Thomas Rivers Brown spotlight
Wine Spectator's 2021 ride-along with Thomas Rivers Brown, the same winemaker who bottles this Kinsella Estates KK Cabernet from organically farmed Dry Creek Valley hillsides.
2021 Kinsella Estates 'KK' Cabernet (Thomas Rivers Brown)
Thomas Rivers Brown's estate Dry Creek Cabernet from Jersey Boys and Spencer, a 2021 you can open at forty-four dollars.
The 2021 KK is 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon from Kinsella's Jersey Boys and Spencer vineyards: black plum, cassis, violet, dark cherry, and cacao after 18 months in 50 percent new American oak, now $44.
TRB Cabernet from a private Dry Creek valley, not a leftover Napa slogan
Kevin Kinsella farms 12 organic acres in a frost-free private valley 500 feet above the Russian River, on the western edge of Dry Creek. Thomas Rivers Brown picked the clones. KK is the estate Cabernet from Jersey Boys and Spencer, the same two blocks that also bottle as single-vineyard flagships. The 2021 is 100 percent Cabernet, 14.5 percent alcohol, 18 months in 50 percent new American oak, harvested late September into early October. Purple and blue fruit, black plum, violet, cassis, cacao, round tannin, precise acidity. This is the bottle that puts TRB's Dry Creek work on a table at forty-four dollars.
The house
Kevin Kinsella planted in 2008. Thomas Rivers Brown has made the wines from the start, the same hand behind Schrader, Rivers-Marie, and Outpost.
The wine
100% Cabernet from Jersey Boys and Spencer. Organic farming. 18 months, 50% new American oak. 14.5% ABV.
The site
A warm, frost-free valley on loamy metamorphic hillsides. East-west drainage into Spencer Lake.
The drinker
Plum and cassis first. Decant 45 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. Steak or lamb.
Plum, cassis, and violet, then cacao and cedar
The 2021 KK opens on purple and blue fruit, black plum, sweet violet, dark cherry, and cassis, then bittersweet cacao and cedar. Tannins are round and sweet. Acidity is precise. It drinks like serious Dry Creek Cabernet with a hillside freshness instead of a Napa rent.
A structured California Cabernet year. Kinsella picked Jersey Boys and Spencer from September 29 to October 7. 14.5 percent alcohol. Open now with air, or hold a few years.
Black plum, cassis, violet, dark cherry, cacao, cedar.
Full, 14.5% ABV, round tannin, 18 months 50% new American oak.
Cacao, cedar, length. Decant 45 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F.
Jersey Boys and Spencer, then American oak
Thomas Rivers Brown hand-picked the Cabernet clones when Jersey Boys and Spencer were replanted in 2008. KK blends those two estate blocks: 100 percent Cabernet, 18 months in 50 percent new American oak. Organic farming. 14.5 percent alcohol. The point is Dry Creek fruit and TRB polish, not a borrowed Napa costume.
Heirloom is the old steep block. Jersey Boys and Spencer sit by the arroyo and the lake. KK is the estate door into those two younger plantings.
Decant 45 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. Steak, lamb, or a mushroom risotto.
A private valley, then Thomas Rivers Brown in the cellar
Kinsella Estates exists because Kevin Kinsella wanted Cabernet from a sun-drenched Dry Creek hillside, and hired the winemaker who already knew how to bottle it.
The valley almost never sees winter frost. Citrus trees still live on the hills. Twelve acres of Cabernet, a little Zinfandel, organic farming.
Jersey Boys is named for the Broadway show Kinsella brought to the stage. Spencer sits lakeside. Both were replanted to Brown's clones in 2008.
The 2021 KK is that estate in a strong Cabernet year, priced so you can drink TRB without waiting for the single-vineyard bottles.
Steak on the iron, lamb on the bone
Dry Creek Cabernet wants a hard sear and a little herb, not a light bird.
Two plates. One butter-basted steak. One rosemary lamb chop. Both can take KK tannin and cacao.
Decant 45 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F in a Bordeaux glass.
Butter-Basted Ribeye
A hard crust, butter, and thyme. KK's steakhouse landing.
Why it works: Fat and char cushion Cabernet tannin while browned beef pulls cassis, plum, and cacao through the glass.
View Recipe for butter-basted ribeye (opens in a new tab)
Rosemary Garlic Lamb Chops
Herb-crusted lamb for Dry Creek Cabernet's violet, cedar, and polish.
Why it works: Lamb fat rounds the tannin. Rosemary echoes cedar and the light herbal close.
View Recipe for rosemary garlic lamb chops (opens in a new tab)Put this Kinsella KK Cabernet in the cart
Thomas Rivers Brown, Jersey Boys and Spencer, estate Dry Creek Cabernet. Forty-four dollars.
Put it in the cart. This is the TRB bottle for a table that wants Dry Creek hillside fruit, not a Napa rent.
