Brown Estate | It's A Napa Valley Thing

Phoenix From The Ashes: The Legend Of Our 2008 Recluse Zinfandel

2011-10-24T23:40:00.000-07:00

We alternately refer to it as "the fire story" or "the story of our lost 1998 vintage." If we've told it once we've told it a hundred times, and if you've been around us for a while you've probably heard or read about it. Yet it continues to take on new dimensions.

In June of 2000, not long after we bottled our 1998 Napa Valley Zinfandel – our third vintage, and the only wine we were making at that time – a fire broke out at the warehouse where we stored our case goods. We were among dozens of producers who lost precious inventory in that event, and for us the impact was particularly devastating not only because we had no other wine to release in its place, but because our fledgling brand had just begun gaining momentum.

Our post-fire inspection revealed that amidst the pallets of charred boxes, crushed bottles, and spilled wine, a number of interior cases of our 1998 zin remained physically intact. However, since there was no way to determine the condition of the wine inside every bottle without opening each one up, there was no point in attempting to salvage them. The entire vintage was written off as a loss, the insurance company agreed to have the intact bottles destroyed, eventually we received a settlement, and we went on to release our 1999 Napa zin ahead of schedule to bridge the revenue gap – thus triggering an accelerated release schedule for every subsequent vintage of our flagship wine.

Then a funny thing started happening. We began hearing from people claiming they'd had our 1998 zin. No you didn't, we would tell them. You're mistaken. But the urban legend persisted – despite the lack of concrete evidence on our end.

That all changed this summer when yet another report came our way, this time from one of our wine club members. "Had a bottle of your '98 zin..." he wrote in an email. "No you didn't," we wrote back. "Yes I did," he wrote back, with this photo attached:

Nobody move! Immediately we conducted an email investigation, and several months later, in early September, a miraculous bounty of six bottles of our 1998 Napa Valley Zinfandel – "gray market" survivors, complete with water damaged labels from the fire – was delivered to us at the winery.

The timing of this meaningful homecoming could not have been more serendipitous, for just three weeks later we would release to our Library members our 2008 Recluse Zinfandel, a wine we created as an homage to our lost 1998 vintage.

Ten vintages descended from our '98 zin, this wine represents the inaugural release from a quiet side project we have been developing over the last several years: a "reserve" line of zinfandels that receive extended cellaring under the watchful eye of resident zinmaster Dave Brown. Comprised of a special blend from small lots that were hand selected by the winegrower and held back from our 2008 Napa Valley zin, this sleeping giant introduces a new dimension to the Brown zin lineup. Taking its name from our 2007 Brown Recluse reserve cab sauv – itself a sleeper hit in our tasting room, where it is sold exclusively – offerings from our Recluse line may or may not appear from vintage to vintage, depending upon what Mother Nature affords us. But one thing we can promise: When these wines do show up, they will be extraordinary.

[11/07/11 – Update: We produced just 390 cases of this wine, and based on the response it has received from our Library members and in our tasting room, we don't anticipate it lasting through its originally slated Spring 2012 release date. It is now available online.]

2009 Zinapalooza Horizontal Tasting Series @ The Winery

2011-05-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

Dates: May 28 | June 18 | August 6 – 2pm to 4pm

As previously mentioned just about everywhere we mention things, this year marks the first time in our 15-year history that we are releasing five Brown zins from the same vintage. Our 2009 Zinapalooza Horizontal Tasting series offers the rarest of opportunities to taste through all five of these wines – our Napa, Mickey’s, Rosemary’s, Chiles, and Westside zins – in a focused, educational setting with winegrower Dave Brown and wine educator Coral Brown as your guides. Tickets are $50 per person for members and $75 per person for non-members (includes individual pairings with each wine). Attendees will be able to purchase and take early possession of our 2009 Westside Zinfandel, scheduled for Fall release. We hope to see you this summer for one of these glorious, eye-opening afternoon tastings at our family estate.

Read more here. To request tickets, please complete this form.

2009 Brown Zinapalooza!

2011-03-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

We take our zinfandel very seriously, and we think it worth noting for you diehard Brown zin fans out there that 2011 marks the first time in our fifteen-year history that five BE zins from the same vintage will be released in one calendar year. This historic Brown Zinapalooza is made possible by the arrival of our 2009 Mickey’s Block and 2009 Rosemary’s Block zins, both brand new this year to the Brown zin lineup.

With the addition of these two new single vineyard bottlings, winegrower Dave Brown has completed a nifty deconstruction of our original hallmark Napa Valley zin, which is blended from our Mickey’s, Rosemary’s, Chiles Valley, and Westside vineyard blocks. The latter two names will strike a chord with the Brown zin faithful among you; they are the first and second single vineyard zins, respectively, that Brown Estate has bottled over the years – the Chiles commencing in 2002, the Westside in 2006.

