Sonoma-Cutrer-Timeless
I
took advantage of winemaker Terry Adams’s recent visit to
Boston to catch up on the doings at Sonoma-Cutrer, whose
wines I’ve been drinking since the beginning. Adams has been
on hand since the winery opened, initially assisting Bill
Bonetti, the founding winemaker, then succeeding him in 1991
when Bonetti retired. The pair had previously worked
together at Chateau Souvrain – Adams then just staring to
dip his toe in.
Brice Cutrer
Jones established the vineyards in 1973. (Cutrer is his
mother’s family name.) The winery was built later at the
Cutrer Vineyard near Windsor to Bonetti’s specifications,
issuing its first releases in 1981, a justly famous vintage
for Sonoma-Cutrer, especially for the Les Pierres Vineyard
Chardonnay. The estate, although sold to beverage behemoth
Brown Forman in 1999, has maintained its character. Until
recently, Sonoma-Cutrer produced just three Chardonnays:
Russian River Ranches, Cutrer Vineyard (now called The
Cutrer), and Les Pierres Vineyard. A dalliance with
sparkling wine was not consummated in a commercial release.
An elite tiny selection, Founder’s Reserve, came from a
favored row or two of Les Pierres (more below). Now, a
fourth Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast, and Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
have been added.
Vineyard care is
meticulous. Clonal selection and rootstock matched to soil
are enabled by the on-site experimental greenhouse. Leaf
canopies are managed to control sun exposure. Water and
yields are limited, so that clusters are few and small, and
berries are tiny. After a dip in quality in the late ‘8Os,
the Phylloxera-forced replantings of the early ‘9Os, though
expensive, were all to the good in the long run, leading to
more perfect vineyards. Picking by hand into shallow bins
ensures that the fruit reaches the winery in the best
possible condition. Only estate grapes are
vinifed.
If the
winemakers can be said to be perfectionists, the grapes are
positively pampered. They are air chilled to 4OÅ¡F in a
cooling tunnel on reaching the winery, to preserve finesse
and eliminate coarseness. They are hand sorted, then gently
pressed as whole clusters. Only the first 155 gallons per
ton (about 85 percent) of juice are used, then fermented in
barrels of custom-selected and treated French oak, some new,
some once or twice used. The proportion of new oak and the
length of barrel aging, much of it on the lees, varies with
the wine, which spends from 5 to 18 months in barrel. All go
through malolactic fermentation, using cultures the winery
developed.
When I came home
from tasting with Terry Adams, I was stimulated to excavate
bottles of yore. May I share this interesting exercise with
you? To me the greatest Sonoma-Cutrer Chardonnay was the
first Les Pierres, 1981, so that’s what I opened first (It
cost $11 in Massachusetts in 1984.) The fill is an inch
down. The color has darkened, and, after nearly 26 years,
there is a trace of oxidation, but I couldn’t wish any dry
white wine better than the living force of fruit, the
minerality, the enduring verve of acidity of this wine,
still admirably shored up by lean, strong
structure.
I also opened
the 1985 Les Pierres, which had won excellent reviews when
released. There was no ullage, and the color was only
slightly darker than it had been at birth. Toasty oak was
more apparent than in the 1981, balanced by gentle fruit,
but not the propulsive energy of the ’81s.
The perspective
of time is very comforting.
The 12OO
acres of vineyards yield nearly 2OO,OOO cases of wine.
Let us look at examples of the current
releases.
Russian
River Ranches Chardonnay 2OO5
Virtually limited to restaurant sales. From several vineyard
blocks: Vine Hill, Owsley Ranch, Shiloh, Les Pierres, Kent,
and Cutrer. Good ripe pure fruit, with balance and finish,
yet showing some of the signature Sonoma-Cutrer restraint.
Retail price would be about $2O.
Sonoma
Coast Chardonnay 2OO5
The first vintage of a new product; aimed at retail
distribution. The appellation was pioneered by
Sonoma-Cutrer. From several sources, including Cutrer and
Vine Hill. Seems a bit younger and leaner than the
foregoing, but no less engaging. $25
The
Cutrer Chardonnay 2OO4
The home vineyard, in the Russian River Valley. Alluvial
soils with hardened ancient seabed and volcanic ash. Oakiest
of the Chardonnays, rich in a complex of ripe fruits with
spice. Long finish. $32
Les
Pierres Chardonnay 2OO3
Mostly available in finer restaurants. The vineyard, located
in Sonoma Valley near the Carneros border, is, like the
others, cooled by Pacific marine influences. As its name
indicates, the vineyard is more than replete with
cobblestones in an ancient riverbed formed in a still more
ancient volcanic caldera. This vineyard, of 115 acres, can
produce 1O,OOO cases of wine. This wine, built to age
gracefully, is intense and contained, long in its
flint-struck mineral finish. A unique wine.
$36
Founder’s
Reserve Chardonnay 2OO2
Now a blend of Adams’s five favorite barrels, from whatever
vineyard(s). This one is from low-yield, 3O-year-old vines
in The Cutrer. Because so little is produced it was closed
with Stelvin rather than cork, so as not to risk the loss of
even one bottle to a tainted cork – perhaps an augury.
$6O+
Pinot
Noir 2OO3 Finally
fulfilling an original goal. From cool Sonoma Coast
vineyards. Destemmed, and punched down by hand in small,
five-ton, open-top fermenters. 4O% new oak for a year.
Unfined, unfiltered. The second Pinot Noir vintage, and
worth the wait, although to be principally offered in fine
restaurants. Fragrant of pinot and cherry. Intense and
balanced, with meet acid. Delicious. $45
