Blog Post: http://thewinenerds.ca/visit-rhys-vineyards/
Continuing on from Big Basin, my next stop on my April trip to California was Rhys Vineyards, still in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I have been a fan of Rhys for a few years now. Last year I made their mailing list and have been increasing my holdings ever since. From the first time I tried their Pinot Noir I was a believer that elegant, burgundy inspired Point can be made in California if the site is carefully selected.
Their winemaking facility is located at their Skyline Vineyard, along Skyline Road. They are just west of Ridge Vineyards and Northwest of Mount Eden Vineyards as the crow flies. Needless to say they are in good company. Rhys is a project conceived by Silicon Valley software tycoon Kevin Harvey and is uncompromising in their quest for quality and restrained expression of site.
As you can see in the photo, one initiative that the Rhys team has undertaken that is relatively unique in California is to radically increase vine density. Their vines at the Skyline Vineyard are very tightly spaced. This is common in burgundy and can be a contributing factor in quality for some sites. Put simply the vines each have to work harder to compete with one another for resources.
The Rhys Cave is a massive underground 30,000 square foot facility which provides ideal conditions for vinification and gives them fantastic control over all of the variables in the winemaking process. It’s quite the site to tour. From the vast array of 1 and 2 ton fermentors to the seemingly limitless rows of barrels, this place is massive.
We finished by tasting an assortment of recently bottled 2013′s. I was impressed with the overall quality, however the 2012′s I had last year did seem more open aromatically, so for the time being I have rated some of them a point or two lower. On to the tasting notes:
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2013 Rhys Chardonnay Horseshoe Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
While I do like Rhys Chardonnays I’m not sure they are my favourite style. They always seem to pour a bit of a darker colour and have a deeper richer aromatics. One unique trait of their wine making is that they leave open vats for 24 hours after fermentation and it seems this gives them the ever so slightest oxidative leaning style. The nose is a tad mute today. Light notes of kiwi, lime, butter, lemon oil, florals and a touch of bruised apple tingle the nose. The palate is rich and mouthfilling with a sweet viscus entry, though excellent (medium plus) acid balances that out. There is very mild apparent use of oak. The finish is long built on florals and bruised apple. A very solid wine that could pick up a point or two in time. (91 pts.) -
2013 Rhys Pinot Noir Family Farm Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, San Mateo County
13.1% alcohol, 40% Whole Cluster, 33% New French Oak. Fully transparent, with a ruby core and quite a light watery meniscus. Like many '13 Pinots on this trip I found this quite tight aromatically, though the style is still totally what I love about Rhys. The nose packs quite a lot of incense, smoked meat, wet soil, green plant leaves, toasted cedar, red apple, cranberry, brown spice and pomegranite. This wine, as expected is predominantly red fruited. The palate isn’t terribly powerful, but subtle with crunchy red fruit, elevated (medium plus) acid. Focused and elegant, though I certainly had a preference for the 2012 I had late last year. Obviously this was fairly recently bottled so I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and say it is just in need of time time to settle down. (92 pts.) -
2013 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
12.8%, 50% Whole Cluster, 50% new french oak. mostly transparent with a deep core and light meniscus. The nose is tight but in a very pretty style: minerals, smoke, exotic spice, pickled ginger, fruit that is edging darker than the Family Farm (some blue and purple though of course red too), dried thyme, earl grey tea, light roast coffee and a dry dusty soil note. The palate has good medium plus acid and medium plus tannin. Finish is only medium in length at the moment. This one really needs some time, coming across even more structured than FF. Could eclipse it but in the shorter term I think I’m happier with the Family Farm. Score is really provisional at this point. (92 pts.) -
2013 Rhys Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
This wine pours somewhere between the previous two in colour. The nose has plenty of mixed fruit ranging from red to purple and blue, but also lots of deep, dark complexity. Nose is of new leather, black tea, red sweet tarts, raspberry, blueberry, dark cherry, red plums and a slight soy note is just beginning to emerge. The palate is very tart and puckering with medium tannin and elevated acid. The finish is medium in length with mixed berry fruit and fresh ginger on the finish. Another one with a brawny structured palate though the tannins didn’t come across quite as prominent as the Alpine. (93 pts.)
