2012 Kutch Pinot Noir Falstaff Vineyard- USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (8/25/2018)
Dinner wine, served with herb-roasted pork loin, and the Falstaff was singing. I saw some notes from a knowledgeable Kutch fan that said the wine was heavy and ponderous. That was completely at odds with this bottle, which danced across the palate, with elegance and grace. Red fruit & light earth tones were joined by a touch of spice and floral, showing the lingering stem influence. Everyone was just blown away at how delicious the wine was. It shared the table with an outstanding Hirsch Pinot, and dominated the pairing. Amazing wine.
Time to eat some crow…or to level set with some contrast. Finishing my last of the 2012 Falstaff tonight, and this bottle is drinking excellent, way better than the previous couple where I even had told Jamie that I had lost my love for this vintage of Falstaff. I have to agree with Buek about how terrific this is showing. So, I offer two TNs below: the one from tonight and the one from the bottle this past June.
2012 Kutch Pinot Noir Falstaff Vineyard- USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (12/14/2018)
This is bottle #9, and my final one left in the cellar. I’ve talked a lot about this wine in my more recent TNs, so I won’t re-work that ground. In sum, this wine fell out of my favor with me over the last few bottles I have opened. So, nothing to lose with this final one, I opened it y/day and drank about a 1/3rd of it, returning the rest to the fridge to sit overnight. Tonight, working through it again, ideal temp and stem, no food. Last night, this was subtle with red fruits of strawberry and cherry, missing the stem imprint and the heavier tone I have found in the more recent bottle. Huh? Maybe I will find this bottle to my liking, more akin to is clearly Jamie’s deft touch with Pinot Noir that are the Kutch wines of the past several vintages. I will say when this was right outta the fridge, this started off clunky and got me thinking here we go again, but as it started to shake off the chill and aerate, it returned back to the wine I remember from last night. More lithe, juicy for sure, and it has seeming shed the qualities of the other bottles that have left me with a frown. This bottle is quite nice, and seems to be in a prime drinking spot, with the fruit and acidity playing well together. I’m kind of glad this is my last one, as it’s in a great spot, and ready to go. For all the negativity I have posted on this wine the past few years, I have to say this bottle is really drinking excellent.
2012 Kutch Pinot Noir Falstaff Vineyard- USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (6/10/2018)
I have had about a dozen bottles of this over time. I used to really like it, I gushed over it for several TNs and then more recently I started to wonder where this wine was going to head with age. With today’s bottle, I still think the same thing: where is this going? The stems still impart the aroma to the bouquet, and to a degree they season the wine with a menthol note. It also showed some of the opulence of the 2012 vintage, with a hard cherry candy quality and what seemed to me to be some wood/barrel tannin, or at least this was my impression as if I was tasting this wine from barrel. It seems just kind of ponderous to me, not in great balance and while it did improve some with air over the afternoon, I just don’t like this wine like I did 2-3 years ago. For certain, the 2015 Kutch McDougall we tasted alongside it really blew it away with the balance, structure and all the parts working well. That wine is what I think Jamie does best so I’ll just let me comments here on the 2012 'Staff stand. I have one left, I’ll figure out when I will drink it down the road.