Kutch Spring Release, - Save the Date!

Just 3 days prior to BD10 -

Dear Kutch Mailing List Member:

We would like to alert you that beginning on Wednesday, January 23rd, we will release our first 4 wines from the 2017 vintage:

2017 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
Comprised of carefully selected barrels from our single vineyards, this wine seamlessly weaves together the unique qualities of the true Sonoma Coast. Savory notes of Chinese five spice, bergamot, and Mediterranean herbs shine on the nose. The palate is saline-driven, speaking to its place, and vibrant red fruits balance the mineral core.

2017 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay
Our Chardonnay hails the oldest vineyard planted on the true Sonoma Coast, which is planted own-rooted and has been dry farmed since its inception. While these may be just buzzwords to some, we can attest that it translates into fruit of intense concentration, brisk acidity, and striking minerality. Tart lemon, grapefruit peel, river stones, white flowers, and a touch of matchstick reduction give this California wine a European mindset.

2017 Bohan Vineyard Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
An aromatic bouquet of wild strawberry, bay leaf, and mint mingle with flavors of tart red fruit, citrus peel, and flint. Crisp acidity lifts this light-bodied wine to an ethereal place and makes it instantly enjoyable. However, the finely knit, firm tannins create a solid backbone for those who prefer it with age. The Bohan Vineyard Pinot Noir continues to our most versatile wine of the lineup.

2017 Falstaff Vineyard Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
Falstaff has an innate ability to show both restraint and concentration, and this year is no exception. The 2017 exudes the hallmark whole cluster spice, blue fruits, and lithe tannins that make this cold site one of our favorites. The vintage allowed us to strike an impeccable balance of ripeness to freshness that feels polished, yet alive and will evolve gracefully over the long term.

For some perspective, here are some of my TNs. I’ll be ordering all 4. FWIW, the Falstaff made my short list for 2018 WOTY. For me and my palate, it is that good.

  • 2017 Kutch Pinot Noir Bohan Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (11/4/2018)
    Kutch and Model Farm dinner at my place in the OC (My House In The South OC): Tasted this back in July, when it was a tank sample being readied for bottling. Fragrant, with rose petal, lightly tangy and stony with a touch of creamy fruit this is squarely cherry in tone. Elegant and delicious, very much like the bottle from July…of note, two days after the event, with no oxygen protection, this wine hangs right in there with the foresty/redwood, cherry and stony quality. These wines are genius.
  • 2017 Kutch Pinot Noir Falstaff Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (11/4/2018)
    Kutch and Model Farm dinner at my place in the OC (My House In The South OC): Poured in the same flight as the 2013 and 2015 McDougall, this Falstaff was the finishing wine of that flight. This is right now about strength, intensity, with tannin, juicy dark raspberry fruit and present acidity. Stacked with black and red fruits, and credit to Chris Fitch who was next to me, that termed this core quality as ‘pomegranate’. Spot on descriptor. It’s the closing feature of the finish, adding a spicy, pure dark quality to the wine. Excellent Falstaff, one that will age and develop as it integrates its power…as a follow-up note, I am still enjoying the remnants of the wine a day later, this is such a pure, delicious bottle of PN, with some rocky notes, purple and red fruit and flavor composite that is just a joy. For me, gotta be the best Falstaff to date, for sure. Bravo…and what the hell, one more follow-up. The bottle has now been open 2 full days and it continues to drink like it did during the dinner. This wine is yoked with so much power–the structure, fruit intensity and depth. The thrill this kind of wine engenders is pretty cool for me. The key now will be to see where this wine heads, with more age, more time to show itself. I’m in for the ride!
  • 2017 Kutch Pinot Noir Bohan Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (7/29/2018)
    July 2018 Kutch Visit (Jamie’s Pad in SFO): Will be bottled in 2 weeks so this is the final blend. This wine can be nailed with one word…BITCHEN. Rose petal and crushed rock aromatics. A gentle but balanced palate of strawberry, raspberry of wonderful purity, then the same crushed rock in the finish. Ethereal stuff, and the reason why I drink pinot noir. This is the real deal, and I continue to love the gentle yet beautiful way Bohan gets made in Jamie’s hands.
  • 2017 Kutch Pinot Noir Falstaff Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (7/29/2018)
    July 2018 Kutch Visit (Jamie’s Pad in SFO): Like with all the 2017s we tried, this is the final blend, to be bottled in 2 weeks. This is the most intense of the 2017s, with structure that is evident. Red and blue fruited with a really beautiful concentration. So, if we join the structure with the depth of the fruit and its intensity, I find a flamboyance to this wine that was unlike the other 2017s, too. It has the purity, intensity and raw guts to be a great Falstaff. Loved this wine.