It’s a fascinating exercise not only for the nose and palate, but for the imagination, to taste through five Brown zins from a single vintage. While the Napa zin blend embodies components from all four vineyards, the individual bottlings from our Mickey’s, Rosemary’s, Chiles Valley, and Westside blocks, in concert with the Napa zin, give proof to the oft-abused notion of terroir. As strikingly different as each of these zins is – from the fullness of the Napa to the jamminess of the Mickey’s to the elegance of the Rosemary’s to the brooding fruit of the Chiles to the mellow structure of the Westside – there is an unmistakable imprint, primarily in the noses, signaling that these five very distinct zins can only have come from one place. Intriguing evidence of what we call the Brown Estate pedigree is present in each of these gorgeous and complex wines, even as each is a singular expression of our estate property.

Production on our single vineyard zins is just a few hundred cases each. We hope you will stock your cellar with these wines so you can indulge in a series of in-the-round Brown zin tastings from the 2009 vintage. By partaking of this unique opportunity you will experience both the extraordinary versatility and the unparalleled virtue of our estate grown zinfandels.

The Napa, Mickey’s, and Rosemary’s are available currently online (the Napa also is in distribution), and we will release the 2009 Chiles Valley in May, and the 2009 Westside in the fall. Collect all five and join us on our zintastic voyage!

Update 04/26/11: Our 2009 Chiles Valley zin is now available online. To commemorate our first ever five-zin vintage, beginning May 28th we will be hosting a series of 2009 "Zinapalooza" horizontal tastings at the winery – a rare opportunity to experience all five 2009 Brown zins with winegrower Dave Brown and wine educator Coral Brown as your guides. See page 8 of the Summer 2011 BE Paper or click here to request tickets.

A Lot Can Happen In Two Months...

2011-03-03T02:47:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe it's been that long since our last post - yet not so when we consider all that's happened since. If you've been following our recent adventures on Facebook and/or Twitter, you may recall that during the lead-up to ZAP in December and January, the San Francisco Chronicle gave us three very nice mentions. First, they ranked our 2008 Napa Valley Zinfandel among their Top 100 Wines of 2010. Next, they gave our then newly released 2009 Napa zin a terrific leg up with "Napa Valley Zinfandel: The Chronicle recommends." Then came a second nod to our 09 Napa zin in "From the Notebook" at the tail end of Jon Bonné's insightful article entitled "It's time to heal the great Zinfandel divide."

By the time we attended our 12th annual ZAP Grand Tasting on Saturday January 29th, we were pretty well blown away by the Chronicle's rapid-fire love, having grown accustomed to flying below the radar. We found it interesting that our colleagues in the wine industry seemed to take more notice of our recent press than did consumers themselves, and that was fine by us. The winemaking arm of our little family enterprise - namely our winegrower and brother, David - tends to be on the quiet side (in a "speak softly and produce a stunningly pure and well-balanced zin" sort of way), so we were happy when Dave's beautiful, elegant zins were called exactly that by a panel of judges whose integrity we admire.

Following ZAP - a glorious affair as always - we hit the ground running, propelled by so much momentum. On February 12th we unveiled the second (Spring 2011) issue of our quarterly BE Paper, as well as our newly remodeled tasting room, to Estate members and their guests at our Spring allocation pickup event at the winery. Our entire family (including Mom & Dad!) were present for what felt like a wonderful reunion with old and new friends alike.

Later that week, on February 18th, we poured our 2009 Petite Sirah at "P.S. I Love You." The following Weds. the 23rd Coral and Mom traveled to L.A. for a trade tasting with our distributor there, and last Friday the 25th we did a menu tasting with our friend and BE member, Melissa Teaff, who will be catering our fourth annual Derby Day event in May.

Through it all, we've found that our eulogy for distribution (see previous post here) may have been a tad premature, as most of our out-of-state markets have shown promising signs of reviving.

That brings us current with the updates, and we won't wait another two months to post again... especially as we're preparing to release several exciting new wines and gearing up for our annual online March Madness event! Lots to show and tell.

Thanks as always for reading, and we hope 2011 is off to a brilliant start for you.

2010: More Than A Milestone, A Turning Point

2010-12-31T15:41:00.000-08:00

As much as we love to wax lyrical about the many romantic aspects of the wine industry/lifestyle, underneath it all this little endeavor of ours is a commercial enterprise with a very real bottom line.

We've used the word "milestone" a lot this year because we celebrated a pair of significant anniversaries in 2010. But what really made this year historic for us had less to do with those backward glances than with the forward movement we achieved as a small business.

The wine industry, like most others, has undergone a tremendous amount of change over the last few years. Three phenomena in particular have impacted us in profound ways during this period: (1) the rapid evolution of social media and related technologies; (2) a volatile but ultimately survivalist economy; and (3) the increasingly convoluted machinations of the distribution sales channel. These compounded elements have demanded unprecedented bobbing and weaving from a business management standpoint.

As we've navigated this changing landscape, technology has worked in our favor (see: Twitter & Facebook), and the economy has kept us on our toes (see our hallmark Napa Valley zinfandel, now in its seventh straight vintage with no price increase). But the demise of distribution as a meaningful sales channel for small producers has been a curve ball that's changed the game.*

Given these circumstances, our micro size and private family-held structure have been virtues, allowing us to remain nimble enough to keep pace with the ever changing demands of our industry. From the vine to the press to the tank to the barrel to the bottle to your glass - not until that cycle is complete have we begun to scratch the surface of meeting our goals.

