History

Bruce Cohn, manager of the California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 rock band

Rock Band

Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...

, The Doobie Brothers

The Doobie Brothers

The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band. The group has sold over 40 million units worldwide throughout their career. The Doobie Brothers were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.-Original incarnation:...

, purchased the original area in 1974. He named the property the Olive Hill Estate Vineyards after the grove of 145-year-old olive

Olive

The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...

 Picholine Olive trees, from which he continues to make ultra-premium olive oil

Olive oil

Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...

.

After selling grapes to other wineries for several years, Cohn founded his own winery, B.R. Cohn, in 1984. His first winemaker was the now-famous Helen Turley

Helen Turley

Helen Turley is an American winemaker and wine consultant, known for bringing several Californian cult wines to the public awareness, and as the owner of a boutique winery, Marcassin Vineyard....

. The winery has hosts an annual charity Fall Music Festival and golf event since 1987. Like other wineries in the area it maintains a wine club and public tasting room, and hosts weddings and other events. Bruce Cohn continues to live on the estate, from where he manages both the Doobie Brothers band and the wine and oil operations.

Wines

The vineyards surrounding the winery are planted mostly in cabernet sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...

 grapes, with some pinot noir

Pinot Noir

Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...

, zinfandel

Zinfandel

Zinfandel is a variety of red grape planted in over 10 percent of California vineyards. DNA fingerprinting revealed that it is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grape Crljenak Kaštelanski, and also the Primitivo variety traditionally grown in Puglia , where it was introduced in the 18th century...

, petite sirah, cabernet franc

Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone - as in the Loire's Chinon...

, petit verdot

Petit verdot

Petit Verdot is a variety of red wine grape, principally used in classic Bordeaux blends. It ripens much later than the other varieties in Bordeaux, often too late, so it fell out of favour in its home region. When it does ripen, it is added in small amounts to add tannin, colour and flavour to the...

, and malbec

Malbec

Malbec is a purple grape variety used in making red wine. The grapes tend to have an inky dark color and robust tannins, and are long known as one of the six grapes allowed in the blend of red Bordeaux wine. The French plantations of Malbec are now found primarily in Cahors in the South West...

. Syrah (sold only from the tasting room) and Chardonnay

Chardonnay

Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is originated from the Burgundy wine region of eastern France but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand...

 is grown in the carneros region.

The winery's flagship 1985 and 1986 Olive Hill Cabernets were ranked among the top ten in America and top 50 in the World by Wine Spectator

Wine Spectator

Wine Spectator is a lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine and wine culture. It publishes 15 issues per year with content that includes news, articles, profiles, and general entertainment pieces...

, which gave each a rating of 94 out of 100. The 2003 vintage

Vintage

Vintage, in wine-making, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product . A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine, where Port houses make and...

 was rated 93. The North Cost Petit Syrah was one of two red "sweepstakes winners" at the prestigious 2007 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. The winery also produces merlot

Merlot

Merlot is a darkly blue-coloured wine grape, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to derive from the Old French word for young blackbird, merlot, a diminutive of merle, the blackbird , probably from the color of the grape. Merlot-based wines...

, rosé

Rosé

A rosé is a type of wine that has some of the color typical of a red wine, but only enough to turn it pink. The pink color can range from a pale orange to a vivid near-purple, depending on the grapes and wine making techniques.- Production techniques :There are three major ways to produce rosé...

, and port

Port

A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....

.

Oil and vinegar

Starting in the 1990s, B.R. Cohn was among the first companies involved in the re-emergence of artisan olive oil production in California. Today it produces flavored and unflavored oils, including an organic variety, balsamic vinegars and other unique gourmet foods.

The company also produces vinegar on-site from cabernet, chardonnay, and sparkling wine (including pear chardonnay and a raspberry champagne flavors), using the French "Orleans" method whereby batches of vinegar are produced by adding a "mother" dose of old vinegar to fresh wine, then aging 18–22 months in oak barrels. It also bottles a 25, 15 and a 12 year-old balsamic vinegar

Balsamic vinegar

Balsamic vinegar is a condiment originating from Italy.The original traditional product , made from a reduction of cooked white Trebbiano grape juice and not a vinegar in the usual sense, has been made in Modena and Reggio Emilia since the Middle Ages: the production of the balsamic vinegar is...

 imported from Modena, Italy.

Cohn's oil and vinegar is widely available in premium grocery stores nationally, although some limited-production varieties are sold only directly.

External links

• brcohn.com (official winery website)
• brcohnoliveoil.com (official olive oil website)
• doobiebros.com (official Doobie Brothers website)
• madehow.com discussion of vinegar production