PRODUCER: Kutch Wines
REGION: Sonoma, California, USA
WINEMAKERS: Jamie Kutch
Jamie Kutch is the eponymous winemaker of Kutch Wines, a maverick vingeron whose career has long been defined by unconventionality. In fact, when the Wall Street broker turned winemaker first began his career, he elected to pick grapes a whole month before his peers, leading to skepticism and whispers of making sparkling wines. Despite the doubters, Jamie has now gained widespread respect for his methods and wines, even capturing attention in the ancestral home of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
WINERY HISTORY
Originally a Wall Street stockbroker, Jamie began his career in wine after a chance encounter with a Kosta Browne Pinot Noir. A letter of admiration quickly led to a job offer from Michael Browne, and – as they say – the rest is history. His foot firmly lodged in the door, stints at the famed Sonoma estate and lessons from Aubert de Villaine allowed Jamie to hone his skills in the art of Pinot Noir. The results have been impressive. Kutch produces some of Sonoma’s most intriguing cool weather wines. Pure, ethereal, and nuanced, his Pinot Noir and Chardonnay bottlings balance silky tannins, freshness, and crisp fruit flavours. Over the past two decades, Jamie has established a portfolio of terroir-driven wines that have become benchmarks for quality in California.
VITICULTURE & WINEMAKING
Jamie sources from sites across the Sonoma Coast. Capitalising on the unique microclimates and soils of his varied site selection, Jamie produces wines that reveal a true sense of place. From the sandy loam of Falstaff to the sandstone of McDougall Ranch, each vineyard designate displays a uniqueness, all of which are beautifully balanced in his Sonoma Coast cuvée. The focus here is not on mass production, but on attaining the highest quality from each plot, echoing Jamie’s belief in the concept of less is more.
Jamie is a winemaker who asks questions and finds his answers in the bottle. Whether he’s shifting harvest dates or experimenting with stem inclusion, each decision is a calculated step closer to purity. Minimal intervention winemaking – marked by nearly 100% whole cluster inclusion, punch-downs by hand (or foot), and gravity flow only – allows the quality of his fruit to come to the fore. All wines undergo native malolactic fermentation and élevage is carried out entirely in neutral oak barrique. Wines age sur lie in neutral French oak barrels, where they remain unmoved until bottling 11-16 months after harvest.
IN THE PRESS
"Jamie Kutch is one of the most thoughtful and introspective of California's generation of young, emerging producers. Those qualities are serving him very well as the wines continue to move in the right direction...It will be fascinating to see where Jamie Kutch goes next. One thing is clear -- the road is wide open." - Antonio Galloni, Wine Advocate
"Jamie Kutch went from wide-eyed intern to one of California’s most nuanced and soulful producers of Pinot Noir in what feels like the span of only a handful of vintages, and his wines continue to astonish with their purity, depth, and finesse." - Alder Yarrow, JancisRobinson.com
