Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/152772
winemaking WINEMAKING mitch rice "We had the right space to design a winery how we wanted it," Browne said. The Barlow is a cluster of modernlooking buildings with roll-up doors. Tenants include breweries, a coffee roaster, a distillery, glass blowers, clothing shops and an ice cream maker. The concept is for shoppers to find unique wares while also getting a chance to visit producers in their working environments. In addition to Kosta Browne, the development is home to La Follette and Marimar Estate Vineyards & Winery tasting rooms as well as Wind Gap Wines' planned production space. While consumers won't be able to walk into Kosta Browne to taste and buy a few bottles of wine (in fact it's rather hard to even find the front door), Browne said they're happy to be part of a pretty interesting and vibrant cluster of companies. The winery is permitted for 30 events per year, but Browne said they likely won't ever host that many. He said the winery doesn't plan to open a tasting room, and added frankly that to them such a move would mean something had gone wrong. "We want to make sure it's always a sought-out brand and coveted wine," Browne said. The winery sells 90% of its 14,000-case production directly to consumers, and the rest is sold to on-premise accounts. Right now the wait list has 300 to 400 people on it, and the average wait time is two to three years. Browne said he'd like to add more people to the list after the big harvest of 2012, adding that the cellar staff will make 22,000 cases at the new winery this harvest. Founding partners Dan Kosta (left) and Michael Browne flank partner Chris Costello. This year will also be the first that Kosta Browne crushes grapes from vines it owns. The first 'estate vintage' Bill Price, chairman of Vincraft and Kosta Browne, announced his purchase of Gap's Crown vineyard in the Sonoma Coast AVA at the start of the year. Kosta Browne is leasing back 37 acres of vines from the newly formed Gap's Crown LLC. The winery also just closed on 20 acres of Pinot Noir vines at Keefer Ranch in the Russian River Valley AVA of Sonoma County. In addition to Sonoma County, Kosta Browne sources grapes from the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA in Natural light fills the barrel chai, which can be accessed by several roll-up doors large enough for lift trucks. California's Central Coast. In late June, Browne, associate winemaker Ryan O'Donnell and Tony Lombardi, public relations and brand management director, were showing off their new digs. At the time the spotless winery only housed wine in barrel from 2012. As O'Donnell walked into the cellar work area where a crew was racking barrels with Bull Dog pups, a Johnny Cash song was playing over the winery's sound system. O'Donnell pulled out his iPhone and lowered the volume. The winery is not just plumbed for hot and cold glycol but for surround sound, too. O'Donnell said workers can tie into any of one of several music-subscription services such as Pandora or Spotify or use a Bluetooth connection to link to the system in whatever room they're working. The music can also be set to play in just one specific area. If the staff in the administration building is playing classical or smooth jazz for a VIP tasting, the guys in the cellar can be blasting heavy metal. "You can rock out to whatever you want to," he said. View video in the Wines & Vines Digital Edition. Watch Kosta Browne's 2012 harvest unfold in this time-lapse video produced by Ground Noise Industries and edited by Chris Browne. The winery was in its old location in 2012, but most of the equipment was brought to the new winery for this year's harvest. Win es & Vin es S ept em b er 20 13 45