Kobus Estate Wines
Napa Valley AVA
Designers and winemakers, Martin Kobus and Christ Bergin develop a micro winery in the heart of Healdsburg, California, crafting terroir-driven wines made exclusively from their tiny estate vineyard.
A story of wine and design, Kobus Estate Wines was recently established by Martin Kobus and Chris Bergin in Healdsburg, California, where the couple produces small lots of Old Vine Pinot Noir from a single 2.7-acre vineyard. Martin and Chris are also business partners behind an award-winning interior design firm in Saucalito, but serendipitously ended up in the winery business after purchasing a vineyard in 2018.
Martin Kobus is a Dutch native who studied design, architecture and languages in Italy and the Netherlands, and eventually settled in California’s Bay Area to pursue his interests. Over the years, Martin and his spouse, Chris Bergin, began purchasing, renovating, and designing houses and it led to the obvious transition to offer full interior design services. This was in 2014, and after participating in their first San Francisco Decorator Showcase in 2016, the couple received an overwhelmingly positive response with many new projects and clients. It solidified their business and they’ve built an incredibly reputable design firm ever since.
In 2018, Martin and Chris purchased a 3.25 acre Sonoma County vineyard (now known as Kobus Estate Vineyard) and set to work constructing and designing an exquisite weekend retreat that would also act as a showroom of Martin’s best work; the jaw-dropping space is chock-full of customdesigned furniture and state-of-the-art features, giving developers and clients a taste of their design aesthetic and abilities.
Surrounding the striking black steel house is a quaint Old Vine Pinot Noir vineyard. The fruit was already contracted to be sold to another winery in 2018, and the same was true for 2019 - or so they thought! When Martin and Chris suddenly found themselves arranging harvest plans and coordinating the wine production, they happily found themselves in the wine business as well. It quickly became their goal to produce wines that reflected the terroir of this tiny, singular site, and thus was the beginning of Kobus Estate Wines.
Martin and Chris teamed up with partners Astrid Kobus (Martin’s sister) and her husband Stephen Kay, who have been around wine for much of their lives. Astrid and Stephen are now the “boots on the ground” at Kobus Estate and work closely with winemaker Reed Skupny who is also the associate winemaker for Elyse Winery and he crafts Chenin Blanc for his family’s winery, Lang & Reed, as well. Together, they craft a Pinot Noir, Rose of Pinot Noir, and a Blanc de Noir for Kobus Estate Wines, with each bottling made in extremely limited quantities.
Kobus Estate Wines is certainly off to a promising start and we are happy to share their inaugural vintage with you. Enjoy!