And that is why you are the very heart of the matter, dear lover of our wines. None of what we do - the farming, the winemaking, the hospitality, the outreach - none of it means anything without your continued discovery, enjoyment, and desire to share in the Brown Estate experience.

In order to better nurture this precious ecosystem in which we thrive with your support, during the course of 2010 we made a number of upgrades to both our systems and our manpower, not only changing e-commerce and fulfillment providers, but hiring three new employees on the business side of things. "Three new employees," you may say to yourself, "how cute!" But remember that there were only four of us running the business in the first place!

These internal changes and the extensive recalibrating they have entailed represent what for us has been the most significant growth spurt in Brown Estate's 15-year history. And so it is that we toast 2010 not merely as a year that witnessed major milestones for us, but as a year that embodied them.

Thank you for continuing to be a part of this adventure with us, and we wish all of you a healthy, prosperous, and exuberant 2011!
___________________________________________________________________
*Interested in the gruesome details re: distribution's downfall? Write in below and we will be happy to fill you in! [Update: Details posted in comment string below (in two parts).]

#brownzin: Why The "Hashtag" On Our 2009 Napa Zin Label?

2010-10-28T16:37:00.000-07:00

Having hosted a number of Twitter superheroes at the winery during the previous 18+ months, one day this past July we finally made it to their house for a tour of what we consider to be the social media epicenter of the Bay Area and, let's face it, quite possibly the universe. (Sorry, Facebook - we love Twitter more.)

While lunching in the cafeteria with our host @choppedonion, we had the unexpected pleasure of being joined by fortuitous passerby @anamitra. As we happened to have a bottle (unopened) of Chaos Theory on the table, our conversation went to wine labels, and before long the world's first hashtagged wine was born.

For those not already versed in the ways of Twitter, the hashtag (an appropriated "pound" or "number" sign) is used as a shorthand means of indexing specific topics for easy identification within Twitter's internal search engine - a tool, it should be noted, that is akin to an up-to-the-instant Google. Literally millions of conversations take place on Twitter, on as many subjects, 24/7. Hashtags function literally as tags, both to catalog and to facilitate these ongoing "strings." By including a hashtag with an unbroken term - e.g., #worldseries - Twitter users can ensure that their contributions not only are a part of the live-action conversation, but are searchable as such.

If you're talking Brown zin on Twitter, hashtag it #brownzin to let us and your fellow #brownzin fans know you're out there – and more importantly, what you have to say!

Our 2007 Duppy Conqueror: What's In A Name?

2010-10-01T13:09:00.000-07:00

From Chaos Theory to Betelgeuse to Duppy Conqueror, we seem to have a penchant for giving our wines unusual names. So what's the latest?

Our 2007 Duppy Conqueror cab sauv dessert wine is one of two specialty wines we've bottled in 2010 to commemorate our family's 30th anniversary in the Napa Valley and Brown Estate's 15th crush. This unique cabernet port takes its name from the title of the original artwork that graces the bottle, a line drawing by our father's late brother, Ansel (a.k.a. Uncle Bunton). A time stamp of 10.55 accompanies his signature, denoting not the month and year the work was completed, but the time of day. A clock in the drawing indicates another time, three in the morning, the "witching" hour when the duppies would visit him.

Immortalized in the Bob Marley song of the same name, the Duppy Conqueror is a sort of superhero of Jamaican folklore, capable of vanquishing evil spirits, or duppies - a.k.a. ghosts. Indulge in a little piece of BE history and fortify your own spirits with this heroic commemorative dessert wine!

Why We Do What We Do

2010-08-17T08:21:00.000-07:00

As we approach Brown Estate's 15th crush and our family prepares to celebrate thirty years in the Napa Valley, we feel at liberty to say that at its core, winemaking is an act of creative production. Science has its say in the process, but the true beauty in wine from both the producer's and consumer's sides derives as much from the care and artistry with which the winemaker practices his or her craft as from the fruit source itself.

For this reason – like most aspiring, passionate, determined artists – while we inject our hearts and souls into growing and making wine each year, we live for those moments when our wines fuel discovery, inspire contemplativeness, and foster passion in those who partake.

Photo courtesy of Shea Coulson

Pictured above, on his most recent visit to Brown Estate (and customarily deep in thought), is a young man whose ongoing discovery of our wines and our family has been nothing short of a gift to us. This retiring soul has seen and understood what Brown Estate is about – and has articulated his experiences with us and our wines – as thoughtfully and as beautifully as anyone we've come across in the fifteen years since we began making wine under the Brown Estate label.

We could not begin to paraphrase his words, so instead we share them with you. Herewith, a glimpse inside Brown Estate by Vancouver-based wine blogger Shea Coulson. Shea has become much more than a friend to us; he is wine critic turned muse, for the level of appreciation he has shared with us for what we do is something every wine producer – indeed every artist – should be fortunate enough to experience at least once along the way.

Summer On The Vineyard!

2010-07-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

If you've followed the adventures of Brown Estate through the years, you know the story of our mother Marcela having inspired (directed) us to produce Chardonnay from the unlikely but determined vineyard that occupies the westernmost corner of our property.

