Brown Estate

The senior Browns cut roads and installed plumbing and electricity, a restoration for which they received an award from the Napa County Historical Society.

[citation needed] In the mid-1990s, due to rising demand for their fruit, Deneen and David, who were both residing on the vineyard property, decided to produce wine under their label.

[5] ZAP is the largest single varietal wine tasting event in the world, and the Brown offerings were well received by the trade and public alike.

[citation needed] In June 2000, a fire broke out at the warehouse facility where Brown's wine library and a recently bottled 1998 vintage were stored.

[6] With the exception of sixteen bottles - two that went to wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr. for review, two that went to Christie's for auction, and twelve that the Browns had stored at home - all of their 1998 zinfandel was destroyed, as were the remaining cases of their first two vintages.

The previous month, in December 2000, Parker gave the Brown 1998 zinfandel a score of 90, noting that his review was "of academic interest only" since all of the wine had perished in the fire.