John Gilman, of View From the Cellar, Reviews Côte West

We were thrilled to read the newest edition of critic John Gilman’s View From the Cellar (subscription required; Edition #82). He offered wonderful reviews of several Côte West vintages. Check out some highlights below!

2015 Pinot Noir “La Cruz Vineyard”- Côte West (Sonoma Coast)

The La Cruz Vineyard is in the cool Petaluma Gap area, and this lovely 2015 pinot noir from Bret Hogan evidences this, as it comes in at 13.3 percent octane. The wine offers up an excellent bouquet of cherries, beetroot, cinnamon, woodsmoke, raw cocoa, good soil tones and a hint of fresh dill in the upper register. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and shows off a good structural chassis and impressive mid-palate depth, with ripe tannins, good focus and grip, lovely transparency and a long, nascently complex finish. This is a very good bottle in the making that needs some time in the cellar to start to really blossom, but the potential is self- evident and this is going to be a very good glass of wine with a bit of patience. 2022-2055. 92.

2014 Cabernet Sauvignon “Krueger Lane Vineyard”- Côte West (Napa Valley)

Côte West is a small winery based in Oakland, which sources grapes from a variety of different vineyards in the top north coast AVAs of California. Bret Hogan studied winemaking and viticulture and got his Masers at UC-Davis (his undergraduate degrees are in Economics and French Literature from Notre Dame); Bret did his stages post-graduation at both Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and with Dominique Lafon of Domaine Comtes Lafon in Meursault. He and his wife Kerrie co-direct the winery, while taking care of their two young children. I had never tasted the wines from Côte West prior to this group of samples arriving and was quite impressed with what I tried. Their 2014 cabernet sauvignon hails from grapes purchased from the Krueger Lane Vineyard, which is one of the coolest sites in Napa, and the wine comes in at an even fourteen percent octane as a result. The wine is deep and nicely reserved on the nose, offering up scents of cassis, black cherries, cigar ash, a fine base of soil, hints of the petroleum jelly elements to come and a very discreet base of oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and very classy, with an excellent core of fruit, fine focus and grip, ripe, well-integrated tannins and a long, complex and very promising finish. This is old school Napa cabernet, with good structure and need for some time in the cellar to properly blossom. It is going to be excellent! 2024-2065. 92+.

2015 Chardonnay “La Cruz Vineyard”- Côte West (Sonoma Coast)

This is the current release of chardonnay from Bret Hogan at Côte West, which is very impressive for having the patience to hold the wine back until it is really hitting on all cylinders. The wine comes in at an even thirteen percent octane and is quite lovely, with the bouquet wafting from the glass in a classy blend of lemon, pear, a whisper of fresh pineapple, lime blossoms, salty soil tones, acacia blossoms and a discreet foundation of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and wide open in personality, with a superb core of fruit, fine acids, lovely balance and grip and a long, complex and elegant finish. The wine shows a bit more oak influence on the backend of the palate than it does on the nose, but this is still a delicious bottle of chardonnay. 2019-2025+. 91.

2017 Grenache “Mounts Vineyard”- Côte West (Dry Creek Valley)

Côte West’s 2017 Grenache bottling from Mounts Vineyard in Dry Creek hails from soils that are volcanic and heavily-infused with iron. The wine is very impressively low octane for this varietal, coming in at 13.5 percent. The wine is nicely pale in color, but a bit reductive when first opened, so needs some time in decanter to blossom, but eventually offers up a fine nose of raspberries, pepper, garrigue, impressive minerality and a nice touch of savory elements (celery seed?) in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very nicely balanced, with a good core, fine transparency and grip, tangy acids and a long, moderately tannic and still quite primary finish. The reduction here never quite blows off on the backend of the palate and I probably did not decant it quite long enough, so give it a full hour in decanter if you would like to drink it now. It has quite good constituent components and I suspect it will age very nicely and the reduction will not be an issue if you leave it alone in the cellar for five to ten years. Good juice. 2019-2045+. 89+.

2018 Rosé of Counoise “Mounts Vineyard”- Côte West (Dry Creek Valley)

did his stages post-graduation at both Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and with Dominique Lafon of Domaine Comtes Lafon in Meursault. He and his wife Kerrie co-direct the winery, while taking care of their two young children. I had never tasted the wines from Côte West prior to this group of samples arriving and was quite impressed with what I tried. The 2018 Rosé of Counoise from Côte West comes in at a cool 12.6 percent octane and offers up a vibrant bouquet of melon, strawberry, salty soil tones and a topnote of dried flowers. On the palate the wine is fullish, crisp and nicely balanced, with a good core, fine focus and grip and just a tickle of spritz on the long finish. This is quite svelte and works very well at the table. 2019-2024. 89.

2018 Rosé of Grenache- Côte West (Clarksburg)

Bret Hogan picked his grenache very early for his Rosé, with the wine coming in at 12.5 percent octane. It is quite pale for a Rosé (more onion skin than salmon in hue) and delivers a bright and fairly complex nose of gooseberry, white flowers, a touch of turmeric, sandy soil tones and a gently floral topnote. On the palate the wine is medium-full, crisp and focused, with a lovely mix of flavors that hint at savory, good acid and very good balance on the long and classy finish. Good juice. 2019-2024. 89.

Kerrie HoganSeptember 8, 2019