Just ran across the scores while reading a copy sitting at a local sushi restaurant. Couldn’t believe my eyes. I asked the restaurant if I could borrow their copy for a couple days to read the entire article and see some of the other scores. I haven’t had all the wines reviewed, but from the ones I have had (and liked), I can’t make heads or tails on what WS thinks makes a good Pinot. I know they have always liked Kosta Brown and Aubert, but Donum and Arista? Nearly impossible to synch your pallet to theirs.
I came to a conclusion when I recently saw their recent cover…
They appear to have been set on their cover saying "More Than 700 Pinots Rated"
So while in a usual year all the low scores would be online only, to hit their quota and fulfill that big statement above, they chose to go very low in their scores to appease that statement.
In essence I am a casualty in their hefty statement so that they can selling more magazines and make more money…
One final note:
I knew about these scores 4 months ago when they were posted online. I chose not to post or say a word anywhere on the web and took it as my own badge of honor.
Now, 4 months later, I am stunned that they published them in their magazine. It costs them space, ink, (money) to list them. Laube is likely sitting on a beach in Hawaii smiling with his 16% California Pinot right now…
You mean 84% Pinot, 16% Syrah, right?
I was going to congratulate you, but it sucks that the score hit the hard copy. Our snarky sarcasm isn’t quite as funny if the scores are in print. Regardless, the people who read those scores aren’t your target market, since they want those same16% Pinots, whether alc, Syrah percentage or both.
Laube and probably many of his readers like a certain style of pinot. Jamie makes a very different style, and as you can see up thread, there are posters here (myself included) and other professional critics who admire his wines.
It’s a bummer if it hurts Kutch’s sales, but it seems like most of his wines sell by mailing list and at restaurants, so I’m not sure how much WS scores affect those audiences.
Wine Spectator is a supermarket magazine aligned with supermarket palates.
I would not go that far Noah. Maybe Laube’s palate is aligned to bigger, more mass-market tastes, but not all of their reviewers lean that way.
But looking at the Pinot Noir article and reviews in the October 15 issue, it is clear the sample and score range is biased to one style - cocktail Pinot.
I am down to buying 3 domestic pinot noirs off mailing lists, and Kutch is one of those. I am not worried about his 2016 pinots - in fact, I generally dislike many of the ones Laube praises. I will gladly do my part and increase my purchase to support Jamie to help offset any effect the WS scores have on his sales.
Jamie
If it makes you feel better Hirsch got beat up pretty bad as well. I thought the publication was not going to publish low low scores
Thanks for the scoop Timmy. I refuse to buy the mag and hence wasn’t aware. I appreciate it and all the support from many here.
Ok, Jamie’s 2016 allocations are live. Order in!
Well, that Wine Spectator score really made me re-think my purchasing Kutch.
What did I decide after 4 nanoseconds of contemplation? I doubled my order to 4 cases this year.
I stand by the statement I make every time I discuss Kutch – I have yet to drink a bad bottle (and I have been buying since the very beginning).
If you don’t like it, don’t drink it. I love it, so I buy it and drink it with great joy.
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
For anyone who might want some additional perspective, here are my recent TNs on the 3 wines. Jamie, thanks for staying with your craft and your style of winemaking–I dig it.
-
2016 Kutch Chardonnay Sonoma Coast - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (7/29/2018)
July 2018 Kutch Visit (Jamie’s Pad in SFO): Pear, apple with a nice push of lemon chew, that evolves to more of a distinct lemon with air. Like with the bottle I tasted this past February during Falltacular, it brings a richness yet there is acidity here to balance the fruit with the citrus tones in the finish, along with some light mineral. Not as chiseled as the 2014, and more inclusive in the way it will appeal to more than just the geek. -
2016 Kutch Pinot Noir McDougall Ranch - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (7/29/2018)
July 2018 Kutch Visit (Jamie’s Pad in SFO): Last tasted a year ago just before bottling and at that time, it was already in my view drinking nicely. Roll forward to the bottle yesterday, some of the stems are lifting still in the wine’s aromatic, giving it a nice signature. Purple fruit, which is my way of saying mix blue/red/black. Dark plum, blueberry and the same sexy purity that has a little jammy presence in the finish, akin to the Signal Ridge. -
2016 Kutch Pinot Noir Signal Ridge Vineyard - USA, California, North Coast, Mendocino Ridge (7/29/2018)
July 2018 Kutch Visit (Jamie’s Pad in SFO): Last tasted this a year ago from tank, just prior to it being bottled. I find the aromatics at this stage still shy, with a brisk cherry, raspberry, strawberry and a lightly jammy purity into the finish. The acidity is zippy, with the wine at this stage showing a good red-fruited spine. It’s interesting as a # of the Kutch wines we tasted with Jamie have this gentle purity of fruit that I really like, the jammy note as I call it. And it’s not a gooey or overdone sweetness but instead this experience of purity. Really like it.
Posted from CellarTracker
So glad I had time to get back to this board and find this producer and sign up on the mailing list literally days before the release - order in!
Thanks all!!
Late to this party, but, back when I wasn’t so set in my buying ways and kept trying to keep up with every single new wine out there, I used to actively seek out small production California Pinots that had scores of 80-87 from Laube. His palate and mine simply do not align on what is correct for Pinot Noir. This thread reminded me of the, I believe it was, 2001 Davis Bynum “Le Pinot” (Rochioli Vineyard) that got 81 points from JL. It was a superb, elegant, and remarkably pure wine. Ratings like this are really just messages against a particular style. I can do without it. Keep doing your thing, Jamie. The wines are lovely.
Not sure why “Bigger is Better Napa Cab Jim” even reviews pinot??
Very happy Laube is retiring, our styles never matched up. Order placed.
I just got asked a question I don’t know the answer to. Does Jamie have his own facility or using custom crush? It doesn’t matter to me as the wines are wonderful (beeen a buyer for 10 years) and have never thought to ask. But having now been asked… does anyone know?
And while where at it, I guess I assume that most of his vineyards are contract grapes?
Send Jamie a PM or email. I believe he will answer you.
nailed it.