A far cry from Napa and Sonoma is a nondescript apartment on Clay Street near Franklin, crammed with papers, books and, most of all, wine—boxes and boxes of wine. This is where Kutch Wines, one of the hottest boutique producers of Pinot Noir, is based.
It’s a good reminder that owning a faux chateau is not necessary to make great wine in California. As founder Jamie Kutch himself can attest, there’s a lot to be said for passion, smarts and good old-fashioned hard work. Kutch not only makes Pinot—he sleeps, eats and breathes it. As he confesses in his gentle Long Island accent, “Pinot Noir is like heroin to me.”
Describing his Sonoma Coast vineyard sources, he sounds like a child excitedly talking about his new best friend. When he says he wants to make wines that can age like the great California Pinots of the ’70s and ’80s, he means that he obsessively goes out and buys every old example he can find, all the way back to 1947.
Kutch’s story has elements of a go-west-young-man fairy tale. He was a trader on Wall Street, deep into wine and a denizen of E-Bob (in other words, erobertparker.com), the country’s most active Internet wine bulletin board, which quickly became his wine community. A taste of Pinot Noir from Kosta Browne Winery so impressed Kutch that, in rapture, he telephoned its maker, Michael Browne. This phone call began a correspondence that resulted, in 2005, in Browne inviting him to come out to California to learn wine
making. After accepting, Kutch announced his decision on the E-Bob bulletin board, a posting that garnered thousands of page views. As he says, “So I’m sitting in New York, not even having moved to California, and I have 400 people who’ve said they would purchase my wine when it was completed—and that was 21 months before there was a wine.”
While the 34-year-old Kutch (who looks a bit like Adam Sandler and has a similar “aw-shucks” demeanor) knows that he owes his instant success to his Internet community, his wine has spoken for itself, inciting Food & Wine to call it “impressive enough that getting in touch with the winery about upcoming vintages would be a mighty good idea.” Undeniably, he’s managed to infuse his wines with his own intensity.
Today, Kutch is still a regular on the bulletin board and he uses Google Earth’s satellite navigation to check out prospective vineyards. His sales experience continues to help him. He cold calls top growers and sends them letters asking whether he can buy a little of their fruit. And not surprisingly, people seem to say yes to Jamie Kutch more than they say no.
Find kutch wines at kutchwines.com
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Pinot Noir seems to attract independent-minded, passionate individuals who make highly personalized, small-lot wines. Here are some other high-quality producers: |
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Paul Lato is a young Polish immigrant who has worked in Toronto, Canada, as a sommelier and as a cellar worker at the Santa Maria wine co-op. Lato produces wines of unusual grace and elegance, combining concentrated flavors with surprising lightness. paullatowines.com |
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A former skateboarder from Wisconsin, Ryan Zepaltas is now the assistant winemaker at Siduri, in Sonoma. In 2004, he started his own label, making round, ripe Pinots and Syrahs. His finely crafted wines have become favorites among the cognoscenti. zepaltaswines.com |
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Scott Rich, winemaker at Bel Air’s famed Moraga Vineyards, makes some Pinot on the side with his wife, Marta. Made using grapes from choice vineyards in places such as Sonoma and Carneros, the Pinots are complex and full of life, with alluring textures. talismanwine.com
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This is the personal project of Chad Melville, scion and winegrower of Santa Rita Hills’ Melville Vineyards. With access to some of the best fruit of the region (including his family’s), he makes highly concentrated, yet nuanced, Pinots and Syrahs.
samsarawine.com |
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Eric Sussman has been a wine fanatic since college. Having devoted his entire adult life to studying and making wines, he eventually launched his own label, Radio-Coteau, making exceedingly fine Pinot Noir as well as Syrah, Zinfandel and Chardonnay—all from Sonoma.
radiocoteau.com |
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|
 |
|
A far cry from Napa and Sonoma is a nondescript apartment on Clay Street near Franklin, crammed with papers, books and, most of all, wine—boxes and boxes of wine. This is where Kutch Wines, one of the hottest boutique producers of Pinot Noir, is based.
It’s a good reminder that owning a faux chateau is not necessary to make great wine in California. As founder Jamie Kutch himself can attest, there’s a lot to be said for passion, smarts and good old-fashioned hard work. Kutch not only makes Pinot—he sleeps, eats and breathes it. As he confesses in his gentle Long Island accent, “Pinot Noir is like heroin to me.”
Describing his Sonoma Coast vineyard sources, he sounds like a child excitedly talking about his new best friend. When he says he wants to make wines that can age like the great California Pinots of the ’70s and ’80s, he means that he obsessively goes out and buys every old example he can find, all the way back to 1947.
Kutch’s story has elements of a go-west-young-man fairy tale. He was a trader on Wall Street, deep into wine and a denizen of E-Bob (in other words, erobertparker.com), the country’s most active Internet wine bulletin board, which quickly became his wine community. A taste of Pinot Noir from Kosta Browne Winery so impressed Kutch that, in rapture, he telephoned its maker, Michael Browne. This phone call began a correspondence that resulted, in 2005, in Browne inviting him to come out to California to learn wine
making. After accepting, Kutch announced his decision on the E-Bob bulletin board, a posting that garnered thousands of page views. As he says, “So I’m sitting in New York, not even having moved to California, and I have 400 people who’ve said they would purchase my wine when it was completed—and that was 21 months before there was a wine.”
While the 34-year-old Kutch (who looks a bit like Adam Sandler and has a similar “aw-shucks” demeanor) knows that he owes his instant success to his Internet community, his wine has spoken for itself, inciting Food & Wine to call it “impressive enough that getting in touch with the winery about upcoming vintages would be a mighty good idea.” Undeniably, he’s managed to infuse his wines with his own intensity.
Today, Kutch is still a regular on the bulletin board and he uses Google Earth’s satellite navigation to check out prospective vineyards. His sales experience continues to help him. He cold calls top growers and sends them letters asking whether he can buy a little of their fruit. And not surprisingly, people seem to say yes to Jamie Kutch more than they say no.
Find kutch wines at kutchwines.com
| |
|
| |
Pinot Noir seems to attract independent-minded, passionate individuals who make highly personalized, small-lot wines. Here are some other high-quality producers: |
|
|
| |
|
| |
Paul Lato is a young Polish immigrant who has worked in Toronto, Canada, as a sommelier and as a cellar worker at the Santa Maria wine co-op. Lato produces wines of unusual grace and elegance, combining concentrated flavors with surprising lightness. paullatowines.com |
|
|
A former skateboarder from Wisconsin, Ryan Zepaltas is now the assistant winemaker at Siduri, in Sonoma. In 2004, he started his own label, making round, ripe Pinots and Syrahs. His finely crafted wines have become favorites among the cognoscenti. zepaltaswines.com |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
Scott Rich, winemaker at Bel Air’s famed Moraga Vineyards, makes some Pinot on the side with his wife, Marta. Made using grapes from choice vineyards in places such as Sonoma and Carneros, the Pinots are complex and full of life, with alluring textures. talismanwine.com
|
|
|
This is the personal project of Chad Melville, scion and winegrower of Santa Rita Hills’ Melville Vineyards. With access to some of the best fruit of the region (including his family’s), he makes highly concentrated, yet nuanced, Pinots and Syrahs.
samsarawine.com |
|
|
| |
|
| |
Eric Sussman has been a wine fanatic since college. Having devoted his entire adult life to studying and making wines, he eventually launched his own label, Radio-Coteau, making exceedingly fine Pinot Noir as well as Syrah, Zinfandel and Chardonnay—all from Sonoma.
radiocoteau.com |
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