2008-06-27
B. R. COHN WINERY
Wine as Liquid Music
by Richard Paul Hinkle
A large part of my life is informed by music. I played accordion, drums, clarinet and piano as a kid, have played guitar since I was a teen, composed a little, and have recently assayed the violin and the saxophone (this year’s project). It is said – and I believe it wholeheartedly – that one involved in music need never bother a psychotherapist. It is therapy in and of itself.
Music is at the heart and soul of B.R. Cohn Winery, too, evidenced most obviously by the myriad of gold and platinum records displayed on the office walls of winery founder Bruce R. Cohn, the noted manager of rock and roll legends the Doobie Brothers (“Listen to the Music” is my favorite) and Night Ranger. Indeed, a nifty little grassed amphitheater just behind the winery is home to winery musical events on an on-going basis. The Father’s Day Barbecue is an annual event to watch out for.
On the wine side, Tom Montgomery has been a good fit over the last five years, particularly in nudging Cohn to expand his thinking beyond his previous focus on Cabernet Sauvignon. “The most basic thing about making good wine is that you go where the good grapes are,” says the Pennsylvania-born Montgomery. “That’s why we go to the Carneros for Chardonnay, to the Napa Valley for our Sauvignon Blanc. I want to make a Barbera, so I’m taking a close look at Amador County, where Barbera thrives. We’re even considering making a Cabernet Sauvignon … from Napa! I’ve heard it does pretty well over the hill.”
A wannabe novelist, he turned to wine for a career that is going along swimmingly. He worked five years at Napa Cellars (near Napa, natch), spent four years in San Luis Obispo doing vineyard management, then returned to the Napa Valley for tours at Cosentino and Conn Creek before hiring on with his old friend, Cohn, for the crush of 2003. “Bruce puts his focus entirely on quality fruit and wines of concentration and density. We’re making a little Petite Sirah from Lake County; we’re making a little Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley. Good grapes; good wines.”
The whitewashed tasting room is an open, airy delight of a place to sample wines. There is a veranda, where visitors may sip wine or enjoy a sandwich, with wrought iron tables and chairs. Take a look at Bruce’s prized “woody” station wagon, displayed adjacent to the tasting room, and scratch Moose – an English bulldog/Black Lab mix who “guards” the tasting counter – behind the ear if he’s not asleep. (Sometimes it’s kind of hard to tell.)
The 2007 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($22) is a zesty white, with fresh grass and grapefruit up front and hints of lemon and ripe melon that round out nicely in the finish. Seafood is the obvious choice, but don’t discount the pork tenderloin.
The Chardonnay 2006 Sonoma ($24) has a lovely peach scent up front, with a hint of cream and pine. There’s more than a hint of the tropics, with banana and pineapple and mango. Just the wine for the picnic table.
The Carneros Reserve Chardonnay 2006 ($35) has many of the same fruit characteristics, but with a bit more butter and a bit more of the creamy-toasty-oak side of things. If you like grilled ahi tuna, this is the wine for it.
As regular readers know, I have a deep and abiding love of Pinot Noir, and the 2005 Russian River Valley ($45) fulfills Hinkle’s Second Wine Law (“Great Pinot Noir inspires one to create new sins . . . and wish to commit them!”) That notion comes from the inherent textural sensuality of Pinots grown in cool climates. When I first tasted this wine a year ago, it was already setting up nicely with black cherry fruit, a hint of clove, and that wonderful rare filet mignon meatiness that really gets one’s appetite ready for the main course. Now that it’s had a year in bottle, those attributes are fleshed out by a nice bit of cola fruitiness and crisp bacon from 19 months in oak. Serve with whatever you like that includes mushrooms.
A nifty little wine that’s meant for the un-stuffy and the picnic is Cohn’s 2005 Sonoma Valley “SyrCab” ($32), a blend (as you must surely have guessed, given the clue) of Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. And, as you might imagine, there are some strawberry notes from the former and black currant aspects from the latter. Better than a picnic wine, but what the heck.
Still, the Olive Hill Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 ($55) is the big gun at a location that is ideally suited to the variety, and this vintage does not disappoint, with the signature blackberry fruit that identifies my favorite Bordeaux commune, Pauillac, fleshed out beautifully with mint and menthol notes of spiciness. Prime rib, plenty of horseradish.
B.R. Cohn is located at15000 Sonoma Highway (Highway 12), Glen Ellen CA 95442. Phone
1-800-330-4064 or check the web at www.brcohn.com. The tasting room is open 10 a.m. to
5 p.m. daily. A $10 fee gets you four the current releases.
[Hinkle is currently at work on wine books nine and ten. He also does a good deal of business writing, and can be found on the web at www.RichardPaulHinkle.com.]
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