As a Wine lover and, recently, a wine student, I have become more and more intrigued by the winemaking process, as well as visiting and experiencing as many wineries as I can. On a recent weekend trip to Anderson Valley (see my Top 10 Anderson Valley wineries here), I planned a slight detour on the way to Sebastopol’s The Barlow. The Barlow is an incredible destination with restaurants, shopping, and wineries and is located in an old 25 acre apple processing plant.  I had visited The Barlow before on a visit to The MacPhail Family Tasting room, which is another Sebastopol gem I recommend. On this visit, I was hoping to visit the infamous Kosta Browne Winery. Although this is not open to the public (sorry guys), they kindly offered to host me for a tour and tasting. I think it was my lucky day!!

Upon arriving, me and my friend Marysa (quite the lucky girl tagging along on this visit, right) were greeted by Damon, the director of hospitality. We were given a thorough tour of the Winery with various stops along the way that included tastings in the barrel room, as well as a quick introduction to the Winemaker, Nico. You can see more about the fabulous visit below. I only wish you were able to taste the wines we experienced- they were amazing. Extremely smooth, balanced, with incredible full body flavors (exactly how I like a Pinot Noir). Hopefully you know a member of the Kosta Browne allocation as currently the allocation waitlist is 2-3 years. Get in line now before it’s even longer!

This room displays the various wines they’ve made over the years for special charitable events.

This is the Honor Wine, made specifically to honor war veterans. You can tell the Kosta Browne team cares about giving back to the community which is awesome.

The tour is beginning as we sip on some Chardonnay and learn about the Kosta Browne winemaking.

Our Guide, Damon, Director of Hospitality. Not only fabulously dressed, but super informative, passionate, and a pretty cool guy to hang with for a few hours.

Both Kosta Browne and Cirq, the newest label from Michael Brown and Charlie Chenoweth, are made and stored in this winery.

The concrete egg barrels used for fermenting. They are so cool painted black, usually they’re a grey, concrete color.

Touring and tasting in the barrel room.

Winemaker Nico who visited and chatted with us during the tasting.

Concluding our tour: tasting the 2013 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. Delicious!

The 2013 Russian River Valley Chardonnay. Both of these wines were so amazing it’s hard to pick a favorite!

Cheers and thanks to the Kosta Browne team for hosting me and my guest to your incredible winery. It was truly a memorable visit and such a treat getting to learn more about your wines first hand from the team. See you next time!!