TWEC ™ WELCOMES JAIME KUTCH IN TORONTO! TASTING HIS FIRST WINE EVER MADE!
Berserkers,
In yet another momentous occasion for the Toronto Wine Elitist Cabal ™, last night we welcomed esteemed American winemaker and Wine Berserkers favorite Jamie Kutch to Toronto, Canada for the first time ever! Not a fantasy! Not a unicorn! Not me mistaking another winemaker for Jaime Kutch the way I mistook his Chardonnays for someone else’s before in a previous thread! The man himself was here in Toronto and the TWEC ™ had him all to ourselves for an evening.
Yours truly, Mike Grammer, his parents Jerry and Lillian, Jeffrey Wong and Heather McDougall inducted our first ever winemaker member into TWEC ™ with a dinner at Mengral Thai, which was quickly put together by Mike. General Manager Alan and his staff did a great job serving all night.
Jamie is here on business as his Canadian representative scheduled a packed two days to introduce him and his wine to the Toronto restaurant industry. Of course, he is good friends with Mike so a get-together was inevitable. It was also Jaime’s first time meeting Michael’s mother who famously touched up his professional logo with her caligraphy skills which made for a nice moment.
We did a prix fixé menu with several appetizers and mains along with two shared desserts to finish. We also got to meet the chef at the end of the night. Here’s what we had:
PAUL BARA 2006 MILLESIME BRUT GRAND CRU CHAMPAGNE – From a rare half-bottle. This Champagne was ripe red apple and biscuit, and I recognized it as majority Pinot Noir immediately. Creamy palate. Tended to get heavier as it got warmer. Nice, but I would’ve liked a touch more Chardonnay for some crispness. S’okay.
KUTCH 2005 RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY PINOT NOIR – What an amazing experience to try a winemaker’s very first ever wine with the man himself. Michael has been saving this for this very special occasion, and it was worth it. Jamie was actually apologizing to us for this wine, explaining that it was his first ever and he has of course evolved as a winemaker and it didn’t really need to be so “big” with a 16.1% ABV.
Truthfully, I would never have known had he not said that out loud. This may have been “big” before but it was just perfect now. Redolent with ripe black cherry fruit and pine needle flavors with a small touch of graphite. Not a bit of tannin coarseness to be found which gave this an amazingly supple texture. Evolution or not, this just proved to me as I said to Michael and Jamie that he really has hit on the magic formula – Burgundy flavor and body but with California texture to achieve the best of both worlds. This is the reason, honestly, that I prefer well-made California and New Zealand Pinot Noirs over those of Ontario and Burgundy (a select few Satenays, Marsannays and Gevrey-Chambertins in my collection aside).
Further, unlike many aged Burgundy and Ontario Pinot Noirs I’ve had, the fruit has not evolved into stinky mushroom aromas and flavors. It’s all still there like this was bottled yesterday despite being 11.5 years old now. Incredible stuff.
DOMAINE DES PERDRIX 2011 NUITS ST. GEORGES 1ER CRU AUX PERDRIX – This was really interesting because on any other night, I would be gushing over this little superstar. Surprised me right out of the bat by being just as fruit-forward as the Kutch, bursting with both sweet and sour cherry flavors that in fairness I must say were a bit brighter than the Kutch in comparison. The body was lighter. Great acidity level which gave it some refreshing crispness.
Unlike the Kutch, however, the tannins are detectable which give the wine its classic Burgundy rough-hewn texture on the palate that every wine note likes to refer as “earthiness” or “rusticity” or “rusticness”. The tell-tale Burgundy rusticness is indeed here and quite well-balanced, to boot.
This was great. I much prefered the Kutch due to the texture which led to a brief and interesting discussion with Jamie where I told him that my palate has evolved to the point where the actual texture and mouthfeel of a wine mean as much to me almost as it does to a winemaker. (Ontario winemaker Rob Power from Creekside once told me that the biggest divide between wine critics and winemakers is that critics are obsessed with the aroma and winemakers with texture of a wine.)
When I first started out, my criteria for liking wine was pretty much limited to how sweet and fruit-forward it was. Not texture is so much more important to me that I will actually drink less fruity but much smoother wines like a Santenay or Marsannay over a much fruitier but more rustic textured wine like this Nuit St. Georges. In contrast, it is that same smoothness and lack of rustic texture that has led many an experienced Burgundy fanatic to tell me that is why they prefer Burgundy and every other country makes “just Pinot Noir” and not Burgundy wine.
Jamie mentioned that he was once told that it takes 4 years for someone’s palate to evolve to the point where they really know what they actually like and new wine drinkers shouldn’t even buy a bottle until that time has passed.
Truthfully this wine is a complete winner. All the textural characteristics of Burgundy and all the fruit of a riper climate. Any other night, it’s the red WOTN. Tonight, though, it was outclassed by the Kutch for my personal palate. Like with Ali and Frazier or Ali and Foreman, somebody’s gotta win and somebody’s gotta go down but we fans are all winners when the combatants are both this great.
VON HOVEL 2007 SCHARZHOBERG SAAR RIESLING SPATLESE – This wine ended up being an intermezze before the desserts. This wasn’t intentional but ended actually being a fabulous way to have it after the main courses and two reds. I will have to consider this more in the future. Its main selling point was a laser-focused but not bracing acidity. The wine was actually quite smooth in texture and had more body than one would expect from a Spatlese. Lovely fresh lemon-lime and green apple flavors. Extremely well-integrated wine, not something I think I’ve ever said about a Spatlese ever before. Michael did point out that this was from one of the better Riesling sites in Germany.