Posted from CellarTracker

Thanks Matt and Frank. This morning I spoke to Ron & Judy, the owners of Falstaff as this week I am working on the upcoming newsletter with Falstaff as a focus. Once it is done, I will post it here…

My 2 cents, the 2017 is out of this world as we made some changes in the vineyard after working with a vineyard consultant the year prior. So far Frank and the Prince of Pinot have “gotten it”. Prince of Pinot gave us 97 points which I am stoked about. I am excited to release this wine and hear some others feedback…

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Ron & Judy, Falstaff Vineyard

Falstaff has always been one of my favorite Kutch wines and now that you feel some recent changes in the vineyard (if you can share I would love to hear what the changes were) have taken things to another level, I’m obviously stoked. Thanks for always pushing the envelope. Any plans to source some more Santa Cruz Mountains chard?

Thanks Russ for the note. I was finding that Falstaff was showing Pyrazine (Methoxypyrazine) in the wine and wanted to understand how making amendments to the soil or vines might help to remove it. I contacted a Ph.D. in Soil Science and Viticulture and he made visits during the growing season.

If you are interested, here is some light reading on Pyrazine Pyrazines: Why Some Wines Taste like Bell Pepper  | Wine Folly.

After the consultation we made several changes but I feel the most significant change was that we began leafing much heavier on the morning side and improved the quality enormously the following year. That outcome is now in the bottle and has elevated Falstaff enormously.

I almost missed your second question:

With regards to Santa Cruz, we have continued to work with Chardonnay from Trout Gulch Vineyard since our first vintage with Chardonnay in 2014. In the Fall of this year, we will release to the mailing list of first single vineyard Chardonnay from the site!

Ooh!

Were the yields too low to be able to offer any to the mailing list? Super psyched to hear about the release this fall. As you know I was smitten with the ‘14 from the first sip at your place. Still sitting on my 6-pack. [cheers.gif]

Dude…you have to pop one of those babies sometime soon…it is sooooo great. One of the best domestic Chards I have had in years

Russ,

Do you mean with regards to 2016 Trout Gulch we bottled and released last year?

If so, last year we produced our first vineyard designate Chardonnay from Trout Gulch and yes, production was too small at just 1 barrel. In turn I decided to sell the whole production to the UK market as I felt I would dissapoint too many in the US market if it was only offered to some US mailing list customers.

Ps; thanks Paul. I tasted the 14 on Monday and was smiling from ear to ear.

Paul when I first tried the ‘14 with Jamie in 2016 I thought it was one of the best CA chards I have tasted. Having said this it shut down pretty hard and I think it’s best days are still ahead. I’ll check in this summer.

I think the Kutch chardonnay is one of the best values not only in California white wine, but ALL wine. It’s impeccable.

My wife threw me a 60th birthday party last summer. Many of my wine-geek friends joined us for a very fun night. I brought several special bottles from my cellar to celebrate, both White and Red. At the end of the night all of us thought the 14 Kutch SCM Chard was the best wine of the night…

Happy belated birthday Paul. I have one coming up in less than a month and just today began thinking today of what to drink and where or what to eat!

I wish I had kept the oldies. I drank the older vintages on release.

@jamie do you have a library wine I could buy. Would love to try these with age.

Andrew, I am intrigued by your question. What would be an older vintage that you would try? Sincere question.

Say what!? Jamie, I thought we were friends. You go ahead and give your wine to THEM!?! [stirthepothal.gif]

I think all U.S. mailers should hold next week’s release for ransom unless we each get 1 bottle of Trout Gulch!!

Obviously kidding and excited for next batch of wines…have been opening up some 13s lately to make room :slight_smile:

Andrew, a few years back I did a library release away from my usual 2 releases a year. Sadly I sold off just about everything that had some age on it. I wish i was able to hold inventory better but need liquidity in the hopes of buying a property or winery at a point in time.

Marc, you know I have your best interest! It wasn’t the easier choice and I sold the wine wholesale rather than retail but I didn’t have to deal with upset customers! Hope to see you in 2019!

If you have Wine Searcher Pro, you can find a lot of back vintage Kutch pinot, and the prices aren’t bad.

If you need help with that, let me know.

