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Chardonnay, Kutch 2016

RegionU.S.A.
Subregion U.S.A. > California > Sonoma
ColourWhite
TypeStill
Grape VarietyChardonnay

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Label

Tasting Notes

Made exclusively from the Bohan Vineyard, one of the very first to be planted in the Sonoma Coast area, the 2016 Chardonnay from Kutch is a worthy successor to the fabulous 2015. This year there is more fruit and a touch more viscosity than the ultra-lean 2015 meaning that this 2016 is more reminiscent of Puligny, whereas the 2015 has more in common with a top Chablis. The nose is still dominated by struck flint, wet stones and white fruit. The palate immediately has more generosity of fruit than its predecessor but it is all kept in perfect balance by a salinity and weightlessness that carries every nuance through to a very long finish. Youthful, mineral, with touches of tropical and citrus fruits, this is another brilliant wine from Jamie Kutch who is increasingly becoming the flag-bearer for cool climate winemaking in California. 12.5% alcohol.

96
Farr Vintners, Farr Tasting, June 2018

This focused wine has a beautiful nose of integrated, pungent oak that presents as caramel apple—a quiet richness that complements its delicate layering of Meyer lemon and salty wet stone. The acidity is both fresh and complex, supportive and subtle.

94
Virginie Boone, Wine Enthusiast, May 2018

12.5% alcohol. Beautiful stuff, combining sweet ripe pear and apple fruit with some lively grapefruit freshness, and also a subtly smoky, mineral twist. There’s good acidity here, and a slightly bitter twist that offsets the fruit nicely. Complex and beguiling with concentration, balance and finesse. The fruit profile hints at California, but the acid structure and poise is very European. I really like it, and it should age really well. Doesn’t seem to be as overtly reductive as the two previous Kutch Chardonnays.

94
Jamie Goode, Wineanorak.com, October 2017

The 2016 is only the second vintage of chardonnay from Jamie Kutch, and it is a fine follow-up to the debut release. The wine comes in at a cool and collected 12.5 percent octane and offers up a nascently complex bouquet of apple, nectarine, a touch of pink grapefruit, spring flowers, a fine base of soil and a subtle framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is crisp, full-bodied and still tightly-knit, with a fine core of fruit, lovely transparency, bright, zesty acids and excellent focus and grip on the long, well-balanced and promising finish. This is already tasty, but the real complexity here is still a bit bound up in the wine’s fine structural elements and I would be inclined to give this a year or two in the cellar and really allow it time to blossom properly. It is a fine, elegant and classy wine in the making. (Drink between 2018-2030)

92+
John Gilman, View From the Cellar, July 2017
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.