The soil there is dense clay, and the vines sparse. But those that thrive in this challenging block produce a small lot of beautiful, lean, mineral-rich Chardonnay that is a hidden gem in the Brown Estate family of wines. It is our first wine to have graced the list at The French Laundry (2002 vintage), and our first to have been served at the White House (2006 vintage).*

What may surprise is that it isn't our far-flung Chardonnay vineyard that is nearest to Mom's (or Dad's) heart. That honor goes to the vineyard pictured above, which we refer to affectionately as "the Big Field." It's the first vineyard our parents planted, but more importantly, its location beside their house allows them to look upon it from windows in their kitchen, living room, dining room, office, and bedroom – as well as from their front and back gardens.

Last summer, we replanted the Big Field's 8.5 acres – originally all Zinfandel – to include a little Tempranillo and a little Petite Sirah.

This summer, as the second incarnation of the Big Field enters its sophomore year, we are celebrating two major milestones. And as we take our family meals between Mom and Dad's kitchen, dining room, front garden, and the gazebo out back, we give thanks for all that has sprung forth from the original Brown Estate vineyard – not least the gift of you, our friends and customers, and your continued enjoyment of the fruits of our collective labor of love. Salud!
____________________________________________
*Details of this story will follow when our 2009 chardonnay is released in Spring 2011.

Bottle Rockets!

2010-06-21T23:37:00.000-07:00

Summer is officially here, and the July Fourth holiday weekend is just around the corner.

PARTY!

Whether you're grilling, firing up the pizza oven, or hosting a catered formal affair, our newly released 2007 Chaos Theory zin blend and 2008 Westside zin are guaranteed to stoke your summer celebrations!

The Chaos – velvety, rich, deep, bold, and hedonistic, all petal to the metal – is our James Bond: Admired by women and men alike, it's a proven crowd pleaser.

The Westside – rich with focused black cherry and cloves – is our Lena Horne: Sultry, sophisticated, serious; a fitting tribute to the late great songstress for whom our mother occasionally is mistaken.

By turns sexy and elegant, these are the wines that make you love Brown Estate. Should you choose to share them, your guests very likely will be smitten too.

Now through the end of June, we are offering free ground shipping (or equivalent subsidy on air shipping) for orders of 12 bottles or more.

We're also waiving shipping charges for all orders to Oregon.

Betelgeuse* 2009 Sauvignon Blanc is Here!

2010-05-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

06/01/10 Update: Our 2009 Betelgeuse* sauv blanc is now available only by request.

As easy on the palate as it is on the eyes, this exceptional wine transcends the grass and gooseberry qualities typical of the varietal, unfurling a nose of gardenia, honeysuckle, mandarin, nectarine, limestone, fig, and beeswax – and delivering a power-packed yet delicate mouthful of tropical fruit and white flowers. Part refreshment, part ice-breaker, our 2009 Betelgeuse* sauv blanc is the perfect opening act for all of your summer celebrations. Enjoy Betelgeuse* wherever you enjoying being!

Speaking of being, we're thrilled to release new vintages of two perennial BE favorites – our 2007 Chaos Theory zin blend and our 2008 Westside zin.

Sommelier Caroline Styne and Chef Suzanne Goin are featuring the 07 Chaos on their list at Tavern in Los Angeles. With its inky garnet core and translucent ruby rim, this wine is nothing short of uplifting. Our pairing suggestion: pappardelle with wild boar ragu.

And the Westside zin? The 08 vintage is our second in a row to be selected by Sommelier Rom Toulon for Chef Christopher Kostow's tasting menu at The Restaurant at Meadowood in Saint Helena – paired this time with an inspired dish of roasted carrots, dark chocolate, chile de arbol, and Iroquois cornmeal. Yes, it's that versatile!

For best results, kick start your summer with a mixed case of Brown & Betelgeuse*. Order any combination of 12+ bottles and receive free ground shipping. Want it expedited? Select 2-day or overnight shipping and we will refund you the cost of ground shipping. Cheers!

Growing Wine With "Grape Whisperer" Dave Brown

2010-04-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

In a recent kitchen table conversation, BE winegrower Dave Brown explained that he hesitates to call himself a winemaker. Dave is in the increasingly rare position of being an artisan producer who farms his own grapes. (His self-selected moniker, winegrower, reflects the two symbiotic roles he inhabits as both farmer and – it's true – winemaker.)

This is the beauty – indeed the advantage – of being an estate winery: the fruits of our labor quite literally are our own, since we depend solely upon our own farming practices for the wine grapes whose juice we ultimately bottle.

The BE family of wines are purely vineyard-driven, deriving their distinguishing characteristics not from any equipment they pass through or any processing they undergo, but rather from the unique soil conditions and microclimate that prevail in the nine distinct vineyard blocks currently planted on our property. (Mother Nature has a hand in the matter as well, since she alone controls the weather.)

As such, Dave considers his role to be defined primarily on the farming side. The most nuanced part of his job is taking cues from the vineyards as they progress through each growing season.

Perhaps, then, more than a grape whisperer, he is a grape listener. By the time the fruit comes in at harvest and goes into tank following crush, Dave's winemaking work is largely done. The fermentation and barrel aging stages are an incubation period over which he keeps watch. He doesn't so much make wine; he grows it.

