Kutch Wines McDougall Ranch Pinot Noir 2011
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2009-
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It has been a challenge for the winery to locate and secure such sites, causing its production to grow at a slow but steady pace. Once the fruit is harvested, it is handled with the utmost care, sorted meticulously and moved only by gravity. Kutch takes great care not to over-manipulate wines in the callar -- aiming to provide the purest expression of Pinot Noir from a particular place and time. This minimal interventionalist style of wine-making is reflected in the winery's use of indigenous yeast and its minimal acid adjustments -- with the absence of any color enhancing agents.
All punch-downs are literally done by the bare hand or by feet. Upon completion of fermentation, the wine is gravity flowed into French oak barrels, where it remains unmoved while aging sur lie (on the fine lees). The wines are never racked until the winemaker is ready to bottle, nearly 16 months after harvest. Kutch wines express all of the natural greatness of their vineyard origins.
While the Russian River Valley is a large appellation with multiple climate zones and soil types, it is best known for cool-climate varieties, with Pinot Noir as the most celebrated. The grapes benefit from a reliable late afternoon flow of Pacific Ocean fog through the Petaluma Gap and along the Russian River Valley that ensures slow and steady ripening and the preservation of grape acidity. Today many of California’s most highly regarded Pinot Noir vineyards are in the Russian River Valley, along with its sub-appellation, Green Valley.
Historically Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs had bright red fruit and delicate earthy, mineral notes. But changes in viticultural and winemaking practices have led to stylistic changes in some of the region’s wines. Adjustments to canopy management, among other techniques, have resulted in riper fruit and bolder wines as well. These show flavors of black cherry, blackberry, cola, spice and darker, loamy earth tones, accenting traditional Pinot Noir notes of strawberry, raspberry and light cherry.