Breathless Honored with Winery of the Year Distinction!
Breathless is Honored with Winery of the Year Distinction
Annual Rising Wine Stars Award
From LuxeSF Magazine
The Rising Wine Star Awards acknowledge individuals and organizations that are building reputations and conquering an ever-changing marketplace, and who epitomizes the new generation of the wine industry in California, specifically Napa and Sonoma.
A 14-person panel of respected industry influentials made the decision on this year's Wine Stars across 5 award categories. Congratulations to ALL this year's nominees and recipients! Read the article HERE
WINERY OF THE YEAR
[Breathless Sparkling Wines Winery of the Year]
Breathless Sparkling Wines
Founded in 2011, and built by the love of three sisters, and the passion for life that their mother passed down to them, the 2020 Rising Wine Stars Winery of the Year is a family affair. The three sisters, Sharon Cohn, Cynthia Faust, and Rebecca Faust have created a winery which is both a living tribute to their mother, Martha, who passed away from illness, and a portfolio of stunning wines that celebrate her philosophy — to dream big, live life to the fullest and never take a single breath for granted.
The fourth “sister”, winemaker Penny Gadd-Coster brings years of experience and accolades to the operation. In 2013, she was recognized as Winemaker of the Year by the North Bay Business Journal, an award that honors the best in the trade from Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, and the greater Bay Area. Her wines, too, have garnered much attention: Wine Enthusiast awarded 90 Points to her Breathless Brut; her Blanc de Noirs received the Gold Medal in the 2015 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition and Gold/Best of Class in the 2014 Grand Harvest Awards; and her Brut Rosé took home the Gold Medal and 92 Points from the 2014 Pinot Noir Shootout.
The sisters, along with their talented winemaker, are dedicated to sparkling winemaking in the traditional method, creating refreshing sparkling wines that are hand-crafted from select Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes using the traditional French method, méthode champenoise — the same process of tirage, riddling, and disgorging that the great Champagne houses have practiced for centuries. “We aspire to be as much like Champagne as possible,” says Sharon Cohn. The winery uses the same grape varieties as well, sourcing fruit from Carneros, Russian River Valley, Dry Creek Valley, and the North Coast. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier turn into traditional Blanc de Blancs, Brut, Brut Rosé, and Blanc de Noirs bottlings, as is customary in Champagne.
In its short operating history, the winery has accumulated a slew of awards and accolades each attesting to the quality of its wines and the mastery of its winemaker. These include the Sweepstakes Award for Best Sparkling & Specialty Wine at the 2018 Sonoma County Harvest Fair for the 2012 Brut, 94 points and a Double Gold Medal at the 2019 American Fine Wine Competition for the Blanc de Noirs, 92 Points from Wine Enthusiast Magazine for the Blanc de Blancs, 95 Points and a Double Gold Medal at the 2018 California State Fair for Blanc de Noirs and the Winemaker of the Year Award from the North Bay Business Journal to winemaker Penny Gadd-Coster for Exceptional Still and Sparkling Winemaking Skills.
The tasting room is an homage to “industrial chic”. A metalworking artist who has contributed art to Burning Man fashioned the space from four shipping containers. The design style is an eclectic medley of 1920s Art Deco, Parisian-themed bric-a-brac, and vintage Vespa motor scooters. The sabrage experience arms the guest with an official sciabola del sommelier, safety glasses, gloves, and careful instruction by staff on how to “slice off” the bottle top without inflicting damage to the wine or the handler. Quieter times include a “Books and Bubbles” package that supports local authors, April through October holiday shopping, with bubbles on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and a boisterous New Year’s Day open house with music, dim sum, and tarot card readers.
In honor of their mother, the sisters have taken an active role in the local community, hosting events for multiple charities throughout the year. They also donate to the Alpha-1 Foundation, a cause that was near and dear to their mother’s heart.