To discover what all of the whispering and listening is about, check out our 2008 Napa Valley zin (pictured above). Currently in its fifteenth year of production, this is our hallmark wine, and the one that has earned Dave Brown a reputation as one of the finest zinfandel producers in the Napa Valley.

Last Chance To Get Arrested @ BE!

2010-04-02T11:09:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all who took advantage of our March Madness event! We've sold out of our 2005 Chaos Theory, and soon our 2006 Arrested zin will be no more.

The Arrested myth is worth recounting for those unfamiliar with the history of this unique "double estate" dessert wine.

Nearly ten years ago, winemaker Dave Brown produced his first late harvest zin from the 2001 vintage. Knowing it wouldn't appear regularly in the BE lineup – the growing season rarely supports the late harvest proposition, which requires a special set of conditions to yield just the right juice – we adorned it with our first ever black label. Such a well-structured dessert wine was this that many of our customers took to buying and consuming it like a regular zin.

The BE black label has reappeared only once since then, on our 2004 Late Harvest zin (our first ever half-bottle package, pictured here).

Meanwhile, Dave was barrel aging 450 gallons of BE zinfandel brandy that had been distilled for us by his good friend Marko Karakasevic of Charbay fame. The 2005 growing season was not conducive to late harvest zin production, but consumer demand was high for another dessert style BE wine. And so our Arrested zinfandel – to our knowledge the first ever "double-estate" fortified dessert wine (a.k.a. Port, if we could legally call it that) – was born.

The 2006, our second vintage of Arrested zin, is now nearing sold out status. This is the last zinfandel dessert wine BE will produce for a spell. Get it while you can, and stay tuned!

March Madness Is On!

2010-03-22T18:19:00.000-07:00

And we don't mean basketball!

Every year around this time we offer up a bottle of Brown at an irresistible price. This year the star of the show is our venerable 2005 Chaos Theory proprietary red (a Wine Insiders favorite). The madcap equation: 60% cab + 40% zin x Chaos Theory ÷ March Madness = $20 per bottle ($240 per case) while it lasts!

This wine is a big bang for the buck at its retail price of $36; at nearly half off it's a serious bargain. Marvelously smooth and highly structured with well-integrated fruit and subtle tannins, our 2005 Chaos Theory is drinking beautifully right now. It is also an excellent candidate for long-term cellaring thanks to the cab sauv component.

In addition, from March 22nd through March 31st, ground shipping is free on all full case orders. No time like the present to stock up for Easter!

In other news, Spring is here! As we await bud break and the approach of frost season, winemaker Dave Brown has been installing a greenhouse structure (pictured above) across the bridge from the winery. This will serve as the centerpiece of our mother's garden, whose bounty of vegetables we are awaiting almost as eagerly as the beginning of the grape growing season!

We wish you and your family a bountiful spring as well, and thank you for enjoying our wines!

Forward March

2010-03-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

It's one of the ironies of grape farming that the approach of spring, which sets the stage for bud break, also leads us into frost season, an annual event — or non-event, if we're lucky — that puts winegrowers on high alert.

Now and then, we crack wise about being in business with Mother Nature, whose fickle moods epitomize the term unpredictable. But that reality is no joke.

As we prepare to make our donation (and yours!) to Haitian earthquake relief efforts, we continue to follow news of the massive quake that struck Chile on February 27th. Our hearts go out to all whose lives have been affected by this dreadful event.

As well, we thank everyone who purchased wine online during the month of February for supporting our Haiti fundraising effort. You not only contributed to a very successful campaign, but you made off with all of our 2008 Petite Sirah!

We are delighted that this first ever vintage found such a fervent fan base — the self-proclaimed BE Purple Teeth Club! — and we are pleased to announce that Petite Sirah will remain on the Brown Estate roster in very small production lots going forward.

Up the hill at the winery, we are concocting a little "madness" for the latter part of March. Watch this space and/or your inbox for an upcoming announcement.

In the meantime, we wish you all an upbeat March into spring, and a rewarding Year of the Tiger!

February Fundraiser for Haitian Relief

2010-02-01T20:22:00.001-08:00

We are very pleased to release our 2008 Petite Sirah on February 1st to kick off our month-long fundraising push in support of Haitian relief efforts. For the whole of this month, we will be donating ten percent of all of our online wine sales to Architecture for Humanity, a brilliant organization that is already on the ground in Haiti taking practical steps to begin the rebuilding process.

Over the past several years, our participation in the Napa Vintners' annual Auction Napa Valley fundraiser — which supports Napa Valley hospitals and community service programs — has inspired us to think outside the box, in turn expanding the Brown Estate family of wines.

From small lots we have crafted for the auction, we have developed our beloved Chaos Theory zin blend (fourth vintage to be released in May), our highly stealth Brown Recluse reserve cab (a handful of pre-purchased cases will go out to their owners this fall), and most recently our first ever Petite Sirah.

Since we began making wine under the Brown Estate label fifteen years ago, our survival and growth have depended upon word of mouth generated by a passionate enthusiasm for our little endeavor that we have shared with you and you have shared with us, and with your friends and family members.

