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TECHNICAL REVIEW WINEMAKING Finding the Right Fit Kosta Browne is ready to crush the 2013 vintage in new, custom-built winery By Andrew Adams I n winemaking, as in many of life's other pursuits, it's the simple things that often matter the most. Michael Browne, winemaker and one of the founders of Sonoma County's Kosta Browne Wines, knew he wanted the company's new winery to have three things: barrel storage, hot water hose stations and drains. The new Kosta Browne winery at The Barlow development in Sebastopol, Calif., has 9,000 square feet of temperature-controlled and well-lit barrel storage space, 37 Strahman hose stations with hot and cold water and compressed air and drains in every corner of the production areas. A few other luxuries also equip the new home of the well-financed winery with a sterling critical reputation for Pinot Noir. The professional kitchen, for example, is used for hosting wine club members and other special occasions, a large lab is equipped with top-of-the-line analytical equipment, a cold room for receiving harvested fruit and a custom-designed pneumatic punch-down system on rails above three bays of open-top fermentation tanks are among the highlights. Founding partners Dan Kosta and Michael Browne teamed with investor Chris The Barlow is home to a variety of small businesses including brewers, distillers, cheese makers and other wineries housed in modern-looking buildings that evoke the site's past as an applepacking and distribution center. Costello in 2001. After a string of rave reviews and high scores, the founders sold a controlling stake to the Vincraft Group Highlights • 013 will be the first vintage Kosta Browne Wines spends at its new winery and 2 crushes fruit from its own vines. • oused at The Barlow development in Sebastapol, Calif., the winery will be part of a H cluster of wineries and other small producers of premium products, but it will not have a public tasting room. • inemaking staff will run grapes through a lengthy sorting process that will include an W optical sorter before fermentation in open-top tanks. • cold room, strict cleanliness and pneumatic punch-down devices are a few key A ingredients that help Kosta Browne deal with a compact harvest season and a high bar for quality. 44 W in e s & V i ne s S e pt e m b e r 20 13 in a $36 million deal. Plans for the new location were in place prior to the investment, and Browne said the new winery is being paid for through wine sales. "Our business is self sustaining," he said. Built at The Barlow During a recent tour of the new winery, Michael Browne said he and his partners knew they wanted a new home, but the economics of building an estate winery didn't make sense to them. They evaluated a few other warehouse winery locations in Sonoma County but didn't really like what was available. An employee of their new parent company suggested they contact developer Barney Aldridge, who was looking for tenants for his project The Barlow, built on the site of a former apple cannery and rail depot in Sebastopol. Browne said they met with Adridge and liked his vision; they also decided that three of the planned buildings would fit their needs.