I’ll bring the Truchot, you bring the DRC.
1 Like
I imagine you have more Truchot than I have DRC, maybe a Rousseau Chambertin.
-Al
Order in! Please let me know if you do the blowout party (post Covid; my wine will still get shipped to the Midwest). I am really tired of looking at snow in Chicagoland…
Cheers,
JP
2015 Rhys Pinot Noir Anderson Valley (USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley)
Got this for $33 in Minneapolis. Super solid for the price.
Embrace the snow: like a sullen teenager, it’ll be out of the house before you know it!
1 Like
I recently opened a 2010 Family Farm that I can’t really say was “evolving”. I think my problem with the wines is that they begin well enough, but by the second day become a bit boring.
Interesting. I love Alpine, the Hillsides, Bearwallow and Horseshoe. But not a fan of Family Farm or Home. They come across as generic Pinot Noir at best. Yet, there are those who love them. That’s why having the option is important. Not because I dislike them, but because there are many who like them.
They have sucked at delivery and communication about delivery for years. Every once in a while they “apologize” for it, then they go back to the same old ways of 6-12 month (or longer) delayed from when we are told the wines will ship.
Honestly wish I did not like the wines so much.
I guess maybe I’m not as worried about when the wines will be delivered. I live in a very cold winter state, so I rarely believe it when they say they will deliver during that time.
I know what I’ve ordered and they have never failed to deliver what I ordered. If its late, I don’t really care as their wines rarely show best at release, but need a few years in the cellar.
This is a strange “release” thread.
I’m somewhat new to this site, and I don’t participate much. I do however recognize trends and can figure out which wines are forum favorites. Rhys is most definitely a forum favorite. At least I thought it was until reading through this thread. I have seen this winery mentioned many times over my short time here. So much, in fact, I registered with Rhys’ waiting list last fall and was just offered wine last week. I ordered two of each, with the exception of the two +100ppb wines. Figured that will the forum praise I’ve read, this is a wine worth trying.
So now I read through this particular thread and I’m wondering…what the hell??? Did I just waste ~$850?? If I did, no biggie… I’ve blown a lot more money on dumber things than wine.
Only you will know if the wines are worth it. People complaining about the shipping did of course order the wines, presumably because they like them.
Part of the oddity of this thread is that usually a few of the bigger fans have tasted the wines and posted their impressions in advance, but I’m assuming their silence is due to COVID restrictions precluding their visit with Kevin and Jeff. Thus the thread is lacking any first-hand impressions of the wine, other than those of critics.
Some of are just annoyed that communication about shipping is not as forthright as it should be. I love the wines.
There is also the fact that all forum favorites always have people who are less enthused or downright negative on the wines. I am personally the naysayer for a couple of them. It’s a personal taste thing.
The Rhys wines are impeccably put together from vineyard to bottle. Whether they ring your chimes is only to be found after popping some corks.
Rhys is an unusual California winery in that the Pinots really seem to need a lot of age to show well. I’ve been buying since the 2007 vintage and my tasting notes for the earlier vintages contain phrases like “probably better in 5 years” and “I wonder where this wine is headed”. The two positives are that the tasting notes tend to be more positive the longer the Pinot has been in the cellar and that my initial tasting notes for more recent vintages tend to be more positive than for the same wine in earlier vintages. Whether this reflects older vines, better farming, or better weather, I haven’t a clue. Probably all three.
All that said, my best experiences to date have been with the Syrah and Chardonnay, both of which seem to reward shorter-term aging. The 2010 Rhys Horseshoe Vineyard Syrah is one of the best wines that I had last year. Just freakin awesome. There was a weightless intensity that is hard to describe or even believe was real. I’m hoping that a few of the Pinots achieve the same thing with a little more age. If they do, then all the time and money will have been worth it.
Thanks for the additional info on the wines. I’m not trying to be mellow dramatic, just curious about the odd tone of comments seen in this thread. In comparison, if one reads other discussions on this forum regarding wine releases, it’s generally all enthusiastic.
Thanks to travel restrictions/difficulties, my trips to wine country have been put on hold, so I find new wines vicariously through this board… Rhys is only one of several I’ve added to my list of wineries to try.
Sounds as if I will like Rhys Pinots. I prefer wine with some age on it.
The 2010 Horseshoe Syrah is the best Rhys wine I’ve had by a fair margin. And this was way back in 2015. I have one left that I’m very much looking forward to.
1 Like
I am simultaneously happy to see that my impression of the 2010 Horseshoe Syrah is shared by a fellow wine geek and sad not to read that the 2010 was the fifth best Horseshoe Syrah that you’ve tasted. Time to open a different vintage and see what I think.
11 Bearwallow opened yesterday was entering secondary development with lingering fruit. Really good. The PN need age and are not pop and pour friendly.
Just as with any other thread on WB, you need to learn to read between the lines sometimes. The bottom line is that if these wines sound interesting to you and align with your palate, you should go for them. There’s plenty of other sources to ascertain whether these might align with you - and the best place would be CellarTracker I believe because there will be more notes there than here.
I think there are some ‘cautionary tales’ here from folks that have had ‘issues’ getting their wines for one reason or another - and those should not be taken lightly. And at the end of the day, no one fits all palates, so there may be some who have not be enamored with the wines as they either felt they would be based on others’ notes or based on the very high expectation based on the reputation of the producer.
Cheers.
I decided to give the Mt. Pajaro Chardonnay a test drive this evening. It’s the first wine from the vineyard I’ve tried and I’m intrigued.
2018 Rhys Chardonnay Mt. Pajaro Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (2/15/2021)
From 375 ml - It’s on the tropical side but not excessively so, with pineapple and melon along with wet river stones, it is deceptively intense on the palate with a refreshing spike of mouth-watering acidity in the middle and impressive length. It reminds me of a young Cotat Sancerre in a good way and isn’t like any other Rhys Chardonnay I’ve had. (92 pts.)
I had a 375ml of the Alpine, Bearwallow, and Horseshoe tonight. It made me very glad to have splits to compare and contrast, and also very confused the Rhys Vintage Chart says to drink all of the 13 pinots. Even with a decant (and from splits), they too a long time to evolve. I would have expected a drink/hold. Kevin?
Rama,
To clarify, “drink” on our chart does not mean “drink up”. It means that the wine is ready to drink and can be opened and enjoyed.
It’s very hard to give drinking window recommendations as everyone has different preferences. Personally, I prefer younger wine than many people. With that caveat, I see your point. The 2013s are quite approachable but still evolving positively. We are going to change some of them to “drink/hold” to make that more clear.