B.R. Cohn Winery, Sonoma - Rockin' Round the Vines

One of the interesting and high-quality wineries we visited during our October trip to California was the B.R. Cohn Winery (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._R._Cohn_Winery & http://www.brcohn.com/) on Route 12 in Glen Ellen in the heart of the Sonoma Valley. It was founded in 1984 by Bruce Cohn, manager of the Doobie Brothers rock band. Cohn grew up in Sonoma County. He purchased the winery property in 1974 and named it Olive Hill Estate Vineyards, after a 145-year-old grove of Picholine olive trees on the property.

For the first 10 years that Cohn owned the estate, he raised grapes and sold them to other wineries, starting with Sebastiani, and then Ravenswood and Gundlach-Bundschu - all three of which we coincidentally visited on the same day and in the same sequence just prior to coming to B.R. Cohn.

The vineyards around the winery are primarily planted in Cabernet Sauvignon vines.

The winery also produces olive oils from its olives and vinegars from its wines.

Cohn lives on the estate, from which he manages the Doobie Brothers and the winery’s operations.

For the past quarter century, the winery has hosted an annual charity music festival in the fall.

The tasting room is in a nice, white, wooden, two-story building. Next door is a gourmet shop that sells Cohn’s olive oils and other foods. In front of the winery, were several funky car sculptures.

The Tasting Room

Funky Car Sculpture

Another Car Sculpture

The Gourmet Shop

The two wine-tasting lists contained a total of 24 wines, of which 18 were reds, 4 were whites, and 2 were dessert wines. One of the two lists was the “Classic Car Wines” tasting menu - with wines like Drag Racer Red, Panel Wagon Pinot, and Boater’s Barbera.

We tried four wines, of which three were excellent and one was very nice. We were not charged for the tasting. I have listed below with each wine both the retail and the club price per bottle:

- 2009 Silver Label Cabernet Sauvignon, 76.6% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13.9% Merlot, 9.5% Cabernet Franc - very nice - $20/$16

- 2009 Mendocino County Barbera - excellent - $35/$28

- 2008 Olive Hill Estate Cabernet Sauvignon - excellent - $55/$44

- Non-vintage Boater’s Barbera - excellent - $22/$11. This wine is named in honor of Cohn’s 1963 Century Resorter mahogany ski boat. Only 300 cases of this wine are produced.