Wine News: Calif. winemakers bottle exclusivity
March 24, 2011
On a warm autumn afternoon, a steel-framed concrete warehouse north of San Francisco is inundated with grapes. Forklifts bearing fruit from the nearby Russian River Valley deliver their loads to a slow-moving conveyor belt.
Flanking both sides, winemaking interns pick out stems and sunburned grapes as they groove to hip-hop music thumping from loudspeakers.
It’s the crush at Kosta Browne Winery, a Sonoma County maker of pinot noir that’s become one of the hottest wineries among investment bankers, venture capitalists and enthusiasts. Michael Browne, Kosta Browne’s co-founder and winemaker, grabs a cluster from a tub and eats some of the grapes. They burst with berry flavor, and the seeds are nutty, not bitter.
“They’re popping; they’re ripe,” shouts Browne, 42, a ruddy-faced man with Elvis-style sideburns. “They’re beautiful.”
William Price, a co-founder of buyout firm TPG Capital in Fort Worth, would be happy to hear that. Price, whose Vincraft Group owns a majority stake in Kosta Browne, is betting on the next generation of California cult-wine makers.
These ultra-premium wineries shun retailers and make it hard to buy their wines, building a following through word of mouth. Cult pioneers – Colgin Cellars, Harlan Estate and Screaming Eagle – have reshaped the economics of the high-end market by fetching Bordeaux-caliber prices at auction.
The new crop of wineries is reaching for cult status in an industry in which it can take decades to turn a profit. For years, Browne and his partner, Dan Kosta, scraped together money every harvest to buy grapes and lease space and equipment at nearby wineries to make pinot.
They toiled at night as waiters and bartenders so they could devote their days to the exploitation of the grape. Bedeviled by rogue yeasts and other oenological disasters, the two men at times thought they might lose their sanity and their business, Browne says.
“The wine business is like a step up from a dot-com,” he says. “It’s very shaky, and it takes so much longer to make money than other businesses.”
Even so, for all of the angst about the economy in the real world, the good times are rolling in the rarefied domain of high-end wine. Buoyed by rising demand from flush Asian and Latin collectors, the Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 Index, which tracks the price movement of the world’s most-sought-after wines, soared 39 percent in 12 months that ended Nov. 30.
Astronomical prices
The world’s top auction houses sold an all-time high of $252 million in wines in 2010 through mid-December, with California reds drawing record prices.
Six bottles of Harlan Estate’s 1997 vintage from the Napa Valley sold for $7,170 – 30 percent higher than the top estimate of their value – at an October auction.
Wine lover’s choice – Yats Restaurant and Wine Bar – for the most impressive and practical wine list in the Philippines, over 2700 selections, enough to satisfy the most fastidious connoisseurs. Wine lovers and gourmand foodies from Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Korea and Malaysia dine at Yats Restaurant & Wine Bar when they visit Philippines and bring home some rare vintage wines too.
An excellent wine list is not just about 1st growth and cult Cabernet but a seemingly unending selection of affordable aged vintage wines that are not available anywhere else, not even in the best wine shops around town. Yats Restaurant has just that.
Visitors to Clark Philippines and Angeles City no longer suffer from lack of choices for places to eat out or wine and dine. Clark Philippines reviewed over 50 establishments and came up with three top choices in guide to best restaurant in Clark Freeport
Clark Philippines lists Top Three Restaurants in the Clark Freeport Zone and Angeles City areas of Philippines Pampanga province. Clark Freeport is a bustling new cosmopolitan city complete with its own Clark International Airport.
Topping the list is the famous fine-dining Yats Restaurant and Wine Bar located inside Mimosa Leisure Estate of Philippines Clark Freeport.
This restaurant in Pampanga Philippines is highly recommended by food critics and frequent diners in Manila as a place to wine and dine in Angeles City Clark Freeport Zone. Although it is a famous fine dining restaurant with an award winning 3000-line restaurant wine list, Yats Restaurant is also a popular restaurant for family with children. Aside from French Mediterranean haute cuisine, this restaurant also serves healthy food and the best vegetarian cuisines in the Philippines.
For comments, inquiries and reservations click on <a href=” http://www.yatsrestaurant.com/booking/index.html”>Click here for inquiry and reservations</a>
Restaurant@Yats-International.com
(045) 599-5600
0922-870-5178
0917-520-4401
Ask for Pedro and Rechel
<a href=”http://www.YatsRestaurant.com”>www. YatsRestaurant.com</a>
Getting to this fine dining restaurant of Angeles City Clark Freeport Zone Pampanga Philippines
How to get to this fine-dining restaurant in Clark Philippines? Once you get to Clark Freeport, go straight until you hit Mimosa. After you enter Mimosa, stay on the left on Mimosa Drive, go past the Holiday Inn and Yats Restaurant (green top, independent 1-storey structure) is on your left. Just past the Yats Restaurant is the London Pub.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u5vLLIlNgw
Yats Restaurant & Wine Bar
Mimosa Drive past Holiday Inn, Mimosa Leisure Estate,
Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga, Philippines 2023
Manila Sales Office
3003C East Tower, Phil Stock Exchange Center,
Exchange Rd Ortigas Metro Manila, Philippines 1605
(632) 637-5019 0917-520-4393 Rea or Chay
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For assistance in hotel and resort bookings in Clark, Pampanga, Philippines, log on to
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To buy wine in Manila, Pampanga, Angeles City, Clark or Subic please log on to <a href=”http://www.ClarkWineCenter.com”>http://www. ClarkWineCenter.com</a>
To inquire with the highly recommended beach resort hotel in Clark Pampanga visit <a href=”http://www.ClearwaterPhililippines.com”>http://www.ClearwaterPhililippines.com</a>
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