If you happen to be chatting up Brown Estate to fellow wine lovers during the month of February, please be sure to mention that this is a good time to buy wine online. Oh! And grab some of our 2008 Petite Sirah while you can — only 100 cases made!

Countdown to ZAP!

2010-01-21T17:34:00.001-08:00

January is a quiet time in the Napa Valley, partly because it is a slow travel month. As the sleepy residue of the holidays dissipates, we typically use the first three weeks of the year for strategic planning.

Our calendar year begins in earnest the last weekend in January, when we participate — as we have for the last ten years — in the annual ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates & Producers) tasting at Fort Mason in San Francisco. ZAP is the largest single varietal wine tasting event in the world, and without question our most important marketing tool.

Beyond the invaluable exposure we receive there, ZAP is probably the best morale boost a zin producer can get. There's nothing like five or six hours of face time with thousands of zinfandel fanatics — and hundreds of other zin producers! — to remind us of why we love doing what we do.

As it has continued to attract more and more consumer attendees each year, ZAP has acquired a reputation for being overcrowded. In reality, ZAP is like a Twitter meetup of zin fans. Everywhere you turn, someone's got a tip about a wine or a producer you've got to check out. If you're a true zin lover we believe you must make the pilgrimage to ZAP at least once in your lifetime. There literally is nothing else like it in the world.

This year we will be pouring our new 2008 Napa Valley zin, along with a bonus or two. To coincide with ZAP we have established a new Zinfanatic membership program. As well, we currently are offering free shipping on all 12-pack orders. Get your zin on!

Time In A Bottle

2009-12-19T23:00:00.000-08:00

If there's one unassailable tagline for 2009, it's What a year! However you choose to spin that sentiment, there's no denying it's apropos. As we wind down the commerce aspect of this calendar year, we are taking stock of all of the challenges and rewards 2009 has brought our way. The net result: we're still here – and as far as we can tell, so are you! That itself is cause for celebration.

The year 2010 will mark our thirtieth anniversary in the Napa Valley and our fifteenth crush. As we look forward to these milestones, we want to thank each and every one of you for your fantastic support of what we still think of as our little endeavor. Your enjoyment of our wines, the stories you share with us, the ambassadorial work you do on our behalf, and your unwavering enthusiasm for all things Brown Estate – these gifts mean more to us than we can convey.

Robert Louis Stevenson famously referred to wine as poetry in a bottle. We think wine may be the closest thing there is to time in a bottle. Because the fruits of our labor literally bear a time stamp in the form of vintage dates, our wines are for us like time capsules reminding us of where we've been and where we aspire to go.

As such, when you pop the cork on a bottle of Brown, you unleash a little bit of our collective heart and soul. And that vintage date? It's the equivalent of We were here. Every bottle of wine we produce is a testament to our love for and dedication to this wondrous business that is our livelihood. And we are grateful for the opportunity to share it all with you.

Happy holidays, and all the best for a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2010!

Zin Up for the Holidays!

2009-10-31T23:24:00.000-07:00

Year after year, Mother Nature is consistently steadfast and fickle, wonderful and treacherous. Following significant frost damage and a subsequent shortage of fruit in 2008, we enjoyed a brilliant 2009 growing season that made up for the ravages of the previous year.

The result was a beautiful crop. But just as we were reveling in anticipation of the stellar wines of 2009, Mother Nature threw us a curve ball in the form of October rains. Whereas we typically harvest through Halloween, the forecast of wet weather for Tuesday October 13th compelled us to hustle to bring in as much fruit as possible by October 12th.

This translated into an expedited and abbreviated harvest and crush at Brown Estate this year; by the third week of October our vineyards were picked bare, our fermentation tanks were full, and our heads were spinning from the speed with which we had just gotten it all done.

In the midst of all of this farming and winemaking excitement, our highly anticipated 2008 Napa Valley zinfandel was preparing to take the stage. Our weekly tastings found this wine showing exceptionally well – just in time for the holiday season.

The nose, color, and palate of this classic old school Napa zin bespeak its Brown Estate provenance. A superbly well-balanced zin with a long, expressive finish, it is so perfectly suited to both traditional and modern holiday meals that we are making it available beginning November 3rd especially for the occasion.

For the sixth straight vintage we are keeping it real at $36 per bottle. So zin up for the holidays and raise a glass to what's good!

In Chaos, Zinfandel!

2009-09-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

Winemaking is the basis of our livelihood, and as such we take it very seriously. But in life we try not to take ourselves too seriously, which is one of our secrets to running a successful family business.

Is there any grape besides zinfandel that could fit more perfectly into this rubric? We think not. Despite being California's heritage grape, as well as the focus of the largest single varietal wine tasting event in the world (the annual ZAP festival at San Francisco's Fort Mason), zin is an underdog in the world of wine. And it is commonly underestimated by the uninitiated, making it a fitting metaphor for Brown Estate.

Cabernet sauvignon, on the other hand, is widely regarded as the "king of red wines." The irony is that while producing cab sauv is a pricey proposition – particularly when it comes to barrel aging requirements – out in the vineyard zin is a far more demanding grape to grow.

