Wine Each Week – 2017 MacRostie Chardonnay, Dutton Ranch

A tinkerer at heart, Steve MacRostie was drafted in the U.S. Army as a cryptographer. That means attention to detail and Steve’s wines, which I have reviewed for over a decade, all have the imprint of his attention to detail allover them. His 2017 RRV Chard offers upfront notes of muted lemon verbena and lime kefir, with mid-palate notes of guava, light honeysuckle, white peach, and pear, and back notes of browned butter along with a mild acidity. The wine went through a partial malolactic fermentation, then was aged for a scant 10 months in both new and used French oak, but that accounted for only 38% of an impact on the wine, therefore it’s not overbearing. The result is a playful, balanced (between oak and fruit) wine that is elegant, usable with a variety of foods, or just to enjoy as a classic Russian River Chardonnay.

601 cases

ORIGIN: Russian River Valley, Sonoma, California

ALCOHOL: 14.6%

PRICE: $48 (750ML)

SCORE: 93 POINTS

MacRostie

Wine Each Week – Raeburn 2017 Pinot Noir

Russian River Valley Pinot Noir is a dime-a-dozen, so to speak. There are so many producers here because the geology, climate and soil are ideal for growing great Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Many of these wines will bust your wallet. But Raeburn’s doesn’t. At a mere $25, this is a terrific Pinot Noir, worthy of your cash.
There is a wonderful acidity from this Russian River Valley fruit that supports black cherry, blackberry, red raspberry, blueberry, light cranberry and a light-roasted hazelnut, and vanilla. Because this wine is so balanced in terms of fruit, wood and acidity, it will make great companionship with the foods on your table. Aged just 11 months in all French oak barrels, a quarter of which were new barrels, it was also fermented in small open top bins. This allows for more fruit structure to come through - and there were two punch downs daily (where the must on top is pressed down into the juice below extracting tannins, flavors and color – in essence mixing it all together). This ends up being a lovely wine that you can afford. The Raeburn is a Russian River Valley Pinot Noir that hits every note: flavor, structure, food-friendly, price, and makes you happy that you love wine.

ORIGIN: Russian River Valley, Sonoma, California

ALCOHOL: 14.5%

PRICE: $25/ 750ML

SCORE: 91 POINTS

Raeburn

Old Vine Cline: “Ancient” Wines from Cline Cellars

We all know that some wines are meant to age. But in the plant-based world grapes can be an outlier in that they can live for well over a century and still produce quality fruit. A few years back I was in Portugal and visited head trained vines that were 136 years old and still a workhorse. So when Cline Cellars released their Ancient Vines series it intrigued me because this allows you to literally taste history. That their wines are priced between $18-$23 also offers an incredible value for the experience you can have. In California there are very few vineyards that are truly historic properties, meaning the vines have been in the ground for over 100 years, and are own-rooted, as opposed to being grafted. The Historic Vineyard Society (HVS) group is dutifully reviving and preserving these historical vineyards. For example, in California, Sausalito Canyon Vineyard (San Luis Obispo County) was planted in 1880 and still produces fruit today. Other HVS registered and non-registered vineyards from the 1880s include Bechthold (Lodi), Cazas (Temecula), Martinelli (Russian River Valley) and the truly one of a kind Grandpere vineyard from Deaver Winery in Amador County planted in the 1860s! What this means is that you can experience fruit that still makes wine, and a wine you can drink. Maybe most of us can’t drink a wine that is 100 years old, but we can certainly drink wine that is made from 100-year-old grapes. Now, the term “ancient vines” has no real definition, but typically refers to vines that are over 75 years old. Just like us humans, vines lose their vigor (strength, vitality) as they age and many of these wines have some complexity to them, but are less powerful and robust than younger wines. The complexity often comes from roots that are 30 – 40 feet deep as most of these historic vineyards have always been dry-farmed, meaning no irrigation is provided, the vines themselves need to seek out water.

Cline offers their 2017 Zinfandel, Mourvèdre, Carignane, and their 2018 Mourvèdre Rose from Contra Costa County, the northern portion of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay area. These are uniformly lighter style wines but definitely show characteristics familiar with their grape type, and all provide that most unique of pursuits – a sense of immortality.

Wine Each Week: J Vineyards Brut Rose’

In 1986, the same year J Vineyards started making sparkling wine, Top Gun was the top movie. Perhaps fitting, J has been a top sparkling house for as long. Their Brut Rose’ is a non-vintage wine and I’ve has this for years and it never disappoints. Lively, dancing bubbles greet you followed by lemon- lime, strawberry, almond, Bing cheery, blood orange, and mango. It is a wine that fills the palate with soft flavors and aromas, ideally used with food given its breadth of expression. Made of Pinot Noir with 32% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Meunier, the dosage is a mere 1.15% residual sugar so it stays a true Brut. This has a place on any table for any occasion.

ORIGIN: Russian River Valley, California

ALCOHOL: 12.5%

PRICE: $45/ 750ML

SCORE: 90 POINTS

J VINEYARDS

The Double Indemnity of Pinot Gris

Actor Fred MacMurray was best known for a diversity of his films, from the classic Film Noir Double Indemnity from 1944, to Disney’s The Absent Minded Professor, and Son of Flubber, to the TV show My Three Sons. But MacMurray was also an avid fisherman and he bought a parcel of land in Sonoma to get away from Hollywood. He raised cattle and had plans to plant vines, but those dreams never materialized while he was alive. However other generations saw the planting of vines on the MacMurray Estate and today Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir form the basis of MacMurray’s dream.

The 2016 MacMurray Estate Pinot Gris utilizes six different clonal selections of Pinot Gris (1, 3, 4, 5, 146, and 152, if you really need to geek-out on this) to create a California classic approach to this old grape.

Presenting tropical fruits like lemon-lime, honeysuckle, pear, mango and guava, and back notes of kiwi, peach and fig, this is a bright, cheery wine with enough acidity to make it very food compatible (I made Cajun/Panko crusted Ahi tuna, with lemon-dill pasta, and garlic-butter China peas) but with enough diversity to make it stand out and not get lost. So with Easter around the corner, this is a versatile choice. The success is its overwhelming complexity and layers of flavors, which is even more impressive in that this is 100% stainless steel fermented and aged - so no oak - but it did spend some time on the lees helping to creating a tangible viscosity. For the price you’re getting a suburb wine. I think Fred would be proud.

ORIGIN: Sonoma, California

PRICE: $20/ 750ML

ALCOHOL: 14.5%

SCORE:  92 POINTS

Jordannay: Classic Chardonnay from Jordan

Chardonnay, that often maligned wine that people seem to love or hate (my wife claims she hates it) is, in reality, one of the most diverse grapes on the planet. From a butter bomb, to a stainless steel expression, to sparkling and Champagne, to even fortified iterations, Chardonnay is still at the top of the wine heap. Hovering at that top is Jordan Winery. Jordan, if you don’t know, only makes two wines. Chardonnay and Cabernet. That’s it. We call that a limited portfolio. The Jordan 2015 Chardonnay should be served at room temperature as cooling this will mute some of its nuanced flavors. “What I find appealing in the 2015 are its distinct flinty flavors and textures reminiscent of the limestone soils of Chablis. I can’t recall a vintage of Jordan Chardonnay as Old World as this,” winemaker Rob Davis told me of this wine. A dozen different vineyard blocks, all from the Russian River Valley are blended together, aged half a year in partial new French Oak barrels, with two months of sur-lie aging. And that’s where the viscosity comes from. There’s a bite to this, a super-mild sour apple, lemon-lime Otter Pop kind of quality, but with mature crème brulee, Madagascar vanilla, quince and honeysuckle and a bright, happy acidity. It straddles the two faces of Chard, namely a sleek version and the butter bomb, finding equilibrium, something most Chardonnays find elusive. So, regardless of your opinion of Chardonnay in general, the Jordan Chardonnay, in particular, should be a wine to try.

ORIGIN: Sonoma, California

PRICE: $32/ 750ML

ALCOHOL: 13.7%

SCORE:  92 POINTS

Sparkle & Pop: Wine and Popcorn for no Particular Reason

Food and wine pairings are to me the equivalent playing darts blindfolded. Sure there are some basic rules, but everyone’s so into finding the “perfect pairing” that we can lose sight of the simple joy of food and wine together. Yes, I love a big-boy Chardonnay and popcorn with a dab of goat cheese, even York Peppermint Patties with Ketel One Vodka (which I wrote about for The Hollywood Reporter), but the bottom line is not the ideal pairing, but the sheer fun of food and wine together and the company we share it with.

So J Vineyards based in Headlsburg, and Seattle based KuKuRuZa Popcorn….and go!

The J Vineyards Cuvee 20 Brut ($38) is always a winner. I’ve had this sparkler many times and it never disappoints me. The Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier are all from Russian River Valley. Designed as a  non-vintage to initially celebrate their 20^th anniversary, it’s actually become something of a stalwart sparkler. The nose is all bright crisp green apple and citrus. The acidity and carbonation have always been mild, which I appreciate in a sparkling –aggressive carbonation is like fighting with your beverage, no thank you. There are plenty of fruit notes here, from guava to tangerine to lemon-lime, but beyond that, it’s simply pleasurable to drink. The Brown Butter and Sea Salt popcorn is just that, no real explanation necessary. The butteriness mutes some of the tropical fruit notes of the wine, subduing them so that are compliment each other. And yes, this popcorn is exceptional all by its lonesome.

The 2015 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir ($40) utilizes 10 different Pinot clones including one of my personal favorites, Swan. If you care about soil types, it sounds more like a law firm: Goldridge, Arbuckle and Zamora, but these represent 5 different estate vineyards. This is the kind of Pinot that non Pinot drinkers (aka, my wife) might like as it doesn’t exhibit cola flavors, has a food-friendly acidity, is smooth and drinks more seamlessly that other Pinots – less fussy and taste specific and is more generous with its dimension of fruit. There is red raspberry, pomegranate, boysenberry jam and pepper spice, all wrapped up in a silky texture. The Tuxedo popcorn is all chocolate, brown sugar and white chocolate and sea salt but nicely balanced and not overwhelming (well, perhaps a wee bit too much chocolate for me but I guess I’m abnormal). So…chocolate and Pinot, huh? Actually here, yes it works. More often than not red wines and sugar together come off as astringent and non-complimentary, kind of like Nancy and Tonya – if you don’t get that reference go see the movie I, Tonya). But weirdly the sugared nature of this addictive popcorn subdues both the fruit of the wine and the chocolate of the popcorn.

So there you have it. Wine and popcorn. For no other reason than…why not?

Flipping You The Bird: Improper Wines For Thanksgiving

There is this weirdly compulsive thing these days to pair wine with your food, as if searching for and experiencing the “perfect pairing” is tantamount to Indian Jones discovering the Covenant of the Ark. Yes, I admit I’ve written about that too (uh, the pairings, not the Ark), and certainly wine and food are crucially important – not to mention I’ve reviewed restaurants professionally for a decade. The point being…drink whatever the hell you want with whatever the hell you want to eat. No more elusive pairings and “ideal” wine for turkey day. Having said that…I would like to see these wines on your table.

2014 IL Tascante

Soft and quiet, this is not a loud wine; it’s understated and you’ve probably never had this grape before – Nerello Mascalase. Grown on volcanic soils on the north-east slope of the volcano Mt. Etna in Sicily, there is an earthiness, a mineral note, a chalkiness with this wine. There is muted raspberry, cranberry, and rhubarb with back notes of Bing cherry. Though aged in Slovenian oak barrels for 18 months, you hardly notice any oak at all, more a testament of the lithe but structured fruit. And it is this subtleness that makes this wine so compelling. Well, that and the fact the family has been doing the wine thing for two centuries. ($50)

2015 Sonoma-Loeb Pinot Noir Dutton Ranch

Out of the Russian River Valley the good folks at Sonoma-Loeb turn out a lot of great wine and this Pinot, from a well-established vineyard is part of a great lineage. All Pinot all the time this make-up of clones 667, 777 and 115 was fermented using native yeast and aged for just 11 months in French oak. 11 months is correct because you don’t want this beautiful fruit to get lost in some kind of cedar box. Black cherry, red currant, candied cranberry, star anise, cola and soft baking spices round out this rich, but pure iteration of Pinot. Great acidity and mild tannins make this work with damn near whatever you put on the table, or, better yet, get some cheese and have at it. ($40)

2016 Ritual Chardonnay

Chardonnay, again, really? Yes, really. This bright crisp Chardonnay from Chile is expressive, young, and fresh with a tanginess and food-worthy acidity. You’ll easily pick up on the lemon curd, kiwi, gooseberry, lime kefir, and green apple notes, and more subtly the hazelnut, mango and quince. The fruit hails from the Casablanca Valley, just 18 miles from the coast, and is whole cluster fermented in concrete eggs (which helps immensely with viscosity) and then gets a wee bit of oak time, so you’re left with a robust white wine that plays well with others. ($21.99)

2016 Steele Viognier

Viognier, the odd named grape most people mispronounce, is one of those, cool-if-it’s-done-right wines. And Jed Steele does it right. All the way from Lake County, this offers lychee, honeysuckle, Meyer lemon, lime curd and sugared almond. A beautiful viscosity and silkiness makes the floral components of this wine that much more provocative. It’s fermented in stainless steel so it retains a bright buoyancy but is not too heavy and flowery. A mere four month of oak time allows this wine to achieve a balance of fruit, acidity and wood. ($19)

1040 Good Buddy: Taxes, Wine & Those Pesky Deductions

We all know the old saying that nothing is certain in life except for death and taxes. While certainly this is true a good wine can somewhat ward off death, well, maybe not exactly but at the very least makes taxes bearable. I’m not a CPA, so any deductions listed here should be run by your accountant for approval. Time to pair a wine with a given tax deduction.

Lifetime Learning

Our convoluted tax code offers a number of deductions geared toward college students, but that doesn’t mean those of you who have already graduated can’t get a break too. The Lifetime Learning credit can provide up to $2,000 per year, taking off 20% of the first $10,000 you spend for education after high school, all in an effort to give you new or better job skills. This phases out at higher income levels, but it also doesn’t discriminate based on your age – and we should all keep learning! Any Pinot Noir fanatic will tell you it’s a lifetime grape - a wine that educates you about subtly, beauty, nuances and ethereal qualities. The Sonoma Loeb 2014 Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir is classic Russian River Valley Pinot with cranberry, pomegranate, strawberry, huckleberry and back note of cola and black cherry, rich yet calm with plenty of acidity RRV is known for. Spending time with this wine is an education in itself. ($40, Sonoma-Loeb.com)

Charitable Giving

You can deduct money or goods given to charitable organizations, which makes giving more fun! Out-of-pocket expenses for charitable work also qualify. So, if you make brownies for a charity fundraiser for example, you might be able to deduct the cost of the ingredients you used to bake them. Always save receipts or itemize the costs in case of an audit. Donations to your local library or the value of goods given to a charity are also considered viable. Of course it helps to be charitable with yourself too, so I think the Domaine Carneros Cuvee de la Pompadour will give back to you. This a brut rose - a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with delicate hints of strawberry, pomegranate, apricot, peach and lime, a whisper of sweet honeysuckle and with fine pinpoint bubbles. It’s a gift that will keep giving. ($37, domainecarneros.com)

