Prince of Pinot Newsletter April 15, 2013 and Rhys

Do you think he liked the Rhys lineup? Spelunking & Tasting at Rhys Vineyards | The PinotFile: Volume 9, Issue 23

Matches up pretty close with what I tasted recently. I left feeling very enthused about the 2012 in barrel. Gonna have to save up the wine budget to max everything out and wishlist everything I can. Swan Terrace and Alpine Hillside (!!) are making reappearances in 2012.

Kevin mused that he may end up releasing all of the 2011s in one shot, and the 2012s may end up a 3-release vintage.

My credit card would certainly appreciate that.

I doubt it.
Total quantity purchased is mostly likely going way up for every one

There is really nothing quite like Rhys (just as nothing exists quite like Ridge). Exciting for the SCM to be widely recognized for world-class Pinot as well as Cabernet.

I wonder why he didn’t comment on the Syrahs? Does he skip them because he is a Pinot-only reviewer? (That doesn’t seem right given his comments on the Chardonnay… so maybe he is Burgundy-heritage only???)

Mark,
We didn’t show Rusty our Syrahs. I assumed that he doesn’t typically look at Syrahs but I don’t know if that assumption is correct.

thanks Kevin!

Sounds promising! Credit Card is whimpering though.

Very nice write-up, glad it was posted. Its frankly too bad that the yields of 2011 were so low - the musings from out of the bottle appear to be extremely positive.

This is the first time that I’ve heard that Rhys is planning to graft their Skyline Vineyard syrah over to pinot. That is both great news and terrible news in my opinion. It will be fantastic to have more Skyline pinot, but I was also a huge fan of the Skyline syrah. It will be missed.

Kevin or Jeff, what will be the last vintage of the Skyline syrah?

Awaiting the glorious day when I’m awarded an allocation!

We should form a support group

2012 should be a vintage where many will get off the waitlist… 2011 will be tough.

I feel exactly the same way. I love Skyline Syrah but I love Skyline Pinot more. It is a very tough choice but when you find a Pinot site with the potential of Skyline it seems like a crime not to make more.
The current plan is to replant the Syrah with Pinot after the 2013 vintage.

Of course, as these things always go, after making the decision we’ve really been digging the Skyline Syrah. We think that the '10 and '11 versions both turned out quite good and the '12 looks like it will be a monster wine. Compound this with the fact that we won’t be regrafting but actually replanting, so even though we’ve committed to ripping off the band-aid, we’re still going to bleed out for a few years while we wait.

Will Horseshoe be the only syrah, or do you have plans for syrah at a different vineyard?

BJ

I have yet to open either syrah, but the TN’s I have seen all seem to prefer the Horseshoe and it does sound like Skyline has the potential to create the best pinot in the Rhys portfolio, so I’m all for the decision.

So, the Skyline Pinot note had this quote in it:

Price was raised in this vintage and some complained, but everyone asked for more.

The 2011 hasn’t been released yet, so is this comment really about the 2010, which did have a price increase (not sure about the complaints or asking for more, but could see both with a single-bottle allocation and the higher price)?

Cheers,
fred

BJ,
After 2013, we would just have Horseshoe unless we planted some new Syrah. Bearwallow would be a great candidate for a very cool climate Syrah (similar to Horseshoe in style) but we haven’t made any new plans for Syrah.