With our Chaos Theory proprietary blend, we have married these two disparate varietals into a sumptuous wine bursting with the fruit and spiciness of zin and bolstered by the structure and texture of cab sauv. The result is a serious wine – superbly drinkable, eminently ageable – that just may give you a wink and a nod.

Until our 2008 Napa Valley zinfandel debuts early next year, we are releasing our 2006 Chaos Theory at a matching price point of $36 per bottle to take the edge off of your Brown zin cravings. Give it a swirl, a swoosh, and a swallow, and see why we say, "In vino, veritas – in chaos, order!"

Halcyon Days of Summer

2009-08-15T11:11:00.000-07:00

It's a well-known fact that summer vacation is serious business in France. During the month of August, some segments of French commerce close down while proprietors and employees enjoy a four- to five-week respite from the workaday routine. Those of us in the U.S. wine industry who source bottling supplies (capsules and glass, for example) from French vendors are keenly aware of the need to get it done before August, or postpone it until September.

For years we have admired the French model, and this year we decided to emulate it — sort of. With the vineyards in a dynamic growth phase, a major bottling scheduled for the month of September, and harvest and crush following close on its heels, we are in no position to hang out a "Gone Fishing" sign. But we have closed the tasting room temporarily, until September 21st, in order to do some facility maintenance and plot our course through the fourth quarter of 2009.

In the meantime, we have been very fortunate, thanks to a wonderful partnership we established in the fall of 2008, to be able to refer would-be winery visitors to Ma(i)sonry in Yountville, which is serving as our off-site tasting room. In addition, we have enjoyed the stalwart support of local restaurants and wine shops that have kept Brown Estate in stock consistently. And finally, as always, we have our customers (the best on the planet) to thank for keeping your palates and perhaps even more importantly your hearts loyal to Brown Estate. Your fabulous enthusiasm for everything we do – from our winemaking program to our hospitality in the tasting room – is what keeps us on point, and we are grateful to have the opportunity, continually, to share with you the fruits of our labor.

Enjoy the rest of your summer, and come see us in the fall!

Got Chardonnay?

2009-07-04T22:05:00.000-07:00

Since we produced our first vintage of Chardonnay five years ago, this small-volume, under-the-radar wine has gained a fervent following among certain of our members (you know who you are). As well, it has found its way onto the lists at New York's The Modern at MOMA and Thomas Keller's French Laundry and Bouchon.

We have to confess we're rather partial to it ourselves. Our iconoclastic Napa Valley Chardonnay is lean and crisp, with tropical notes that make it a divine warm weather wine. Robust on the palate, it has the long finish you've come to expect of the Brown Estate family of wines. It's a brilliant way to welcome your guests for a summer soirée, or a superb accompaniment to your al fresco meal.

The only trouble is there isn't enough of the 2007 vintage to go around. Our Library members each received two bottles in the spring shipment, but unfortunately due to limited availability, we will not be shipping the customary one bottle each to our Estate members this year. We have a mere sixty cases remaining, and priority will be given to Estate and Library members, as well as to those who historically have stocked up on our Chardonnay each year.

If you are unfamiliar with this wine but intrigued by the proposition, next time you're in the Napa Valley, pop into Ma(i)sonry in Yountville. Our 2007 Chardonnay will be available to taste there for a limited time beginning the week of July 20th.

Welcome to Brown Estate 3.0!

2009-06-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

For those of you following the adventures of Brown Estate on Facebook and Twitter, you may have caught wind of the fact that we have been working for the last two and a half months on updating our Website. You may also have begun to wonder when it would ever be done.

Well, you are looking at the third incarnation of brownestate.com since we first went live on the Internet back in 2003. Were you with us then? Do you remember what our first Website looked like? We changed things up from the original in 2005, and here we are halfway through 2009 with what we hope you will agree is our much improved new site, inspired by simplicity of design and ease of use, which are guiding principles of Web 2.0.

The most significant update we have made, apart from the design and layout, is to our online store. We have taken steps to make it much easier for you to purchase our wines online; from our home (or main) page, you are just one click away, via the Wines link, to selecting the wines you want.

We also have added an interactive photo gallery, which will be expanded down the line to include thematic photo albums. And we have incorporated our blog into our Website, and have added links to our Twitter and Facebook pages. As well, you will find up-to-the-minute news on our main page via our live Twitter Feed (at right).

We welcome your feedback, so let us know what you think!

How Dare We?! Or, Why We Think We're So Cool

2009-05-18T12:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a little insider news for those of you following us on Facebook and Twitter: We are in the process of updating our Website. It used to be that a tidbit like this would be accompanied by terms such as "the stone age" or "the 21st century." But nowadays it's all about Web 2.0, and that's where brownestate.com is heading.

As with many of our projects, brownestate.com 3.0 (because it will be the third incarnation of our Website since we've been online) has been slow coming. We are very deliberate about everything we do because as a small family-owned and -operated business whose survival depends entirely upon wine sales, we can't afford to make a lot of missteps.

One day while meeting with our "WebDev," as he calls himself (that's developer, not devil) we were discussing Brown Estate's presence on FB and Twitter. When we mentioned the tag line we use in both of these spaces - "The Coolest Winery in the Napa Valley" - he asked whether we put the word "Coolest" in quotes - as in, "The 'Coolest' Winery in the Napa Valley," a punctuated version of tongue in cheek. When we told him no we don't, that we just state it plainly, he remarked with a slight grin, "Wow. That's bold."

