| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | U.S.A. > California > Sonoma |
| Colour | Red |
| Type | Still |
The 2024 Pinot Noir Mindego Ridge Vineyard is a gorgeous wine done in a style that shows a more restrained side of this Santa Cruz Mountains site relative to the other wines made with this fruit. Dark cherry, sage, mint, blood orange, tobacco, dried flowers and graphite lend notable complexity. Muscular tannins wrap it all together in style. A touch of whole-cluster savoriness lingers on the close. (Drink between 2027-2036)
Vineyard planted in 2009 (more recently than Kutch’s Sonoma Coast vineyards) at 925 ft 8 miles from the Pacific on shale and silty-clay loam. Picked as late as 26 September and made like the Sonoma County bottling. The 10-acre vineyard is owned by David and Stacey Gollnick. 8 barrels filled.
Transparent garnet. Serious, complex nose with many layers and savoury notes as opposed to the sweetness of several of the Sonoma Coast bottlings. Heady and alluring. While you could drink most of the Sonoma Coast bottlings without food, this one needs a place at a table. Quite long. Impressive. (JR)
Jamie Kutch’s 2024 Mindego Ridge pinot noir is a superb young wine in this vintage. Fifty percent whole clusters were included in this cuvée in 2024, with the wine coming in at thirteen percent octane and as is Jamie’s customs, was fermented with native yeasts and raised in older oak barrels. The wine is bright and complex on the nose, hopping from the glass in a youthful blaze of cherries, beetroot, pomegranate, a beautiful base of soil, fresh thyme, gamebird, woodsmoke, espresso and a nice touch of whole clusters in the upper register. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and beautifully transparent down to its soil, with a fine core of red fruit, tangy acids, buried tannins and fine focus and grip on the long, youthful and impeccably balanced finish. Though this wine is already beautifully complex aromatically, it is still a puppy on the palate and tightly-knit and in need of hibernation time in the cellar to blossom. It is going to be excellent in due course, but patience will be necessary. Fine juice. (Drink between 2037-2075)
