I just finished reading the October Wine Spectator, which has a cover story of California pinot noir. I thought it was odd that Rhys wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the article, but whatever, there’s a lot of California pinot wineries to talk about. But then, they have a listing “Alphabetical Guide to California Pinot Noir”, and Rhys isn’t even listed. They managed to list Kirkland, Layer Cake, and Toad Hollow but there’s nothing for Rhys. Does anyone know the backstory here? This has to be more than an oversight.
They clearly didn’t pay Laube and co. enough of a bribe.
Does it really matter Rhys wasn’t mentioned?
I don’t that Rhys wasn’t mentioned matters, either. Is it possible Rhys doesn’t send wines to WS to taste and thus the omission?
Not carried by BevMo, Total Wine, Safeway and the like. No plush, fancy “wine lifestyle” tasting room to feature. Don’t advertise in the mag.
Nope. I am sure I could find other wineries not mentioned too.
Well, my thought is that Rhys is a pretty big deal for California pinot. And if you make a list of 251 producers from California and Rhys isn’t on the list, that is a really glaring omission. But I see that Arcadian isn’t on the list either, and likely others. It seems odd to make a story about California pinot noir and not include the major players.
They do exactly the same thing with other grape varieties. Wine Spectator is not remotely comprehensive.
Yup, Joe. Rhys is a pretty big player in the Calif Pinot world and I, too, thought the omission a bit of a puzzle.
Tom
Obviously, they do not advertise. Remember 15 or so years ago, when their featuring of Kosta Brown and the cover photo virtually made the winery? That an DuMol.
They don’t review every wine made, just what they can get to or what is sent to them. It would be impossible to review every wine in CA and they have publishing deadlines so if they haven’t reviewed a particular wine, it finds its way into their database later on and doesn’t get included in their big story. There are probably a lot of wines that people think are really significant that don’t get included in a roundup article. It’s not a big deal IMO.
Also, Laube has stepped back and isn’t reviewing much any more. Kim Marcus is their main guy in CA now. Laube did a big article on Rhys back when they started and he reviewed them at least through 2011.
Today the people who love Rhys are not going to be swayed by an article, and if the article wasn’t fawning enough, it would probably be slammed anyway. Plus, this way all these folks are talking about it so Rhys is getting more publicity than they would have otherwise. Maybe they paid Kim to leave them out?
And there are wineries who specifically ask not to be included or written about. So ask why not just Kevin or Kim?
First off, please define ‘major player’? To whom?
Did they include Mt. Eden? How about Hanzell? Whitcraft? Tyler?
How many wineries in CA produce Pinot?
It.certainly might have been an oversight, or they may have dropped off their radar for some reason.
Cheers.
Are there scores for Kirkland, Layer Cake, and Toad Hollow? I’d be eager to see those reviews.
I see this as Joe does. If you’re gonna list wineries like the aforementioned, then why not fill in the picture with wineries who are investing in this varietal. Was Kutch mentioned? What about Rivers-Marie?
There is a precise grand total of exactly one Pinot Noir from the Santa Cruz Mountains, California’s greatest terroir for the grape… 2014 Black Ridge, rated 89. I have never heard of them, no surprise even though I am a Santa Cruz Mountain fanatic. Not only no Rhys, but no Mount Eden, Thomas Fogarty, Alfaro, Windy Oaks, Soquel &c.
Overall ratings are pretty low, I assume because so few California Pinots are thick and alcoholic and sweet.
Dan Kravitz
Maybe they ran out of printer ink after writing about Jon Bon Jovi and his ‘Hampton Water’ rose.
But those are just two that you would have included, and out of many. Again, not every PN producer is included, nor does the WS claim that they were. They’ve indeed included many who are investing in the grape, both big and small, some older and some newer than Rhys - Sea View, Hirsch, Three Sticks, Red Car, Aubert, Roar, Black Kite, Wrath, Ektimo, Brulium, Merry Edwards, Williams-Selyem, etc.
The article is just an overview, not an exhaustive list, and they did a fair job, given the fact that they typically don’t go into too much depth and try to provide a general overview of wines that might be available. With their demographic, I would think that listing wineries like Kirkland and Layer Cake and Meiomi will resonate far more with their readers than listing a few more hard-to-get producers.
And it’s the same with every article they write. In the same issue, they write about Spain. I know lots of producers that weren’t included and could argue that some of them are more important than Rhys by far. But that’s never been the point of their articles. The October issue has been superseded by at least two, one of which is their annual Cab issue. That does not provide and exhaustive list of Cab producers either. Unless we’re all channeling Hillary, I doubt very much that there’s some kind of conspiracy.
There’s better information available for free on this forum than any issue of Wine Spectator.
Why not write a letter to the editor, and ask why they skip many of the top CA Pinot producers.
OK, Rhys is new and limited.
Mount Eden is an historically great winery. Their ‘second label’, Domaine Eden, was served at the Merkel - Wettin wedding, which got some press. The wines are probably available in about 25 states. What is the excuse here? This is shoddy.
Dan Kravitz
Wine Spectator doesn’t really review the IPOB style CA Pinot Noirs very well, so I think many of them avoid submitting. I work for a Santa Barbara producer who scores consistently in the low to mid-90’s (and sometimes high 90’s) from Vinous, Advocate and Wine Enthusiast. The most recent Spectator article scored the wines in 80’s. What’s the point of submitting? I’m sure Rhys and Ceritas and others feel the same way.