TN: 09' Rhys Alpine Pinot noir

09’ Rhys Alpine Pinot Noir-

Bright in color with no real signs of age. The nose is full, ripe but not over the top, good balance, moderate acid, no oak poking out, just good seemless Pinot. There is a bit of a bitter orange note that I get with aged California Pinot that rounds out the nose and flavor…

Finish is good that lingers for a little while.

I was on the list and bought all I could for a while, stopped buying with the 12’ vintage (I’ve got 6-7cs, which seems enough).

This wine is good, maybe even really good, polished and complete, my issue is that it just isn’t that interesting. The fruit is good, the balance is there, it just doesn’t really give me that something more I’m looking for.

I’ve got a couple of more, so we shall see where it goes…

And here lies the wine geek problem. We’re always seeking that little something extra. That makes for a lot of less than fulfilling experiences, based on the curse of expectations.

The wine does sound really good though.

I get what you’re saying but I don’t know if I had too many expectations for this wine.

Again, it was good, but these are around $100 now and I just felt that I have had the same experience from a $30 Pinot.

Well we knew the backlash would eventually come.

I don’t think I have ever had a $30 Pinot match Alpine. Tastes differ.

What backlash? Bray is simply saying it might not match its price (which is not $30, btw; I don’t think these ever sold for less than $60). I’d stop reading so much into other people’s words.

Early vintages of Alpine were $49 IIRC

I’ll take the opposite side of the argument from David and say that I’ve never had a Rhys Alpine pinot excite me. It was consistently my least favorite pinot vineyard from them. So personally I wouldn’t write off Rhys based on that bottle. Love the chardonnay from there though.

That said I also eventually decided I owned enough.

I am a big fan of Alpine and Horseshoe Pinot.

Whereas I’m a big fan of Horseshoe, Home and Skyline Pinot. And I like most of the others.

I have discovered that I do not care for Swan Terrace or Home.

I was also down on the Home until I tried a 2010 a few months ago. I was ready to quit buying that vineyard but that experience gave me second thoughts. Thus far the Horseshoe Pinot is consistently above the rest for my taste (the '08 is in a very nice drinking window right now), although the 2013 Porcupine Hill was a stunner recently.

I want to believe that if you are not having a good experience with certain vineyards it’s probably because you are drinking them too young. In many cases the vines have only become mature over the past few vintages, and so I also think that prior to 2012, or maybe 2010, depending on the vineyard, the finished wines are not indicative of what the later vintages may become. For this reason I am still buying as much on faith as I am on experience.

I love the Rhys story and their wines. I have 17 cases to prove it!

Swan terrace was one of my early favorites, then came along Bearwallow and Porcupine Hill (granted both younger more recent additions to the portfolio). Understanding that I may be bias, living in AV now and having worked for Swan for a few years before making the move. Now I just kind of stick with them. I have not had a Alpine or Home in a few vintages, may need to add a couple to the cart on the next go round to reevaluate as I know they have tweaked winemaking since the early days.

Pricing is not that far off from other favorite CA PN’s Littori and Arcadian.

Damn…you made me check my cellar…time to start cutting back to 6-pack purchases per offer.

Lovely nose of underbrush, cranberry and white pepper. Beautifully balanced palate with red fruit, minerals and crunchy acidity. Just getting into its drinking window with plenty of time left.