So how dare we anoint ourselves the coolest winery in the Napa Valley with no qualms or quotation marks? It's all about our customers.

Come to the winery any busy Saturday, or for one of our events, and you are bound to witness one of the most diverse groups of people you will ever see in a Napa Valley tasting room. That alone is pretty cool, but when total strangers from varied backgrounds and walks of life start interacting - talking, laughing, making toasts, shoulder-butting each other, exchanging contact info or, not infrequently, leaving the winery to have a late lunch or early dinner together - that's the height of cool in our book.

We have always been enchanted by our customers, and we've long been aware that our little off-the-beaten path, diamond-in-the-rough operation attracts a special brand of wine enthusiast. As the growing season for our 14th vintage gets under way in earnest - and as a new round of herculean farming and other operational efforts commence - we continue to marvel at the fact that the Brown Estate brand remains relatively esoteric. This is due largely to the fact that we rely entirely upon word of mouth to bring us potential customers. (Sidebar: FB and Twitter are like word of mouth on a rocket ship to the moon, which is why we love them both.)

All of which is to say there is a certain amount of work involved in discovering Brown Estate in the first place, and as those of you who have made the trek know, there is a whole other set of gyrations involved in actually getting to the winery.

Consequently, we do not take it lightly when you venture to visit us, and we do our best to make sure you have a completely unique Napa Valley experience. In turn, you reward us over and over again with a steady procession of the coolest customers in the Napa Valley - be they you, or your family, friends, or co-workers whom you refer to us.

There's a little preaching to the choir going on here, we know, but we thought it important for the uninitiated to understand that at Brown Estate, cool is as cool does.

You, dear customers, put the cool in Brown Estate. And for that, we love and thank you!

The Story of our Betelgeuse Rosé

2009-04-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

Being in the wine business, we have frequent occasion to dine out, often in the line of duty. We do our best to support restaurants that have our wines on their lists, and we also try to keep up with new local eateries that may be potential restaurant accounts. Needless to say, this aspect of our work is very enjoyable; a significant part of our business is providing hospitality to our customers, so when we have a chance to be the recipients of someone else's hospitality, it's a real treat for us.

In the course of our dining adventures during the summer of 2006, we found our wine tastes trending toward rosés. Specifically, we were drawn over and over again to a lovely French rosé from producer Domaine Tempier in the Bandol region of Provence. Our fondness for this wine evolved over time into something of a romance, and eventually we began thinking about the possibility of adding a rosé to the Brown Estate lineup.

Now those of you who know the history of our Chardonnay can imagine what a far-out proposition this was. Years ago, with our tiny Chardonnay vineyard in mind, our mother began lobbying for a white wine that she could enjoy in the summer with crab salad and other warm-weather fare. Winemaker Dave Brown (Mom's youngest) was reluctant to venture into white wine production, but Mom persisted, and eventually he agreed to make a little Chardonnay just for her. Our first vintage of Chardonnay was 2002, and since Mom couldn't drink 180 cases by herself (not even with our help!), we quietly began asking visitors if they wanted to try our new Chardonnay. Slowly but surely, our Chard gained a fervent following. It is now considered one of our specialty wines, and its placements include The French Laundry, Charlie Trotter's, and Bouchon.

Our rosé concept had a similarly hard row to hoe from notion to reality, but in 2007 we found a Merlot vineyard in Yountville, where we all own homes, and struck a deal to purchase grapes for the first time in the history of Brown Estate. A portion of these grapes went into barrel as traditional Merlot (stay tuned for that story), and a portion was dedicated to the production of our new rosé.

Now began the challenge. What to call it? How to package it? Given the fact that we have made our name in the wine industry with our distinctive Zinfandels, and given the dubious regard in the wine world for White Zinfandel, we knew we had to proceed with caution. And that meant not bottling a rosé in our traditional Brown Estate packaging.

The inspiration for our Betelgeuse package is sealed in the family vault. But all credit is due to winemaker Dave Brown for coming up with the name, the pronunciation of which refers playfully back to both the scarab beetle that is our Brown Estate logo, and the colloquial name in the wine industry for what we produce: juice. The small print on the Betelgeuse bottle tells the rest of the story:

*bee-tle-joos n. [1.] A red "supergiant" star that sits on the right "shoulder" of the constellation Orion. Betelgeuse is one of two extant first magnitude supergiants; it is Orion's second brightest star, the ninth brightest star in the sky, and one of the largest stars visible to the human eye. [2.] A stellar rosé table wine.

That second definition, along with the tag line on the back of the bottle – "The sky's the limit" – give you a sense of the fun we had in putting together our Betelgeuse package. The name and packaging originated entirely in-house, and we were so pleased with the results that we began talking about the possibility of making Betelgeuse into a second label. By setting it apart from our official Brown Estate line, we left the door open for this little side project to become something more.

This story will be continued, and in the meantime if you happen to be in Yountville, pop into Ad Hoc for a glass of Betelgeuse!