2003 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Koplen Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (49) Avg Score: 90.8 points

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  3/1/2020 - sjtave Likes this wine:

  N1: Round, red, and ripe, especially at first. Jammy and no tannins showing at all. After about an hour, some bite/grip appeared, and then after about 2 hours, some depth (caramel?)
  N2: This continued to evolve with airtime, and was nicely balanced and a little darker after two hours or so. Alcohol is a little high and not my preferred style these days but ended up in a nice place. Shame on me for holding onto this so long, but while it has past its peak, it is still plenty good. If you have any, I suggest decanting as it took some time to unwind.

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  3/4/2016 - ParisWino wrote: 89 Points

  I was expecting the worst but was somewhat pleasantly surprised. There are people for whom a 15.6% ABV pinot noir will never be drinkable at any stage; but others who like the big bold pinot-as-grenache style that Kosta Browne historically represents. My tastes have certainly moved on in the last decade (I bought K-B in the '03 and '04 vintages but not since), but I opened this wine with an open mind, simply hoping it hadn't dissolved into a disjointed alcoholic mess. And in fact it hadn't -- tannins are almost nil, and acidity was just enough to hold things together, but the alcohol was noticeable only indirectly, as added body and sweetness, not as heat or burn, except for a bit of warmth on the finish. The nose and flavor profile is, as one would expect, (mostly roasted) red fruits with some dark fruits, cocoa, white pepper and vanilla ... nothing remotely mineral or herbal. Blind, I might have guessed an '03 C9dP, or an older Cali grenache. It was easy to drink as an aperitif and would probably impress one's non-wino friends. Drink up, but if you have a perfectly stored bottle you probably have another year to do so.
  
  (Bottle purchased from the winery on release and perfectly stored since then, which was doubtless important. Surprisingly, the wine had thrown zero sediment.)

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  1/12/2012 - sumshark wrote: 85 Points

  Hot mess tonight and that has never been an issue with a KB wine for me. Fruit profile has subsided and can't conceal the high alcohol content of the wine. Still provided a typical KB nose and palate but very muted.

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  2/5/2011 - zheem wrote: 83 Points

  This wine was like a fabulous train wreck--lots of interesting little pieces that all fall apart, but are recognizable. Out of the bottle it wqs horrible, like burnt over-ripe grapes, covered with prune syrup. It was much better later, and actually went well with Trader Joe's Coq au vin. But by itself was so clearly overpriced. I would have been happy to find this for 12 dollars in the bargin bin at bev mo, but not at this price.

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  11/6/2010 - Screameagle wrote: 91 Points

  This bottle showed much better than the last bottle I consumed. While showing it's age with some browning around the edge this pinot is still showing great. The K's are still my favorite KBs (Kanzler, Koplen, & to a lesser degree the Keefer) plus the 4 but this wine is no where near over the hill. That being said if you have any of these left why wait.

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View all 49 Community Tasting Notes

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