Kutch Wines
Jamie Kutch left a NASDAQ trading job in New York and now punches down every ferment by foot, into nothing but neutral French oak. There is no tasting room; you email him and hope.2
Why go
Kutch moved to California with Kristen Green and apprenticed with an established producer.2 He started the label in 2005 with Pinot Noir and added Chardonnay in 2014.2 The fruit comes from the Sonoma Coast and the Santa Cruz Mountains.2
The cellar has a stated position. It is easy to check against a glass. Fruit moves by gravity and he sorts it by hand.2 Fermentation runs on indigenous yeast with native malolactic, and every punchdown goes in by foot.2 The wine sees one hundred percent neutral French oak, no new wood at all.2 It sits on fine lees without racking, usually 11 to 16 months, before bottling.2 Vinous notes the 2023s were vinified with half their stems.1
Kutch and Green bought a twelve-acre Sebastopol estate and are planting their first estate vineyard on it.2 Sonoma County has approved a dedicated winery and tasting facility there.2
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Bohan Vineyard Pinot Noir if you can get it, vinified with fifty percent stems.1
- Avoid: driving out to Wilson Road expecting a bar. There is no tasting room and no published hours.2
What locals & experts say
- Antonio Galloni, Vinous, Sonoma Supplement 2015 (May 2015):
Jamie Kutch's 2012 Pinots are just as good in bottle as they were from barrel.
1 - Kutch on his own cellar:
The wines are aged entirely in neutral French oak barrels, with no new oak, and remain on their fine lees without racking until bottling, typically between eleven and sixteen months after harvest.
2
Good to know
- There is no tasting room. The winery says it does its best to accommodate tasting requests as the schedule allows, and that request goes to Jamie Kutch directly.2
- Kutch has county approval for a winery and tasting facility on the Sebastopol estate, with a new winery in the works for the 2026 harvest.21
- Vinous keeps its tasting notes behind a paywall, and the author line on the current commentary renders as placeholder text, so I can name no critic for anything after 2015.
Verdict
could-visit — He uses indigenous yeast and native malolactic, moves the fruit by gravity, and leaves the wine 11 to 16 months on fine lees without racking. Antonio Galloni wrote in 2015 that the 2012 Pinots were as good in bottle as they had been from barrel, and that is the only fully attributed line on these wines anywhere I could read; the rest of the Vinous coverage sits behind a paywall with no author on it. Sonoma County has approved a winery and tasting facility on the twelve-acre Sebastopol estate, and that will change this entry. Until it opens there is nothing to book and no fee to quote.