WineInk: The Pinot Posse celebrates 20 years

Wine is all about tradition.

In Northern Italy, tradition is in the 26 generations of the Antinori family, which has been making wine in Tuscany since the 1300s. In the Burgundy region of France, tradition thrives at the annual Les Trois Glorieuses — a three-day festival of food and wine that has been hosting a charitable wine auction since 1859 to benefit the city’s main hospital, the Hospice de Beaune.

And now, we have our own emerging wine tradition in Basalt. In two weeks, the fabled Pinot Posse will triumphantly return to the Roaring Fork Valley, marking 20 years of Posse members pouring the best of West Coast premium pinot noir for valley pinot-philes. This special wine dinner will take place at Free Range Kitchen and Wine Bar on Wednesday, Jan. 22, at 6:30 p.m. and will feature six different producers pouring hand-crafted pinot noir wines from some of the most sacred vineyards in California and the great Northwest. Seven wines will be poured with the four-course meal prepared by Chef Luis Contreras of Free Range.

---

---

Twenty years may not seem like much a of tradition when compared to the Antinoris’ centuries long run or the Hospice De Beaune, but this collection of winemakers, all of whom are represented by Scott Hornick, the chief happiness officer at Colorado’s CS Wines, has a connection that has lasted longer than most American marriages.

Just sayin’.

---

---

The Pinot Posse wine dinners originally took place in Aspen at a variety of different restaurants before finding the perfect home in Basalt at Free Range. Over the past four years, it has become a much-anticipated part of the January wining and dining calendar at Steve and Robin Humble’s beloved homegrown eatery. 

“The Posse Tour is such a great event,” enthused host Steve Humble. “You get to rub shoulders with six different, incredibly talented winemakers in a fun, casual setting. It’s fascinating to hear each of the winemakers talk about the winemaking process, as they all have a different slant on how to perfect the art.”

The cost of the dinner is $175 per person plus tax and tip, and as is always the case, the Posse Dinner will sell out, so don’t hesitate to make your reservations now by emailing Robin Humble at robin@freerangebasalt.com.

Like any great tradition, this year’s lineup of the Pinot Posse will include both old friends and a couple of exciting newcomers. All will be bringing wines with character along with stories about their lives in wine that they will enthusiastically share. Especially after a glass or two.  

First, the lifers.

Back for his 20^th year — yes, he has been a part of pioneering the Posse since the inaugural ride — is Jim Prosser of JK Carriere Winery in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Prosser who makes splendid single vineyard designates as well as a stand-out blend called Vespidae, established his winery (named for a construct of his grandfather’s respective names) in 1999. Not only has he aged well, but so have the vintages of his high acid, smooth tannin, classically built pinot noir wines that he has brought each year to pour at the Posse events.

Another long-timer is Ed Kurtzman who will be bringing the current release of his August West wine made from fruit grown in the Graham Family Vineyard in Sonoma County. Kurtzman is one of the most knowledgeable and unassuming producers you are likely to meet, and he and his wines have long been favorites of Roaring Fork pinot connoisseurs.  

Also from California is Dan Kosta, a much beloved Sonoma-based winemaker who comes to Aspen often to share his wines under the Convene moniker. Kosta first gained acclaim as one of the founders of Kosta Browne wines, a legendary bootstrap startup that became one of the great wine success stories of this century. He is now living the dream in Healdsburg, California, producing the kind of elegant wines he loves alongside his longtime winemaker Shane Finley. What is interesting about Convene is that the wines are often blends of grapes of a single variety, in this case, pinot noir, grown in different.

“Blends have more fun,” he says with a laugh.

A frequent rider on the Posse, but one who has been absent for a couple of recent journeys, is the always interesting Irish winemaker, David O’Reilly. He returns this year with wines from the family winery, Owen Roe, that he owns with his wife Angelica in the Yakima Valley of Washington state. David will be bringing a story of reinvention along with his Kilmore Pinot Noir, just one of the myriad wines that the extended family (There are eight youngsters and a couple of Irish wolfhounds) produces.

Then there are the rookies.

While Adam Lee, a pinot icon who founded Siduri in the 1990s and has been a valued participant in the Free Range dinners in the past with his Clarice wines, will not be attending; in his stead will be a stellar young Mexican winemaker named Morét Brealynn who just happens to be Lee’s fiancé. Yes, love is in the air, and Morét will be a welcome addition to the Posse as she brings wines from her eponymous brand and the couple’s shared Busy Signal wines. Busy Signal features a pinot noir sourced from a pair of vineyards in the Sta. Rita Hills of Central California while the wines of Morét Brealynn hail from the Russian River Valley.

Finally, an exciting new addition from Oregon will be Nicolas-Jay, a collaboration and culmination of a three-decade-long friendship between Burgundian winemaker Jean-Nicolas Méo and music entrepreneur Jay Boberg. Boberg, who has a passion for pinot, will be winging his way to Colorado for his first ride with the Posse, and he likely will be put in charge of the playlist. You see, he brings a background as co-founder of the seminal indy music label IRS Records in the early 1980s and a stint as President of MCA/Universal Records. Before he got into the wine game, he was launching bands such as R.E.M, The Go-Go’s, Blink-182, Mary J. Blige, Sublime, The Roots, and B.B. King.

It’s time to take a ride. Happy 20th to the Pinot Posse.