2021 Kutch, Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California, USA
Critics reviews
The 2021 Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast) is bright, focused and finely cut. Dark cherry/plum, fruit, lavender and spice are nicely delineated in a vibrant, mid-weight Pinot that introduces this range with a bang. All the elements are very nicely balanced. Vineyard sites are Bohan, McDougall and Falstaff.
Drink 2024 - 2033
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (August 2023)
Full bottle 1,413 g – heavier than bottles of the rest of the range, presumably because of supply problems. The usual informative back labels. Jamie Kutch’s biggest production (just) – a blend from all over Sonoma Coast that filled 25 barrels. Vines planted 1972-1999. Elevation 500-1,400 ft. Between three and eight miles from the Pacific. Mixed soils. Picked 7-23 September. 50% whole bunch. Like all these 2021s, hand-picked, spontaneous fermentation, natural malo, aged in used French barrels. Minimum effective SO2. Unfined and unfiltered.
Bright cherry red. Nervy aroma with maraschino-cherry notes. There is lots of freshness on the palate, which ends with a certain graininess, almost like some had been aged in concrete. Fairly light-bodied. You could drink this now, but it’s worth waiting a few months.
Drink 2023 - 2027
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (December 2022)
About this WINE
Kutch Wines
Kutch is a Sonoma based winery, specialising in the cooler areas of California, they produce remarkably well-made expressions of both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Headed by the enigmatic Jamie Kutch, the ex-Wall Street trader got bitten by the wine bug while hosting a dinner party with several friends, one of whom bought a bottle of Kosta Browne’s Pinot Noir. This bottle sparked something deep within Jamie, and he soon found himself flying out to San Francisco to immerse himself in the US wine trade. By day, still working as a trader, but on weekends, he would head to the vineyards and absorb all he could about the intricacies of making fine wine.
Suffice it to say, the day job only lasted about six months, and he soon found himself taking charge of a new project, under his own name, Kutch.
Sonoma County
North Coast's Sonoma County is California's largest AVA with 19,800 ha (2005) of vines. It has forever been the home of the meek and mild small grower as compared to the grandeur and might of neighbour Napa; more picturesque too, as much of the sandy, gravely loam land belonged to true orchards and fruit farms until the 1970s.
Sonoma Valley covers a small part of Sonoma County but its wines often outshine its illustrious neighbours in Napa County. Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon are cultivated here with much success. Sonoma Valley has long enjoyed a special place in the history of California wine. The first vineyards in the valley were planted by Franciscan monks in 1823. In 1857 Agoston Haraszthy, one of the founding fathers of California's commercial winemaking, opened here the highly successful Buena Vista Winery.
Closer to the coast are the region's top producing AVAs for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay: Russian River, Sonoma Coast and Green Valley, while the slightly warmer Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys have earned a reputation as a hotspot for Cabernet, and increasingly, Zinfandel and Merlot.
Recommended producers
Ridge, Teira, Williams & Selyem, Rochioli are definitely worth investigating.
Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir is probably the most frustrating, and at times infuriating, wine grape in the world. However when it is successful, it can produce some of the most sublime wines known to man. This thin-skinned grape which grows in small, tight bunches performs well on well-drained, deepish limestone based subsoils as are found on Burgundy's Côte d'Or.
Pinot Noir is more susceptible than other varieties to over cropping - concentration and varietal character disappear rapidly if yields are excessive and yields as little as 25hl/ha are the norm for some climats of the Côte d`Or.
Because of the thinness of the skins, Pinot Noir wines are lighter in colour, body and tannins. However the best wines have grip, complexity and an intensity of fruit seldom found in wine from other grapes. Young Pinot Noir can smell almost sweet, redolent with freshly crushed raspberries, cherries and redcurrants. When mature, the best wines develop a sensuous, silky mouth feel with the fruit flavours deepening and gamey "sous-bois" nuances emerging.
The best examples are still found in Burgundy, although Pinot Noir`s key role in Champagne should not be forgotten. It is grown throughout the world with notable success in the Carneros and Russian River Valley districts of California, and the Martinborough and Central Otago regions of New Zealand.
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Description
The 2021 Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast) is bright, focused and finely cut. Dark cherry/plum, fruit, lavender and spice are nicely delineated in a vibrant, mid-weight Pinot that introduces this range with a bang. All the elements are very nicely balanced. Vineyard sites are Bohan, McDougall and Falstaff.
Drink 2024 - 2033
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (August 2023)
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