2023 Kobza Wines, Sparkling Chenin Blanc, Massa Estate, Carmel Valley AVA, Monterey County.
Another wonderful surprise at the Big Sur Food & Wine Festival was Ryan Kobza’s newest addition to his sparkling lineup, a fabulous 2023 Brut style Methode Champenoise bubbly made from old vine, all organic Chenin Blanc from the Massa Estate, formerly known as the historic Durney Vineyard in Carmel Valley. Kobza, in recent years has really upped the game with these sparkling wines and this one is my favorite to date, being a savvy, dry and complex offering that is like Crémant de Loire meets a grower producer Champagne and has a California baby with a luxurious and elegant mousse, a tons of mineral and lively acidity, as well as a deep core of yeasty goodness, showing an array of lemony citrus, baked peach, honeycomb, hazelnut, a touch of chamomile, wet sea stones, tangy green almond and herbs. This, like Michael Cruse’s fine hand made sparklers, is a beautiful unique and distinctive sparking wine that definitely impresses in the glass and while brilliant on its own, you’’ll be well rewarded if you enjoy this with food and a meal, I had it with various small bites and it was even better. In fact it would be great with Thanksgiving fare, and or any sea food, especially oysters and clam dishes.
Winemaker Ryan Kobza, who moved to the Monterey area in 2011, has build a solid reputation in the local scene, though still flies under the radar with his own wines and they are well worth searching out, especially his latest set of sparkling wines. It was great to catch up with him at this year’s Big Sur Food & Wine Festival and taste both the bubbly and his still wines, which featured a new vintage of Mourvèdre, that showed off a true rustic, Bandol like character, but it was this Chenin bubbles that really grabbed my attention. Ryan has told me in the past that his sparkling wines are bottle lees aged, and see a classic Champagne style secondary fermetation, with a low dosage, and are normally disgorged at Brut level. This Kobza Sparkling Chenin Blanc, from the old Durney vines, originally planted in 1968 in the deep end of Carmel Valley, like his Crémant of Riesling was all handmade. Ryan Kobza, who had been Ian Brand’s right-hand man at his I. Brand & Family Winery for about a decade started his own label during that time, and has a collection of unique offerings, mostly from old vine and historic vineyards in San Benito County. He has made a set of dry Rieslings, a Rosé, a rare Cabernet Pfeffer (Mourtaou) and a Mourvèdre led field blend. Recently Kobza added a Santa Cruz Mountains dry Riesling that was impressive as well as these bubblies. As a heads up the Chenin sparkler is not yet listed on his website, but email him there to get some!
($40 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive