2015 Rhys Blancs de Blancs Bearwallow Vineyard- USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley (8/24/2020)
What I like about this wine is the Ca. sunshine fleshy fruit…green caramel apple, pear…some exotics of almond liqueur, lychee, lees…mousse is of a nice marsala/ginger creme…somewhat soft, but doesn’t really coat the palate, and dissipates quickly. Dried candied fruits aren’t melding well with the dry, non flavored, citrus acidity.
What I’m not liking here in this wine is…it’s harsh. The bubbles are harsh, almost like carbonation…there is no elegance, no fine bead texture…more like chugging a 7up with a mouthful of pop rocks! Very disjointed…and when you keep burping after just about every sip???
Not the worst wine I’ve ever had…I actually do get some enjoyment out of this wine…and know the quality that Rhys seeks in their wines are of the utmost highest. I’m just a HUGE Ultramarine fan, and unfortunately I’m going to use them as a benchmark here in this category of high end Ca. Sparklers…and Rhys has a long way to go. (85 pts.)
My note from November of last year. Not completely fair to have it in the company of 08 Dom and 08 Cristal, but still—I wrote the note after tasting it and before the others.
"2015 Rhys Blanc de Blancs
This has good bubbles and initial entry, but nothing stands out and sort of short finish. Glad to try, though, haven’t had one before."
I had a recent bottle with a very similar impression. No idea when I’ll get around to opening my second bottle. Pretty disappointing given the price.
2015 Rhys Blancs de Blancs Bearwallow Vineyard- USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley (8/1/2020)
Eh, nice flavor profile with green apple and some toast notes on the nose. Unfortunately rather flat and plump on the palate and quickly fades. Minimal depth here. And rather fatiguing on the palate in the Texas heat. Reminded me a Loire sparking chenin blanc. Poor QPR. (84 pts.)
2015 Rhys Blancs de Blancs Bearwallow Vineyard- USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley (12/16/2019) A small impromptu dinner - 08 Champagne and Chateau Margaux (Clarity - Vienna, Virginia): This is fresher and cleaner compare to the 2014 Ultramarine. Unfortunately it lacks complexity and richness. The nose is straightforward, apple ad a hint of smoke. Medium concentration, coarse abundant mousse, fresh apple fruit, good acidity and mineral and a medium finish. It reminds me cremant de Loire. It is fresh but sharp and not terribly interesting. (89 pts.)
I felt the same way about the 12 but the 14 was really impressive.
2014 Ultramarine Blanc de Blancs Heintz Vineyard Sonoma Coast- USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (12/16/2019) A small impromptu dinner - 08 Champagne and Chateau Margaux (Clarity - Vienna, Virginia): Expressive nose displaying rich yellow fruit, peach, sour apple, apple pie, oyster shell, a hint of brioche, sweet spices and mineral. Excellent concentration, nicely layered sweet yellow fruit, medium fine medium abundant mousse, rich yet good precision and balance, bright acidity, strong limestone mineral and a long sweet yellow fruit driven finish with brioche and oyster shell at the end. This is significantly better than the 12 which I had in April, 2017. If tasted blind, I would have guessed as Champagne, others agree. This is rich and complex, really enjoyable. (94 pts.)
Kevin, interesting that both of us felt this this resembled a Cremant de Loire rather than a sparking Chardonnay. To me is was the simplicity and softer body that was not what I would expect from a blanc de blanc.
Recently tried second bottle of the Rhys BdB and I think it’s improved over the one I tried back in December, shortly after shipping. For its price, it’s lacking the concentration or complexity I’d expect in a similarly priced champagne but it’s unique and still very enjoyable. It definitely has that chenin chalkiness to it (Kudos to Josh and Kevin for the analogy) and I’m optimistic it will develop more weight while shedding what some have described as the dosage sweetness on the entry. That element seemed to fade quite a bit over these past few months and allowed the mid and finish to show through more. If Kevin H and crew had held these on the lees longer to develop more yeasty aromas and flavors I imagine it would be more of a crowd pleaser.
