A long, lovely afternoon of enjoying long verticals of three Kutch wines, Trout Gulch chardonnay, McDougall pinot noir, and Falstaff pinot noir. Plus, we got Jamie Kutch to pull over on the roadside during his busy day and do a FaceTime with us and share a some knowledge – even in smaller doses, Jamie is always a firehose of ideas, information and passion.
My notes are not going to be highly detailed because of the number of bottles and hosting duties, but I’ll do the best I can.
Trout Gulch Chardonnay
Overall Impression: These are terrific California chardonnays for those who like brightness, acids, minerals, ageworthiness, and an absence of any overt oak imprint, and they are a strong value for the dollar at $49-$54 a bottle. As part of them being made in this style and from this site, we found quite interesting vintage variation within the overall range of Kutch’s style.
The Wines:
2017: Mineral, spice, sweet lime, sea breeze, showing some added complexity with the five years of age. This was relatively on the leaner side of the spectrum here, but a great wine.
2018: Moderate reduction on the nose which gives the wine a little more regal bearing, orange citrus, herb, lemon oil. Very persistent finish. This combines the best elements of the leaner and the riper TGs we drank today. My wine of the flight. And, annoyingly, the one vintage I seem not to have in my collection.
2019: This was the ripest of the lineup (other than maybe the 2021, but that is still a work in progress). Ripe juicy orange flavors. More of a crowd pleaser, but still miles away from your big heavy California chardonnays.
2020: This was the leanest of the flight. Some reduction on the nose, tart lemon and lime fruit, river rock. AFWE baby. Jamie said the numbers checked out, but he wonders if the smoke from nearby fires cut into the sunlight which would have given the last bit of ripeness to the fruit?
2021: This is not only not yet bottled, but may not be fully completed as a wine. This is powerful and concentrated, a hint of butterscotch richness, still good acids. It’s quite interesting to see at this early stage. It feels like the elements are there, and I’ll be happy to buy this when it’s released and see what it’s like in its final form.
McDougall Pinot Noir
Overall Impression: McDougall has darker, heftier fruit than Falstaff, but also shows more stems and herbal notes at times. Plus it is overall more variable from vintage to vintage. Some of these really popped, some were not showing as strongly today.
The Wines:
2010: Dark fruit and quite an herbal concoction follows it. Sage, bay leaf, even hints of black olive. The finish feels tannic still. I wonder if the whole cluster was a bit much for this vintage? It’s an interesting wine I could enjoy, but it’s probably less likely to have a broader audience.
2012: Some blueberry, red raspberry, cranberry. The herbal / stem notes are there, but much more in the background. At a really good age right now, with many good years ahead. My wine of the flight.
2013: This was always one of Jamie’s favorites of his wine. This has brighter, redder fruit within the McD lineup, with some grippy mineral and juicy acids. Very nice.
2015: Riper blue and black fruits in the foreground, but it pulls back to herbs and savory notes. A good blend of fruit and savory complexity.
2016: This had sweeter red fruit, but a bit of faintness and transparency to it, almost like drinking it in later maturity. I liked it in this place, but I wonder if maybe this particular bottle was a bit more advancing, or an earlier drinking vintage? Anyway, not that there’s any rush, but this seems like a really good one to open now anyway.
2017: This bottle and the next two seem different from the vintages that preceded them, and especially this bottle. This bottle had much prettier and fresher tasting fruit, like cool fresh berries from a wild bush, with very little stem or herbal notes until just a hint at the end. This is much easier to throw back, but maybe not as cerebral.
2019: Again, pretty fresh berry fruit, a hint of cream, and the savory notes seem deemphasized. Jamie said he didn’t think he reduced the whole cluster in these vintages, but you would perceive it that way without knowing otherwise. Another nice wine, probably better if you wait a few years at least.
2020: Probably too early for this bottle. Big fruit, probably the most ripe of this lineup (or maybe to some degree because of its youth), cola, little herbal character yet.
Falstaff Pinot Noir
Overall Impression: I came out of this tasting with an even higher regard for Kutch Falstaff. A great lineup across the board, in a crisp, red fruited style and a lot of aging potential. Maybe not quite as many things going on and as many descriptors to list out as McDougall, but generally more consistent quality.
The Wines:
2010: So youthful and fresh at 12 years old, this is in a great place but should be good for another decade plus. Fresh cranberry and raspberry fruit, ripe citrus, some cinnamon and nutmeg, long finish, just singing. I’m revisiting as I type this, now 10 hours after the bottle opened, and it’s even better than the first pass. My wine of the flight and of the tasting. You could pay 3x this amount for a red Burg that tasted like this and think you got a great deal.
2012: Also youthful, with fresh wild red berries and good acid balance. Very good.
2013: A third terrific one in a row. I wonder if this 9-12 years is the beginning of the peak age for Falstaff. Bright red cherry fruit, actually maybe a touch less youthful overall than the 2010 and 2012.
2015: The outlier bottle. I liked it more than the others did, but it has an unusual hard red candy fruit, some medicinal notes. Jamie said this vintage they had some bottle variation due to [reasons he explained but I didn’t quite follow], so maybe we got one of the less good ones, or maybe this just wasn’t a vintage that clicked as much.
2016: A little leaner and more AFWE, more of a chalky texture, red cherry, herb and sage. Good wine, maybe needs more time to hit its peak.
2017: A grand wine, sweet red apple, dark cherry, chalky grip to it, pulls back from the fruit into a minerally finish. Excellent. The best of the younger half of either of the pinots we tried today. But I think it will develop more complexity with further bottle age.
2018: Great balance, hard red candy, red cherry, more tannic and young. My notes are lagging by this point.
2021: The sweetest red cherry fruit of the flight, otherwise unevolved. Seems promising, but it’s way too young right now.
In sum, an impressive body of work, and it bears repeating that the value proposition and availability of these wines is amazing for their quality. I would also note very much liking his Bohan Graveyard and Mindego Ridge pinot bottlings, which are ones I will continue to buy.
Thanks for reading.
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