occidental Station, and Running Fence Cuveé Catherine. All three wines were beautiful and showing a lighter touch than what the older vintages of Kistler pinot showed. Glad we own all three. It was hard to pick a favorite, but we both decided that the Bodega Headlands was slightly better than the other two.
We followed with a visit with Michael Browne at Cirq, where a new winery and guest house is under construction. Michael was a consummate host, spending a solid hour with us touring the property and tasting. Going forward, Cirq is owned solely by Michael and is separated from Kosta Browne. Under the terms of the agreement as I understand it, KB will now have the rights to Bootlegger and Treehouse vineyards. Michael will make one Cirq wine, which will be a blend. Included in that blend will be Koplen, which KB relinquished to Cirq, as well as several other vineyards in the area (if I followed it all correctly). There will be a new label, Chev, that will make pinots and chardonnay. We tasted a number of barrel samples of different blocks of chardonnay and pinot. All were delicious as one would expect. I look forward to seeing what comes out of the new Cirq and Chev offerings. Michael was kind enough to send us on our way with an unlabeled 2017 Chev Pinot, which we look forward to opening soon.
Dinner that evening was at Kosta Browne, which featured six of the chefs from last season’s Top Chef. It was fun to meet all the chefs and hear their behind the scenes viewpoint on what really happens off camera. All were very engaged and personable. At dinner, we sat with Julien Howsepian who was recently promoted to head winemaker at KB. Julien started as a cellar intern and has worked his way up to his present position. It was fascinating tasting through the wines with him and hearing his perspective on each one. He also had a fascinating take on Michael Browne’s winemaking prowess, and is blending genius.
Dinner menu and wines:
Course 1
Poached Diver Scallop
Sea grapes, potato confit, sea lettuce, nori bearer blanc, caviar, rye
Chef Eddie Konrad
Paired with 2015 One Sixteen Chardonnay
Course 2
Cod Roulade
Shrimp mousse, green cabbage, puttanesca, spiced lemon lavash chip
Chef Brandon Rosen
Paired with 2016 Cerise Vineyard Pinot Noir
Course 3
Squid Ink Strozzapreti
Lobster, pimentón pine nut
Chef Michelle Minori
Paired with 2016 Treehouse Pinot Noir
Course 4
Duck Breast
foie gras cardamom doughnut, cauliflower, pistachio, wheat berries
Chef David Viana
Paired with 2008 Pisoni Vineyard Pinot Noir and 2008 Garys’ Vineyard Pinot Noir
Course 5
Slow Braised Lamb
Root vegetables, raclette, jus
Chef Brian Young
Paired with 2011 4-Barrel Pinot Noir and 2009 4-Barrel Pinot Noir
Dessert Course
Dacquoise Meringue
Pistachio, fig, white chocolate
Chef Caitlin Steiniger
The event was spectacular and really well done by the KB team. Sheila and I (and many sitting around us) agreed that the Squid Ink Strozzapreti stole the show food wise. From a wine standpoint, all were terrific but the two 4-Barrel wines out of large formats were stunning.
Saturday, we attended the Littorai open house that had been rescheduled from earlier due to the fires. I have always enjoyed Littorai wines, and really like Ted and Heidi Lemon. It was a fun event, with a lot of wine being poured including both current and library releases. The most interesting wine was a 1996 Savoy from what I believe was a 3.0 ltr. To taste, it required you to purchase a raffle ticket which guaranteed you a pour and a chance to win one of the remaining 3 liters of the wine. It was to me the best wine of the day and perhaps of the entire trip. They were also auctioning 3 mags to support first responders. We ended up being lucky bidders for the 2009 Platt Vineyard mag. If you get the opportunity to attend one of their open houses, it is worth the visit because of the depth and breadth of wines that they open. It is a little crowded, but very manageable.
Dinner was at Dry Creek Kitchen, accompanied by a 2012 Cirq Bootleggers off of their very nice list. The list was priced fairly and was quite deep. Food was good, not great. I did like the room and atmosphere. We had spent some time at the bar Thursday evening after Barn Diva and met a number of the staff, so we were well treated and enjoyed the evening very much. We finished with a few drinks at Duke’s, where we ran into the Top Chef crew again which led to shots and more drinking. Great bar if you get to Healdsburg.
Hotel Healdsburg is very nice, but in my opinion very overpriced. You can’t beat the location, however.