Kutch
Trout Gulch Vineyard Chardonnay
Sonoma County
2022

The producer

Kutch, a Sonoma-based winery, specializes in producing remarkably well-made Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from California's cooler regions. Founded by the enigmatic Jamie Kutch, an ex-Wall Street trader, the winery's inception was sparked by a transformative dinner party where a bottle of Kosta Browne’s Pinot Noir ignited Jamie's passion for wine. This newfound interest led him to San Francisco, where he balanced his day job with weekend vineyard visits, absorbing the intricacies of fine winemaking. After six months, Jamie left his trading career to fully dedicate himself to his new project, Kutch, producing exceptional wines under his own name.

The wine

Kutch Trout Gulch Vineyard Chardonnay from Sonoma County is an elegant, terroir-driven wine that showcases the unique character of the Trout Gulch Vineyard, located in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Known for its cool climate and sandy soils, this vineyard produces Chardonnay grapes with bright acidity and minerality. Kutch's minimalist winemaking approach—using native yeasts, whole-cluster fermentation, and aging in neutral oak—emphasizes the purity and vibrancy of the fruit. This Chardonnay offers a refined balance of citrus, green apple, and subtle saline notes, underscored by a crisp, refreshing finish. It's a beautifully structured wine that reflects Sonoma’s coastal influence and is ideal for those who appreciate a precise, complex Chardonnay.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.