My First Kutch!

I finally got around to picking up the Spring release, shaking Jamie’s hand and spiriting my first Kutch wines back to my house. Last night I opened the Kutch 2009 Pinot Noir Anderson Valley. For me it has the Anderson signature acid in spades, along with very tasty fruit, spice (no cola!) and earth all wrapped up in a body that is a lot leaner then expected.
Kudos Jamie!

My advice (since nobody asked): Drink now or hold 8-10 years. It has a profile that seems like it will drink well young then shut down for a long time.

will pop one soon then.

Very talented guy, Jamie. Glad to know him and to have tried his wines. Truly believe he will continue to get better.

I opened one along with an 09 Sonoma Coast a couple weeks ago whilst pondering the SC SVD offer. It was really nice, and yes very open. Not sure if it will shut down but I certainly think it will last. Have not touched the Savoy yet and probably will not for a few years. The AV seems promising in 2009, the Copain Tous was very nice a few months back as well.

By comparison the Sonoma Coast while stylistically similar was quite a bit more shy, and possibly shut down (or just not quite open?). In any case the style appealed and I did order my SC SVD allocation. Not sure why there was such a fuss about it on the other thread, the allocations were quite small. Anyway, now that i’ve tried a couple I really do like where Jamie is going.

Interesting observation, Paul. I have been drinking wines for over 40 years now, but I have never been able to ascertain those
characteristics that forecast a wine shutting down at some future point in time.

What suggested to you that this wine might subsequently be shutting down? It is very young, of course, and I’m sure it was delicious.
…Just wondering how you arrived at this conclusion.

Hank

Hank,
My conclusion comes from drinking other Anderson Valley and Sonoma Coast pinots. Perhaps shutdown is too strong a word. I cannot think of any other way to describe that I expect the fruit to become muted for a long time before the secondary characteristics appear and some fruit shows again.

Had the savoy last night and it was quite impressive. Great purity of fruit and nice acidic tension. Stood up well to some moderately high end Burgs.

I suspect given posts on this board there is room for someone to try his style of wine with Cabernet in Napa. You would have to do either Coombsville, Oak Knoll or the mountains, where you can get the green out by 24 brix or so. Then use low new oak and price it at $50-55. Would probably sell like hotcakes if one could ripen it and keep costs in line.

Yes!

Roy,
By 24 brix do mean the grapes would get picked early?

By what I like to call ripe, yes.

But you might make wines in the Kutch style out of grapes in the cooler areas of Napa and still get reasonably ripe in all but cold years. You have to get the green out and that is rare below 24 brix in Napa most years. There were some wines from a certain mountain vineyard that never hit 24 brix last year and I know of one Coombsville sourced producer that had to chaptalize last year and another declassifying their juice from that area. But last year was a very cool year. In warm to hot years, Coombsville can be excellent at lower brix levels. That style is not for everyone, but I sense an opportunity for someone who wants to chance it.

OK. I see what you are getting at. Thanks.

This is easily the best Kutch I’ve had so far. While the previous vintages were good wines, none of them made a lasting impression on me. This one has and has me kicking myself for passing on the other wines in the release.

Only thing I would add is there is clear room for this wine to get more interesting and the silky, velvety texture is just delightful. This is a bottle you could finish on your own because you pick up the glass the second you put it down

Thanks for responding, Paul although I remain a bit confused. I was merely asking the question to learn something about those characteristics you found that suggest the fruit will become muted. You initially described the wine as " it has the Anderson signature acid in spades, along with very tasty fruit", so I assume you feel that it has fruit currently but will somehow become muted and arise again at some future date. Anyway, I have to assume that there are no tell tale characteristics which will point to that.

Hank

Hank,
Now I’m confused! I thought I was pointing this out. But yes, I expect the fruitiness will fade and then come back.

Anyone else get the email about the tasting on Sept 10th from 1:00-4:00 in SF at The Epic Road House looks like a great day. Might try and twist the wifes arm.

It sounds like a good event. Interesting wineries and lots of pork! I’ll be in the East Bay that day at the Donkey & Goat release. Jamie mentioned doing another tasting (next Spring?) at the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant.

Yes, you did that, Paul, but without any explanation, other than a feeling you had. I was merely wondering how you arrived at that conclusion. Were there any specific characteristics that pointed to this, other than this feeling you had ?

When I tasted wines in the past (or currently for that matter), and did so from a commercial aspect for years as an importer, the characteristics/impressions I was able to ascertain from either barrel tasting or tasting in the bottle augured for the future, either favourably or unfavourably.
A “feeling” that was unsupported wasn’t part of my assessment. Just hoping to learn something that wasn’t part of my experience. I must have been missing something over those years

• something that you have obviously been able to glean from tasting this young wine.

I don’t wish to labour the point, Paul, but quite honestly I don’t believe there is any way one can make such a judgment, when the wine being tasted demonstrates an abundance of fruit.

Hank

I don’t wish to labour the point, Paul, but quite honestly I don’t believe there is any way one can make such a judgment, when the wine being tasted demonstrates an abundance of fruit.

Hank,
Sorry not to follow this over the last couple days.
We are in disagreement. I made such a judgement and stick with it. Sorry it seems to bother you so. I only picked up two 2009 Kutch AV Pinots and am not opening the next one for a long time (unless I cave in the next few months). If you want we could go 50/50 and find some. Then we could follow them together. We’ll see how they drink over the next 8 years. Seems like a win/win to me…PM me if you are interested.