On Thursday, May 28, 2026, we had the opportunity to interview Jeff Gaffner again. Jeff is the winemaker and owner of Saxon Brown Wines. During the interview, we covered four single-vineyard 2023 Chardonnays, three Pinot Noirs, a cuvee, and two single-vineyard offerings, also from the 2023 vintage. We wrapped up the tasting with a 2023 Zinfandel. In this post, we also added reviews from a 2023 single-vineyard Zinfandel and another 2023 single-vineyard Chardonnay that we covered in subsequent tastings. We wrapped up the interview with some updates and tidbits that Jeff shared with the group since our last chat. You can read the summary of our reviews of all these new-release wines in this post!
Before we get to the wines, I thought I would share some tidbits that Jeff shared in the interview.
- 2023 Vintage Update
- Everything lined up nicely.
- Vines are in balance and performed well.
- Larger Crop.
- If you could not make great wine in 2023, perhaps you should try something else!
- Green Acres Hill is a section of the Sangiacomo Vineyard.
- The wind at Green Acres and its stony soil adds influences.
- Roberts Road Chardonnay is a combination of Dijon clone and Robert Young clone.
- Durell Vineyard – Most of the Chard goes to Kistler. Some to Three Sticks before Jeff get his.
- The “Fighting Brothers” wines are named for his two sons, Jason ,and Tyler, who’ve managed to blend their many differences into something approaching harmony.
- These are Jeff’s entry level wines.
- The Pinot Noir is a blend of three vineyards. Jeff says that the Roberts Road Vineyard offers feminine qualities to the blend, while Durell offers an earth tone, and Gap’s Crown brings in cherry flavors.
- The 2023 “Fighting Brothers” Pinot Noir is blend of 45% Roberts Road and 27.5% each from Gap’s Crown and Durell.
- The 2023 “Fighting Brothers” Zin is a blend of 3 small vineyards Sonoma Valley.
- Two of the vineyards are a field blend of mixed black grapes.
- The third vineyard is 100% Zinfandel.
- All the grapes for this wine picked and co-fermented together.
- Roberts Road Pinot Noir is owned by Sangiacomo Family
- It is 80 acres and is broken into 4 sections.
- There are four clones grown there: 777, Pommard, 115, and Swan.
- The Gap’s Crown Pinot Noir has two clones.
- 777 clone grown at the bottom of the vineyard and 115 grown at the top.
- The 2023 vintage was a 50%/50% blend of both clones.
- The barrels and cooper for all the Saxon Brown wines are exactly the same. So, that variable is neutral. This helps preserve the refection of the vineyard.
- Update on Other and Future wines.
- Jeff has made a 2025 Chenin Blanc from Freestone. There are 75 cases and it is bottled. These are labeled as Mabelton.
- Jeff has made a Cote Rotie styled Syrah wine called “Cordell Bank” from the 2019, 2021, and 2022 vintages. We look forward to covering these wines.
- Jeff uses 5-7% Viognier in the blend.
- The wines have a cold marine influence.
- These wines are currently under Saxon Brown, however, will eventually have its own label.
Below is a summary of all the impressive wines that we covered with Jeff. The links are to our full reviews. If you are interested in ordering these wines, you find a few of them via your favorite wine shop or fine dining restaurant. The rest are available for order via the Saxon Brown website or even better, you can request them by e-mailing Tracey at Tracey@saxonbrown.com. As Jeff says, Tracey is the glue that keeps Saxon Brown together and keeps Jeff organized so he can concentrate on making wine.
1) Saxon Brown 2023 Chardonnay “Green Acres Hill Vineyard” (Carneros) $75 (KWGTP 93)
2) Saxon Brown 2023 Chardonnay “Roberts Road” (Sonoma Coast) $85 (KWGTP 92.5)
3) Saxon Brown 2023 Chardonnay “Hyde Vineyard” (Carneros) $90 (KWGTP 92.5)
4) Saxon Brown 2023 Chardonnay “Durell Vineyard” (Sonoma Coast) $75 (KWGTP 94)
5) Saxon Brown 2023 Pinot Noir “Fighting Brothers” (Sonoma Coast) $75 (KWGTP 93)
6) Saxon Brown 2023 Pinot Noir “Roberts Road” (Sonoma Coast) $75 (KWGTP 93.5)
7) Saxon Brown 2023 Pinot Noir “Gap’s Crown Vineyard” (Sonoma Coast) $75 (KWGTP 94)
8) Saxon Brown 2023 Zinfandel “Fighting Brothers” (Sonoma Valley) $50 (KWGTP 92.5)
Additional Saxon Brown Covered In Subsequent Tastings:
9) Saxon Brown 2023 Chardonnay “Richard Dinner Vineyard” (Sonoma Mountain) $90 (KWGTP 96)
10) Saxon Brown 2023 Zinfandel “Stonewall Block” (Sonoma Valley) $50 (KWGTP 93)
You can find reviews of past and future Saxon Brown wines that we cover on the Saxon Brown KWG winery page on our website. We hope you enjoy these terrific wines as much as we did. Cheers! – Ken