(NBBJ) - Kosta Browne Winery has expanded its reach into premium California coastal pinot noir and chardonnay regions with its first vineyard purchase outside Sonoma County.

The Sebastopol-based vintner purchased the Cerise vineyards in Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley from Peter and Heidi Knez. The deal includes Cerise, Demuth and Knez vineyards with 61 vine acres plus 300 acres of native woodland. Kosta Browne these vineyards with helping to pioneer coastal pinot noir wines, which have been hot-sellers since 2004, a wave that helped propel Kosta Browne in popularity. Yet wines have been coming from the Cerise properties for decades.

Terms weren’t disclosed.

“This is an extraordinarily exciting next step for us as we approach our 20th vintage and marks a significant expansion of our estate holdings, giving us the opportunity to apply our winemaking approach to a distinctive and highly regarded terroir outside of Sonoma County,” said Michael Browne, co-founder of Kosta Browne.

Terroir is a French term for a collection of factors such as soil, climate and sunlight considered essential differentiators of a vineyard’s grapes and the resulting wine.

Cerise Vineyard was planted in 1995 and has 38 acres of vines at elevations of 700–1,100 feet. There are 10 vine clones in 15 blocks, primarily heritage clones such as Martini, David Bruce, Pommard and Wadenswill and clones 114, 115, 667, 777 and 828 from the Dijon region of France.

The Demuth family first planted what’s now 15 acres of dry-farmed vines three decades ago at elevations of 1,400–1,700 feet. The property has two blocks of pinot noir over seven acres, planted to the Wadenswil and Pommard clones, and eight acres of chardonnay from the Wente clone.