2019 Spring Release

Focus: Falstaff Vineyard

“Shakespeare’s fictional character Falstaff with pewter and wineglass” by Eduard von Grützner

William Shakespeare’s fictional character, Sir John Falstaff, was a great fat knight who was vain, boastful, cowardly and spent most of his time drinking at the bar while living on stolen or borrowed money. Despite these unsavory characteristics, many scholars say that Falstaff was one of Shakespeare’s greatest inventions alongside Hamlet and Cleopatra. So, what is so special about a drunken, gluttonous, lazy old man? His appetite! Falstaff not only has a boundless appetite for food and wine, but also for language, laughter, people, and life. It is these qualities that I share with Shakespeare’s grand character and hope to translate through the wine that shares his name.

Falstaff Vineyard is located eight miles from the Pacific Ocean on Falstaff Road, just outside of the town of Sebastopol. The town was established in the 1850’s and became a trade center for farmers from the surrounding agricultural regions. As California’s population boomed post gold rush, more people began to settle in the region to try their hand at farming. Sebastopol quickly became a premier farming area and was known as the Gravenstein apple capital of the world. Today, apples have given way to grapes but its reputation for high quality agriculture remains.

Ron and Judy Lougheed purchased their 6-acre Falstaff Road property in 1999 with the intention of growing grapes. Ron, a retired chemist, and Judy, a retired micro biologist for the state of California, were passionate wine lovers and spent many weekends in wine country exploring and imbibing. Excited to start a vineyard of their own, they planted 5.75 acres to Pinot Noir less than a year after they purchased their property. At the time, there were no other vineyards on Falstaff Road and now, two decades later, there are three with a fourth likely to be planted soon.

After digging soil pits and working with Jim Pratt of Cornerstone Certified Vineyards, Ron and Judy chose to plant three different clones of Pinot Noir- 828 (ASW2), 115 & 777. The 828 was a “suitcase clone” meaning that the bud wood was brought in to the United States from France by Gary Andrus of Archery Summit. The cuttings skipped quarantine and a laborious, legal certification process and have been propagated throughout Oregon and California. This particular clone of 828 can be easily identified by its peculiar skyward growing clusters (as you can see in the photo).

These upright bunches brave an exceedingly cold, foggy coastal climate that, according to weather station data on the property, is consistently colder than Burgundy. "If you want grapes at 25 Brix, you need to go elsewhere. This is a marginal site and ripening is tricky.” cautions Lougheed. Each year, we find ourselves anxiously waiting for the fruit to ripen while threats of the first fall rain loom large. Falstaff is always our last picked Pinot Noir vineyard of the season and historically, the smallest yielding (< 1 ton/acre at times). In 2016, I asked Dr. Paul Skinner, a soil and viticulture scientist, to offer some insight and techniques to increase crop size and maximize phenolic ripeness in such an extreme site. Ron put Dr. Skinner’s advice into practice and together we have increased the quality of the wine significantly. As an added bonus, yields have been up year after year. I can confidently say that 2017 Falstaff is our best from the site to date and my personal favorite wine of the vintage.

Ron and Judy Lougheed are the antithesis of Shakespeare’s Falstaff; they are humble, thoughtful, and hard working. However, their appetite for growing high quality, great wine and enjoying it alongside mushrooms they have foraged and homemade Pinot Noir jam undeniably harkens back to their vineyard’s namesake! I am incredibly fortunate to work with them and their very special fruit and look forward to many more vintages ahead.

Growing Season
2017 was the most compressed vintage of my career. We picked all of our red grapes in only 13 days. The season began with record setting rainfalls, which were much needed after almost five years of drought. This abundance of rain and moisture delayed bud break and got the season off to a late start. Soon enough, the skies across Sonoma County began to clear and sunny and warm conditions followed.

As flowering started, a variety of weather conditions kept growers on their toes. Late lifting fog, wind, and unusual heat spikes required careful attention and quick action in the fields. Canopy maintenance was also a top priority this vintage as the early rains increased the plants vigor. Several heat spikes in June continued to drive canopy growth and limited cluster size and weight. What looked like a potentially large crop on the vine, turned out to be average to just below average once the fruit was in the winery.

August came and went somewhat predictably, but early September brought extreme heat. Temperatures hung in the upper 90’s to 100 degrees setting off a fury of picking. During this fast-paced two week period, we picked 100% of our Pinot Noir production.
Our vineyards were harvested in the following order:
August 28 McDougall Ranch Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
August 30 Bohan Vineyard Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
September 2 Bohan Vineyard Graveyard Block Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
September 2 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay (Bohan)
September 7 Signal Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir, Mendocino Ridge
September 9 Falstaff Vineyard Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
September 20 Trout Gulch Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountain