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No professional reviews yet available.  Review below by Jamie Kutch

Sourced from vines planted in 1972 at 1400 feet on Goldridge sandy loam, just over three miles from the Pacific, the 2024 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is a site transparent expression of Chardonnay from this historic vineyard. Whole bunch pressed and fermented spontaneously, with natural malolactic and élevage in French oak, the wine opens with a composed, gently aromatic nose of pear skin, green apple, chamomile, and a light touch of honeyed citrus. With air, the bouquet broadens into orchard fruit, dried herbs, and subtle floral notes, carried by a cool coastal freshness. On the palate, the wine is supple yet energetic, with a seamless, lightly textured mouthfeel and beautifully integrated acidity. Flavors of lemon oil, quince, and green pear glide across the mid palate, framed by a faint spice note and a gentle saline edge that speaks clearly to its maritime origins. The finish is long, tangy, and refreshing, showing both generosity and precision without any sense of weight or excess. This is a quietly confident Chardonnay that balances orchard fruit richness with lift, tension, and transparency, delivering both immediate pleasure and clear aging potential. Serious, composed, and beautifully judged, this is refined and compelling coastal Chardonnay.  Jamie Kutch. 

93 Points John Gilman, View from the Cellar:  The 2024 Pinot Noir “Sonoma Coast” bottling from Jamie Kutch includes fifty percent whole clusters in this vintage and tips the scales at an even thirteen percent octane. The wine takes a bit of air to spread its wings, but once it does so, it offers up a beautifully complex bouquet of black cherries, dark berries, black tea, a superb base of soil, a nice touch of sweet stem tones, woodsmoke and a hint of cedar from the older oak casks in which the wine is raised. On the palate the wine is bright, elegant and full-bodied, with a superb core of black fruit, excellent soil signature and grip, fine-grained tannins, tangy acids and superb lift on the impeccably balanced and complex backend. This is outstanding juice in the making.

92 Points Antonio Galloni, Vinous:  The 2024 Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast) is bright, effusive and charming. Gorgeous aromatics meld into a core of vibrant red/purplish fruit. Silky tannins give this mid-weight Pinot tons of charm. All the elements are so well balanced. Kirsch, pomegranate and a touch of whole-cluster exotic spice linger.

16.5 out of 20 Points Jancis Robin:  Made from vines planted 1972–1999 at 500–1,400 ft, 3-8 miles from the Pacific on mixed soils. Hand-harvested (like all Kutch wines) 30 August to 26 September.  Transparent garnet. Rich, sweet and easy to like. A bit more of a framework than the Sonoma County bottling.

Between 9 & 9.5 Points out of 10 Vinography:  Light to medium garnet in color, this wine smells of raspberries, flowers, dried herbs, and wet earth. In the mouth, silky flavors of raspberries, redcurrants, and a hint of strawberry are wrapped in a gauzy haze of fine-grained tannins, excellent acidity, and great length. Ambient yeast fermentation with 50% foot-stomped whole clusters, then aged for 12 months in neutral French oak.

95 Points Antonio Galloni, Vinous:    The 2024 Pinot Noir Mindego Ridge Vineyard is a gorgeous wine done in a style that shows a more restrained side of this Santa Cruz Mountains site relative to the other wines made with this fruit. Dark cherry, sage, mint, blood orange, tobacco, dried flowers and graphite lend notable complexity. Muscular tannins wrap it all together in style. A touch of whole-cluster savoriness lingers on the close.

93+ Points John Gilman, View from the Cellar:  Jamie Kutch’s 2024 Mindego Ridge pinot noir is a superb young wine in this vintage. Fifty percent whole clusters were included in this cuvée in 2024, with the wine coming in at thirteen percent octane and as is Jamie’s customs, was fermented with native yeasts and raised in older oak barrels. The wine is bright and complex on the nose, hopping from the glass in a youthful blaze of cherries, beetroot, pomegranate, a beautiful base of soil, fresh thyme, gamebird, woodsmoke, espresso and a nice touch of whole clusters in the upper register. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and beautifully transparent down to its soil, with a fine core of red fruit, tangy acids, buried tannins and fine focus and grip on the long, youthful and impeccably balanced finish.  Though this wine is already beautifully complex aromatically, it is still a puppy on the palate and tightly-knit and in need of hibernation time in the cellar to blossom. It is going to be excellent in due course, but patience will be necessary. Fine juice. 

17.5 out of 20 Points Jancis Robinson:  Vineyard planted in 2009 (more recently than Kutch’s Sonoma Coast vineyards) at 925 ft 8 miles from the Pacific on shale and silty-clay loam. Picked as late as 26 September and made like the Sonoma County bottling. The 10-acre vineyard is owned by David and Stacey Gollnick. 8 barrels filled.  Transparent garnet. Serious, complex nose with many layers and savoury notes as opposed to the sweetness of several of the Sonoma Coast bottlings. Heady and alluring. While you could drink most of the Sonoma Coast bottlings without food, this one needs a place at a table. Quite long. Impressive.

Between 9 and 9.5 points out of 10 Vinography:  Light to medium garnet in color, this wine smells of raspberries, violets, earth, and hints of forest floor. In the mouth, raspberry, dried herbs, earth, and a touch of wet redwood bark. There’s a hint of dried citrus peel in the finish. Supple, gauzy tannins. Lovely balance. Ambient yeast fermentation with 50% foot-stomped whole clusters, then aged for 12 months in neutral French oak.

