A couple weeks ago Ashley and I made use of the 2017 Rhys Chardonnay sampler pack. We ordered the 375s, so that’s what we tasted from. This tasting was blind, but for Ashley knowing the identity of wine #2 (Mt. Pajaro), on account of us needing to open a second bottle due to the first being corked. Unfortunately, that little snafu also caused the Mt. Pajaro to see less air than the other three wines – I think that did make a difference initially, but after a few hours, and certainly by Day 3, it didn’t matter. I used our new-to-us Grassl Cru glasses, which I’ve quickly grown to love, by the way.
In my TNs I’ve replaced references to wine numbers with the actual wine names, but all Day 1 references to other wines were blind references.
Before I get into a couple general thoughts, and then the TNs, I’d like to say I thought all of these wines were good; really not a stinker in the bunch. That said, both Ashley and I did have some clear preferences, and the wines were distinct from each other, sometimes drastically. They all had the same appearance, which I found interesting, given their differing presentations.
In a stroke of convenience, both Ashley and I clearly preferred Alpine over the other three. We both had Horseshoe ranked third (although I bumped it up to my number one on Day 3, just barely). And we differed on the rankings of Mt. Pajaro and Bearwallow. This tasting really drove-home the apparently-already-established general consensus that Alpine and Horseshoe are the “Grand Crus” of Rhys’s Chardonnay vineyards. I was quite pleased to see Horseshoe make such significant strides by Day 3. The Mt. Pajaro is the only one I likely wouldn’t buy at any reasonable price. The Bearwallow was, by far, the richest of the four, and is easily identifiable as a CA Chardonnay.
Kudos to Rhys for doing these sampler packs — when used in this fashion, they can be very helpful to us buyers, as we can figure-out which bottlings to direct our money towards; with as many bottlings as Rhys has, many simply cannot afford to buy all of them. My only ongoing complaint about the sampler packs is they’re not received before the 750s are offered; therefore, tastings such as this one inform next year’s purchase, which doesn’t take into account vintage variation. Hopefully Rhys can find a way to release the sampler packs sooner, or hold-back the 750s releases until a reasonable amount of time after the sampler packs are delivered to customers.
Our respective rankings at the end of Day 1, with number 1 being our favorite:
Ashley: 1. Alpine; 2. Mt. Pajaro; 3. Horseshoe; 4. Bearwallow
Brian: 1. Alpine; 2. Bearwallow; 3. Horseshoe; 4. Mt. Pajaro
I re-approached the rankings on Day 3:
Brian: 1. Horseshoe 2. Alpine; 3. Bearwallow; 4. Mt. Pajaro
Without further ado, the notes:
2017 Rhys Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (3/21/2020)
– cork pulled approx. 1 hr before initial taste –
– tasted blind over 2 hours on Day 1, then non-blind over another couple hours; re-visited on Day 3 –
– from 375 mL –
NOSE: richer than the Mt. Pajaro, but lighter than the Bearwallow; rich, but a little bit of lychee. Very rich and big on Day 3 — even moreso than the Bearwallow.
BODY: medium pale yellow; medium-light bodied.
TASTE: good acidity – medium+ to high-; hint of spice; medium rich; medium concentration of typical Chardonnay fruit flavor; nice balance between rich fruit and mineral cut. Both Ashley and I ranked this #1 of the four Rhys Chards in this tasting on Day 1, although I ranked it #2, just barely behind the Horseshoe, on Day 3. It was very rich on Day 3. Drink Now and over the medium term.
2017 Rhys Chardonnay Mt. Pajaro Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (3/21/2020)
– popped and poured –
– tasted blind over 2 hours on Day 1, then non-blind over another couple hours; re-visited on Day 3 –
– from 375 mL –
NOSE: light apple/pear aromas; Golden Delicious apple; lightest aromatics of the four Rhys chards at this tasting. Remained quite light on Day 3 — I was hoping it would have expanded over the course of 48 hours, but it really didn’t; hint of orange juice on the Day 3 Nose that wasn’t there on Day 1.
BODY: medium pale yellow; medium-light bodied.
TASTE: medium to medium+ acidity; leanest of the four wines tasted here; lemony bread; light oak. On Day 3, still light. Seems best to Drink over the near term; there’s just not enough going on here to be interesting to me.
2017 Rhys Chardonnay Bearwallow Vineyard - USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley (3/21/2020)
– cork pulled approx. 1 hr before initial taste –
– tasted blind over 2 hours on Day 1, then non-blind over another couple hours; re-visited on Day 3 –
– from 375 mL –
NOSE: easily the richest Nose of the Alpine-Bearwallow-Horseshoe-Mt. Pajaro quartet; very “CA Chard” in character, but with an intriguing hint of fresh sea breeze.
BODY: medium pale yellow; medium to medium-full bodied – this was the only one of the four that didn’t have a medium-light body.
TASTE: similar to the Alpine on Day 1, but with the richness turned up a couple notches; of the four Rhys Chardonnays tasted here, this is the one that stood-out as “the different one.” On Day 3 this was still rich, but – curiously – the Alpine had surpassed the Bearwallow in this regard. This strikes me as being best to Drink over the near term — if I had any of this in 750s I would not be holding them 10+ years.
2017 Rhys Chardonnay Horseshoe Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (3/21/2020)
– cork pulled approx. 1 hr before initial taste –
– tasted blind over 2 hours on Day 1, then non-blind over another couple hours; re-visited on Day 3 –
– from 375 mL –
NOSE: on Day 1 this was lactic and rich with a note of hay; strong jalapeno note on Day 1, too. I really wasn’t a big fan of the lactic/rich/hay aspect of this on Day 1. Surprisingly, on Day 3, the Nose was not only still expressive, but had become quite bright — simply, I liked the aromatics much more on Day 3 than I did on Day 1.
BODY: medium pale yellow; medium-light bodied.
TASTE: juicy — more pear than apple, but that combo is evident — less rich than Bearwallow or Alpine, but more than Mt. Pajaro; high acidity; was surprised to see this ranked #3 on Day, ahead of only Mt. Pajaro for me, and ahead of only Bearwallow for Ash. This showed better on Day 3 — it seemed tighter and less rich/big than the Alpine & Bearwallow, but still with ample stuffing; probably my favorite on Day 3, just barely surpassing the Alpine, which put-on a lot of weight between Day 1 and Day 3. Drink Now and over the medium term.
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