Health Insurance Premiums

Medical expenses can easily kill your budget. Aside from the health benefits of wine (no, you probably can’t write off your expensive Burgundy) for most taxpayers, medical expenses have to exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income to be deducted. However, if you’re self-employed and responsible for your own health insurance coverage (like yours truly), you can deduct 100% of your premium cost. That gets taken off your adjusted gross income rather than as an itemized deduction. Got it? The Magsitrate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (NV) from Sonoma offers an inexpensive, cash-friendly wine, and it’s red so you’re keeping healthy, right? There is muted blackberry, blueberry, resin, dusty cedar, this offers decidedly middle of the road tannins that subdue any overt fruit along with a mild acidity and richness that’s tame and ready to drink now. And given it’s tax time, you’ll want to drink it now. ($17, magistratewine.com)

Unusual Business Expenses

Don’t overlook deductions that seem odd. As a wine writer I push the boundaries of what can be deducted related to wine, all within the parameters of the law, of course. If something is used to benefit your business and you can document the reasons for it, you probably can deduct it from your business income as long as it is a viable part of doing business. I’m able to deduct winery tasting room fees for example because my primary income is from wine writing. Which gets us to the 2014 Patz & Hall Hudson Vineyard-Carneros Chardonnay. I’m not saying you can deduct this lovely wine, but it is unusual in that this straddles the line of Chardonnays out there, not too oaky, not to stainless. Using native yeasts and malo-lactic fermentation in barrel this does not push oak on you, but gives up green apple, lemon lime curd, honey, pineapple and a back note of sweet biscuit and almond. So go ahead, think creatively about your deductions while you sip this. ($55, Patzhall.com)

Job Searching

If you were looking for a job in 2015, you may be able to deduct costs related to your job search – even if you didn’t get a job – because at least you tried! Job search expenses such as preparing and sending résumés (expenses and mailing, if you actually use snail mail), fees for head hunters or temp agencies and even travel related to the job search can be included. But searching for a job is tough so you need a wine that will support the long view. The J Lohr 2012 Cuvee St. E is a St. Emilion homage wine made in Paso Robles crafted from Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cab Sauvignon and Malbec. It offers robust black cherry, huckleberry, blueberry and boysenberry with a sharp acidity and a resin note, a hint of earthen vegetable and minerality. The dominate Cabernet Franc holds up against the oak and makes a play for a new world cuvee – bold yet restrained. This is how to reward yourself after a long day hitting the pavement. ($50, jlohr.com)

Hark! The Herald Angels Drink

The Holidays – a blur of parties, gifts, stress, bad drivers, and other things. So let’s simplify the gift giving process (enough with S’well bottles, gift cards, and Blue Apron) let’s focus on six top-notch liquid gifts for your loved one, for yourself, your neighbor, pastor, UPS driver, or whomever. Life is short, so drink well.

The Three Wise Wines

Canard Vineyard 2012 Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

Under the radar and around since their first vintage in 1984, Canard is one of those incredible finds. Canard sacrifices big yields for smaller grapes and greater concentration of flavor due to their dry farm approach. Located on the Silverado Trail they craft a rich and voluptuous Cabernet with vibrant black cherry, raspberry, black and huckleberry, with shrewd notes of cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg and black pepper spice - a perfect balance of oak, fruit and a mild but proper acidity. This is a seamless wine that reflects exactly how dry farming can change the complexity of a wine. ($125, canardvineyard.com)

Ram’s Gate 2013 Pinot Noir Bush Crispo Vineyard

Located in Carneros, Ram’s Gate is crafting exceptional wines, though this vineyard is Russian River Valley. The nose is super ripe black cherry that gives way to rich luscious hedonistic black cherry, blackberry, black raspberry, acidity and a joyfulness in simply drinking this wine because it's just so damn good. And that is the X factor: a wine that tastes so good that you want to drink it three ways hard, fast and continuously. But do savor this wine – in fact it makes you stop whatever you're doing when you take the first sip and say, damn, I need to pay attention to this. What stands out is the dark rich vibrant fruit, more so than the oak treatment. ($70, ramsgatewinery.com)

