Gilman is crazy about Rhys "Hillside" wines

Gilman’s latest newsletter landed today, and I just turned to the “neo-traditionalist” pages. It’s no surprise when Rhys grabs a bunch of raves, but the two new 2013 PN “Hillside” designates (essentially “Reserves”) from Alpine and Horseshoe got a head-turning 99 and 98 points, respectively. I can’t remember seeing numbers like this from him before, which is one of the reasons I take him seriously. As you’d imagine, the praise is effusive (both earn a “brilliant”) and the admonishments against popping either in the near term are stern.

wow, those are really high scores from him.

Will there be 750’s offered?

That’s because the wines are good.
John is very high on all of these 2013 wines from Rhys.

Y’all know I hate scores, but I have to ask. Does Gilman score in peer groups or is he more of a generalist?

In other words, are these 98/99 point wines in the universe of California Pinot, or is he saying that these are of top-DRC quality?

John is the only one who can answer this Brady.

Yes, they will be offered in 750ml and Magnum format.

Will these be released when they sell the Swan Terrace and Skyline? And is that after the first of the year?
Thanks,
Carlos

Carlos,
They will be offered in 2016. We are still considering whether they will be offered as part of the regular offering of 2013s or featured by themselves.

Congrats, Kevin. That’s quite an affirmation.

I’m sure you’ve answered this at least once before, but what was the production set aside for each of the Hillsides? For instance, Skyline produced 10 tons total, and of that, 0.5 tons were reserved from the hillside block for this bottling. TIA.

Rama - this thread sort of answers your question: Rhys Hillsides - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers

Rama,
The thread linked above has a longer explanation but the short answer is that the 2013 Hillsides were about 10-15% of the vineyards’ production.

Thanks Craig and Kevin. Trying to work backwards on what to expect on allocations. :wink:

Rama,
The production level of both Hillsides is similar to Skyline so that is a good proxy.

Thanks for the heads up. As I have already gone pretty long on the Rhys 13’s, I’ll be very happy to go even longer once these are offered.
I am especially looking forward to the large formats…

Gary

Reading through the newsletter now. He says pretty great things about Stewart’s 2012 too. Calls it a “a superb bottle in the making”.

Thanks Berry, you’ve prodded me to go read it. I share John’s fondness for several of Stew’s previous releases.

For anyone interested in reading what John wrote, we’ve posted it on our website - Reviews | Rhys

I read the Gilman writeup on the Rhys website. All I can say is…wow.

Cheers,
JP

I am not knocking Rhys at all, but Gilman seems insanely unpredictable to me. I have not been able to figure out his scores.