Haven’t had an ultramarine since the 2013 vintage - I gave up on them after overwhelming “oxidized apples”, as Kevin S described in his note above. It seemed like the only thing I could smell and taste on 2/3 of the bottles I consumed. The other 1/3 were jaw dropping though - so balanced, hitting way above their weight class and much better than their champagne price equivalents. I believe those rare bottles are the ones that generated such hype and I would continue buying at double the price if they were consistently sound.
Not so much a touch crowd, but rather people understandably expecting a great bottle of sparkling wine being a first release from Rhys priced at $80/bottle
I am sorry to hear that this wine has been controversial. We have had strongly differing feedback from customers on this wine that I have not been able to entirely rationalize.
In any case we want our customers to be completely satisfied and we are happy to refund or replace any bottle of our wine that you are not happy with. Please contact us via email and we will follow up.
I’m guilty of being part of that tough crowd sometimes, no question about that. As can often happen, it now seems like a pile-on and I don’t think it’s justified.
I do give more leeway to the Rhys team based on their history of experimentation and laser focus on incremental improvement each vintage, so maybe my opinion should be cast aside. In this case, what were everyone’s expectations going into buying this? I would never expect them to make a champagne copycat or simply try to recreate what ultramarine has done (which IMO has many issues, especially with the first four vintages seeing massive bottle variation). It’s also the very first vintage and we’re less than a year out from when it was shipped.
Considering they release a still chardonnay, pinot and hillside pinot from this vineyard, part of what I was looking to get was a well made and unique bottle of wine that is a continuing story of the terroir that they’ve invested so much into. All of those still wines take many years to show well and I expect this sparkling to do the same - I think they could have let this sit on the lees longer and developed a yeast bomb which would satisfy some market, but I’m glad they didn’t (though maybe there’s a late disgorged in the future?). If I was judging this on an isolated basis against similarly price champagnes I’d probably be disappointed as well, but I think it’s the wrong lens, especially with this board’s history and experience with Rhys/Kevin/Jeff.
With all that said, I’m disappointed that I missed the latest zero dosage Rhys sparkling release as it sold out while I was rafting down a river. Looking forward to reviews on those and hopefully I can nab some in subsequent releases.
Thanks James! I appreciate your kind words.
As a fellow wine geek, I appreciate passion, criticism and good discussion. While I am disappointed whenever people aren’t wowed with one of our wines, I am also happy to see our wines as a point of discussion. It’s a privilege to have a discerning, passionate customer base and this provides good motivation to keep improving.
Our sparkling program is evolving very rapidly. The soon-to-be-released Ultra Brut is much more classical in style. Stylistically, we are always inherently classicists even though it can take a few tries to nail that mark. It will be interesting to see how people react to the Ultra Brut as it points in the direction we are heading.
Given the long aging on the lees, a sparkling program takes a very long time to ramp up but once there it can deliver great consistency especially in a reserve or Solera system (multi vintage reserve). Within a couple of years, we will have enough vintages included to launch our “Perpetual Reserve” which will be a cornerstone of this program. The Ultra Brut is a predecessor of this series. Meanwhile we have several vintage bottlings - Mt Pajaro Blanc des Blancs, Bearwallow vintage (Chard and PN) and Bearwallow Rose - that will receive more time on the lees so are still a few years away. We have opened these recently and are very excited with the results.
In the near term, we have another Ultra Brut (3 vintages now) on tap for next year.
Thanks for your input and update on your sparkling program. I have long been a fan of Rhys wines and think they have steadily improved since I first began buying over a decade ago. For my palate, Rhys wines are in the upper echelon of Calfornia pinot and chardonnay.
That was my bottle of BdB that was shared with Kevin S. above; and all of us at this dinner had the same impression as Kevin described. I have no doubt that you and your team will continue to improve your sparklers. My struggle is more on the value (at present) - I can find very good champagne at less than half the cost of the Rhys BdB. Others may feel differently. I do, however, look forward to buying and trying these again in the next couple of years.
![[bye.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/9/984858d1d14f8b2f351499080ee63857219b69ad.gif "bye"){kind=small}
