Tasting at Kutch

I’ve been woefully behind in wrapping up my notes from the trip. Back in the saddle, at least briefly. Jamie’s wines in 2009 are going to be excellent, rivaling the best work he’s done to date. It’s going to be interesting to see how the final blends come together. These were all barrel samples.

2009 Savoy: Barrel sample. This is classic, robust Savoy, with a little more elegant edge than some examples that show more rusticity. Bright fruit. A really solid effort.

2009 One Acre: Barrel sample. Delicious and dark, with rich fruit and showing a fair amount of oak. This has terrific structure.

2009 Nobles: Barrel sample. Surprising and refreshing, with really great delineation. It has the elegance that all these wines were showing.

2009 McDougall: Barrel sample. This is really coming into its own as a flagship wine for Jamie. Gorgeous fruit, with terrific purity. Elegant and structured. This is going to age beautifully.

Looking forward to the '09s. Thanks for the notes.

No notes on 2008’s in barrel to confirm or deny any smoke taint?

Jamie’s 2008’s were released in the spring.

Thanks for the early look-see, Tom, glad to see you back tasting wines where you belong. I know Jamie is tremendously excited about his 09s, I look forward to the finished products.

This was discussed extensively on the other board. I and others who opened upon delivery conferred good notes on this wine. Confusion seemed to have been initiated by one poster’s imprecise use of the word smoke to describe oak toast in a TN. That statement was corrected.

I tasted Jamie’s 09s a month back and they are indeed impressive. Great personality signatures in barrel for each vineyard.

Thanks, Laura. Since I obviously don’t follow everything on the other board anymore, I was going off of a comment by a winemaker that had mentioned this.

Jamie bulked out over half of his 08 production due to some smoky notes in some of the barrels. He’s a perfectionist, and doesn’t want his name on bottles with inferior juice.

Tom, where did you meet up with Jamie???

Just popped an 08 at the SQN weekend event. While not as big as I like pinots, there was absolutely no smoke taint.
My and Erich’s notes on the same bottle here: TNs: The Ultimate Sine Qua Non event! - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers

I have 2 bottles and have yet to try one, however I saw this note pop up on CT yesterday… clearly in the minority vs. other notes, but this explicitly points to smoke taint, not barrel toast. Hoping he wrong…

Tasted by CADomer on 5/11/2010 & rated 89 points: Unfortunately, campfire was clearly present in this wine. Despite the apparent smoke taint, it had all the stuffing to be a very nice wine. The smoke came and went as it was open and when it wasn’t there I got plums, bacon fat, and a hint at something similar to soy or teriyaki beef jerky. The palate was one very nice constant offering bramble berries and was mouthfiling while staying quite elegant. (200 views) - report issue | favorite author

I found Jamie’s release letter. A snippet:

Of the six vineyards from which I sourced my fruit, LeJons and Monument Tree had severe frost damage, while McDougall and Monument Tree had smoke taint. Only the remaining three vineyards ‐ Rogers Creek, Sonoma Stage and a site in Chileno Valley made the cut. Each is located in
the Southern Sonoma Coast.

I think all he released in '08 was bottled as Sonoma Coast. From that, I take it that he did not bottle anything with smoke taint. I applaud Jamie for making a tough business decision and only releasing wine that met his high level of quality.

I find it funny that more and more of the CT notes for the 08s complain about smoke taint which, in my opinion, is totally not present and I’ve had a couple of bottles so far. I think some people are getting the idea in their head that there might be smoke taint just because of Jamie’s explanation of the vintage difficulties and it is giving them a preconceived notion of the wine before they even taste it.

Thanks for the notes.
I recently opened an 07 McDougall that was delicious. Full bodied and rich with soft tannins. “Smoove” as Sadat X might say.

I did not find smoke in the 08’s; I did think it was a bit clumsy when first opened (about a week after arrival) but settled down with some air time. Not as tasty as the 07’s; I felt that the 08 was lacking in complexity at this early stage.

This was exactly my experience. Tasty, but without the complexity of the 07 (at a similar stage). No smoke.

Since I faired horribly with organic, analytical and physical chemistry…can one quantitatively test for smoke taint? I would asssume something like VA, TCA, etc. If so, I can easily get my hands on a sample bottle of the SC and send it off to somebody in CA.

Yes there is a standard test for it that the labs offer.

Jamie has stated publicly that he has already done so and the wine had no smoke taint.

Rather than stirring the pot though, how about tasting the wine and sharing your impression?

This sounds just like an eBob response to all the talk a few months ago concerning the 1997 Harlan and its VA related issues.

Stirring the pot? Doesn’t the wine buying public and his mailing list customers deserve an independant analysis of the wine if there are reported issues? Like I said, I have heard directly from folks that know Sonoma Pinot WAY more than I do, and they say that smoke taint exists both qualitatively and quantitavely.

Are they saying this about the 08 Kutch? Or that it just exists in general?