Duckhorn 2012 Rector Creek Vineyard Merlot

Duckhorn has always been at the forefront of Merlot, even when it wasn’t popular they have continued to show how the grape could excel. Rector Creek, located just north of Yountville produces powerful Merlot grapes grown on alluvial soil. With velvety smoothness, this Merlot exudes blackberry, black cherry, a wee bit of plum, a hint of cedar, allspice and a mild acidity, which compels this wine forward. Merlot’s softer side and its food-friendly nature shine through with this compelling wine. ($95, duckhornwine.com)

The Three Wise Spirits

Hennessy VS Limited Edition Cognac

Hennessy has been making Cognac for 250 years and I had the great fortune to visit them firsthand in early 2015. Twice distilled, Cognac (actually a brandy) has reached mythic heights in part because the aging process can take decades. Wine is distilled into eaux du vie, which is then distilled a second time and aged. The VS Limited contains more than 40 different eaux-de-vie, aged up to eight years. This smooth refined Cognac offers a bite at the end, but it is full of spice, cedar and amber notes from the oak casks, a slight floral nose with violets and rose petal and a caramelized nut note. It’s smooth, sweet, mature and complex, as Cognac should be. ($45, hennessy.com)

Jonnie Walker Select Series Rye Cask Finish

The first iteration in the Johnnie Walker Select Cask series (traditional whiskies finished in different casks than they were aged in) is a rye cask finish which brings together a blend of whiskies aged for 10 years in new American oak barrels and then finished in older American rye barrels, or casks. Light malt, vanilla, and honey slowly infiltrate the palette and then there is the noticeable oak. Yes the rye is evident but most noticeable is the sweet peat and smoke that permeates all around followed by sugared almond, citrus, soft resin and a spicy, floral finish. ($45, jonniewalker.com)

Teeling Irish Whiskey

The Teeling family traces their distilling history back to 1782, but it was only 1987 when John Teeling reopened a distillery in Dublin with the goal of producing age-old Irish recipes that had been long forgotten. This is a soft and aromatic whiskey with notes of citrus, resin, cinnamon, vanilla, cedar and rose water. Unlike many brown spirits, there is no harshness to this, it is an elegant, gracious and personable whiskey, finished in rum casks and easy to drink, offering a maturity you wish all whiskies had. ($40, teelingwhiskey.com
 

Jack Ass

Lee Martinelli Sr., on Jackass Hill

The Martinelli family has been involved with wine in Sonoma, specifically the Russian River Valley, for over a century and no, the title of this article is not a reference to them. The name refers to Jackass Hill. Planted on a ridiculous 60% slope, Jackass Hill, tucked into a narrow valley, is hardly the place you’d expect people to be farming over 100 years ago. Hell, it’s remote now, and must have been obscure back then. The three-acre, non-terraced parcel was planted to Zinfandel in 1887. Nothing much has happened here in all those years. “The only thing that has changed in 85 years is my house,” Lee Martinelli, Sr. says to me. What’s amazing is that this family farm has not changed hands. “I’m so grateful to the Martinelli and Bondi sides of my family who tended, worked and respected this land,” Lee tells me on a warm January day as we stand on Jackass Hill; Lee standing straight and tall, and me trying not to wobble and teeter. It was so named because only a jackass would farm this stupidly steep piece of dirt.

The view from the top of Jackass Hill

I have visited many vineyards across the globe, from vineyards in Crete to, Cognac, Oregon and Mexico, to Burgundy and Nova Scotia and countless vineyards in the U.S., some as historic a s this one. But very few have a palpable feeling to them, a sense of purpose and lineage. “I feel the spirit of my ancestry here,” Lee says. And I believe him. Not everyone can walk amongst the courageous and knotted vines on Jackass Hill, but you can drink the wine from them. You need to.

The 2012 Jackass Hill Zinfandel is an impressive, crazy good wine: spicy, with loads of mature blackberry, pepper, almost a sweet cedar; it’s rich, earthy and with great acidity, defying most jammy versions of this grape. It also has incredible balance and the higher alcohol comes as a surprise because you simply do not taste this. Is it pricy? Yes, but it is also unique; a one of a kind wine with only 48 cases made (less than 600 bottles), which makes it the kind of rare, historical American wine you really need to try, because, at the risk of sounding like a Hallmark card, you authentically can drink history. Martinelliwinery.com

ORIGIN: Russian River Valley, Sonoma

PRICE: $120 / 750/ml

ALCOHOL: 17.5%

BOOZEHOUNDZ SCORE:  92 POINTS

A Scotsman and His Russian Chard

Steve MacRostie, whose family hails from Scotland, has been at the wine business for a long time debuting his first Chardonnay in 1974. It is merely one of many Chardonnay’s that clutter store shelves, right? Well yes, and no – it may sit aside other Chards, but this baby is the one you should be reaching for just now. The MacRostie 2012 Russian River Valley Chardonnay is one of those wines that can please a broad variety of palates, specifically those people who don’t like Chardonnay. This wine has it all: acidity, creaminess, notes of melon, peach, green apple, judicious oak and vanilla, a weight in the palate and is actually definable unlike the majority of tedious Chardonnays (at either the $10 range, or conversely at the $60 price point which are over-oaked and heavy handed). What MacRostie manages to do with classic Russian River grapes is make a Chardonnay that truly represents what Chardonnay is supposed to taste like. If you think Chardonnay is a either a butter and oak bomb, or you think Chardonnay equates with beige, you need to try this. And once you do, a kilt and haggis may not be far behind! MACROSTIE

Read about my visit with Steve at his Wildcat Mountain property HERE

ORIGIN: Russian River Valley, Sonoma

PRICE: $32 / 750/ml

ALCOHOL: 13.5%

BOOZEHOUNDZ SCORE:  91 POINTS

Tasting With: Jamie Kutch, Kutch Wines, Sonoma, California

Jamie Kutch doesn’t put the name of his winery on the door. In an industrial winemaking facility just outside of the Sonoma town square, Kutch is waiting for Pinot Noir grapes to arrive. Instead I walk through the door. And while he anxiously waits for fruit to be delivered on this 2013 harvest, we talk, sample his Pinot Noir, drink fresh pressed juice, and I ponder these distinctly different, hard-to-classify Pinots from Sonoma. Jamie believes in whole cluster pressing his fruit, gravity feeding it, and using one-ton stainless steel fermenters which enable him to “crush, and sub crush” different lots and vineyard blocks. Kutch picks his fruit earlier than most people, therefore his wines lack the traditional bright cherry and raspberry flavors and end up being lower in alcohol, but they retain a pragmatic acidity, something lacking in many red wines. "We pride ourselves in not being trained at Davis," he says half joking. Well, sure. The old joke is that if you want to learn how to clean and maintain wine equipment, go to Davis. If you want to learn winemaking, go somewhere else.

At a mere 2,500 cases he firmly desires to produce “true coastal Pinot from Sonoma,” and Kutch sincerely believes that the cooler and rougher coastal vineyards are where the future of Pinot Noir lay, at least from Sonoma. Some might argue that Russian River Valley is ground central for Pinot, and many of the coastal offerings don’t really show all that well: they lean towards simpler fruit. But sitting down with Kutch and sampling wines in bottle, and wines in barrel, the animal that is his coastal Pinot Noir is a different animal altogether, a near mythical beast that lumbers through the backwoods, both surprising and intriguing you with it’s exclusive characteristics. His Pinot Noirs are not fine-tuned elegant expressions of Pinot. That’s not a criticism. They are burly, but balanced, aggressive but informal, and like his 2011 McDougall (at 13.6% alcohol, $59) all about rich fruit; intense and viscous, but effortless - almost like the best red fruit compote you’ve ever had. “I want my wines to age,” he tells me, a steely-eyed determination resonating from his face. He’s not doing this for show, and certainly his wines are not in the mainstream. They are compelling. They are not safe. They defy convention. KUTCH WINES