95 Points Antonio Galloni, Vinous:   The 2024 Pinot Noir Falstaff is fabulous. Bright acids and lifted floral aromatics announce a wine of notable pedigree. Sweet red-toned fruit, blood orange, chalk, mint, dried flowers and rose petal are some of the many notes that grace this delicate, deceptively medium-bodied Pinot. The purity of the fruit is compelling.

95 Points John Gilman, View from the Cellar:  Jamie Kutch’s 2024 Falstaff Vineyard bottling of pinot noir is a simply stunning wine in the making. The wine comes in at thirteen percent alcohol and was raised in its customary manner: indigenous yeast fermentation, fifty percent whole clusters, no new oak and bottling without fining or filtration. The wine’s aromatic constellation delivers notes of sweet dark berries, black plums, espresso, a gorgeous base of soil, sweet stem tones, pigeon, distant bonfire and a hint of cedar. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and impressively transparent down to its soils, with a lovely core of fruit, fine-grained tannins, excellent focus and balance and a very long, refined and nascently complex finish. This is going to be a superb wine once it is ready to go! 

16.5 out of 20 Points Jancis Robinson:  Vines planted in 1999 at 505 ft 8.2 miles from the Pacific on Goldridge soils and exposed to cold and fog. Kutch’s coolest site. Picked 19 September and made like the Sonoma Coast bottling. 14 barrels produced.  Transparent, shaded blueish garnet. Marked acidity and structure. Needs time – the opposite of the McDougall Ranch bottling.

9.5 Points out of 10 Vinography:  Light to medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cedar boughs, flowers, raspberries, and dried orange peel. In the mouth, citrus peel, raspberries, cranberries, and dried herbs are wrapped in gauzy tannins and bright with excellent acidity. There’s a lovely stony note that lingers in the finish. Ambient yeast fermentation with 50% foot-stomped whole clusters, then aged for 12 months in neutral French oak.

96 Points Antonio Galloni, Vinous:    The 2024 Pinot Noir Bohan Graveyard Block is a dark, potent wine. Black cherry, lavender, dried herbs, licorice and blueberry infuse the 2024 with tons of complexity. Deep and ample, with tons of palate presence, the Graveyard Block is one of the most compelling Pinots I have tasted from Jamie Kutch in a long time. It opens beautifully with a bit of time in the glass. This is seriously impressive.

94 Points John Gilman, View from the Cellar:  The 2024 Pinot Noir “Bohan Vineyard” Graveyard Block bottling is outstanding this year. These vines are now thirty-six years of age, as they were planted in 1988. The wine is an even thirteen percent octane and was raised all in used barrels. It offers up a beautiful and nicely red fruity bouquet of red and black cherries, pomegranate, black tea, a lovely touch of whole clusters, woodsmoke, dark soil tones, brown spices and a subtle dollop of oak influence. On the palate the wine is deep, nascently complex and full-bodied, with a beautiful core of fruit, great soil transparency and grip, fine-grained tannins and a long, beautifully balanced finish. This is a touch less expressive than the regular bottling of Bohan out of the blocks this year and thus, will probably need a couple years longer in the cellar before it starts to drink with true generosity. But, it is going to be an exceptional wine once it is ready to go.

17+ out of 20 Jancis Robinson:  Vines planted 1988 at 1,500ft, ungrafted, 3.05 miles from the Pacific on sandstone and dry-farmed. Picked 7 September.  100% destemmed in this case. Just four barrels produced. Black label.  Mid crimson – deeper and bluer than the ‘regular’ Bohan. Rather sumptuous nose then with lots of grunt and a firm, dry finish. Edgy and distinctive with real grip on the palate. A grainy texture and impressive persistence. Serious stuff. 

95+ Points John Gilman, View from the Cellar:   Given how much warmer the McDougall Ranch is from the Falstaff Vineyard, the fact that both wines come in at an even thirteen percent octane in this vintage speaks well of the precision that the Kutch team could exercise harvesting in this growing season. As is the case with the other 2023 pinots, the wine included fifty percent whole clusters in this vintage, saw no new oak during its élevage and was bottled unfined and unfiltered. The wine delivers a lovely aromatic constellation of black cherries, plums, coffee bean, woodsmoke, fresh thyme, dark soil tones, some sweet stem tones and just a whisper of oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and beautifully transparent in its expression of soil tones, with a great core of fruit, fine-grained tannins and great length and grip on the seamlessly balanced and complex finish. This is an utterly brilliant wine in the making! 2035-2080+.

95 Points Decanter Magazine, Ana Carolina Quintela:  McDougall Ranch is usually the first pick for Kutch each year, even with being so close to the ocean at just 2.5 miles. But sitting high above the fog at 1,010 feet, it bathes in intense sunshine while catching strong sea breezes. The rocky, sandstone soils also contribute to the character of this wine. You can feel that coastal energy in the glass: lavender, sun-kissed blue and blackberries, a cool freshness, and a salty ocean breeze. On the palate, it carries a bit more power and plushness than other Kutch Pinots, with a deeper core of fruit, a slightly savoury character, and a touch more grip from its tannins. 

94 Points Jamie Goode:  From a site planted in 1998 at 1010 feet, 3.5 miles from the Pacific. Greywacke/sandstone soils. 50% whole cluster. Very floral and open with sappy red fruits on the nose and hints of pepper and mediterranean herbs. Fine, fresh and supple on the palate with nice acidity. There’s a bit of crunchy structure here and nice acidity. Shows finesse.

17 out of 20 Points Jancis Robinson:  Limpid garnet. Very edgy-but-rich raspberry fruit. Hugely appealing already. Chock-full of fruit and charm. Sonoma Coast rather than Burgundy and none the worse for it. A jewel of a wine hiding its light tannins under all that fruit.