2018 Kutch Pinot Noir Mc Dougall Ranch
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
Last of the Pinot Noirs, the 2018 Pinot Noir McDougall Ranch is one of the larger production cuvées (although these are all tiny releases) and comes from a vineyard on the Sonoma Coast. Violets, Bing cherry, strawberry, and raspberry notes as well as plenty of stem and spice emerge from the glass, and this medium-bodied, savory, complex Pinot Noir has building tannins, solid mid-palate depth, and a beautiful finish. It's possibly my favorite in the lineup and has a terrific sense of balance between its fruit, tannins, and acidity. It's going to benefit from 2-3 years of bottle age and keep for a decade. Jamie Kutch continues to make a savory, almost Old World style of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. In general, these are structured, tannic wines, and short-term cellaring is advised.
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
The 2018 Pinot Noir McDougall Ranch is another superb wine in this range. Unlike the other Pinots, though, the McDougall is going to need a few years in bottle to soften, as it is pretty forbidding today. Dark cherry, plum, spice, dried herbs, lavender menthol and licorice all flesh out with a bit of time in the glass.
Exposed vineyard planted in 1998, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) from the ocean on sandstone and shale at 1,010 feet (310 m) – so high above the fog line that it's the warmest of Kutch's vineyards. Made the same way as the blended Sonoma Coast bottling. 22 barrels produced. Intense, concentrated ripe black-cherry nose. Very clean and not quite ready with fine sandy tannins making their presence felt but I think it should become pretty delicious with food midway through 2020. Very precise, with the 100% whole-berry element in evidence. (JR)