TN's: Alesia/Rhys Tasting

Friday night several of us got together to enjoy some wine, food and company. The theme was a celebration of Rhys/Alesia. We did include a few others.
A really grand night. Some wonderful people.

Here are some notes from the tasting.

All wines were double decanted and left open for 4 to 5 hours afterwards except the Chardonnays.



Chardonnay (Unblinded)


Rhys 2005

A reductive note on the nose. The palate is full and shows pretty good fruit. An element of charcoal on the finish that takes away a little from the experience.

Rhys 2006

A limpid crystal clear color. The nose is so nice. Fruit and minerals in harmony. The palate is full and extends for some time. A+ stuff.

Rhys 2007

A really effusive nose of floral elements and bright white fruit. The palate is lighter here. It dances more in the mouth. The fruit is dominating at this point but the finish goes on and on. When this tames with some time. Look out! A wine of finesse.

Aubert “Lauren” 2007

A riper nose with a hint of vanillin. There is more power here. The palate shows a great harmony of fruit and some spicy elements. The length is fantastic. Again this needs time to tame all the elements. This is fabulous.



Flight One (Alesia 2006) Blinded



Wine One

A gorgeous wine out of the gate. Lots of bright red fruit but with good focus. Good concentration here. A nice finish. Not really complex but very satisfying.

Wine Two

Lighter. The nose shows bright red pinot fruit. There is an extra element and sensation of minerals on the palate here. Fantastic length here. I liked this quite a bit.

Wine Three

Darker and spicier. The nose shows an almost earthy dark pinot fruit. Clean. Good focus. Very good length. A very good wine but not one of my favorites.

Wine Four

Very closed in on the nose and palate. This is more structured. Nice pure dark red pinot fruit. A nice finish. This just needs time to age.

Wine Five

Lighter color. A glorious nose. A mix of darker pinot fruit and some spice. The palate is light in the mouth but just bursts with flavor. A long finish. This was my personal favorite and along with #2 one of the best for the group.

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  1. Alesia 2006 Sonoma Coast
  2. Alesia 2006 Falstaff Vineyard
  3. Alesia 2006 Chileno Vineyard
  4. Alesia 2006 Green Valley
  5. Alesia 2006 San Mateo



    Flight Two (Alesia and Others 2007) Blinded


    Wine One

A fantastically rich nose of red to dark red pinot fruit. An element of spice that is totally integrated. An incredible palate presence with almost perfect harmony. Long in the mouth. Dominated by fruit at this point. This should become something very good.

Wine Two

A lighter color here. More restrained nose of darker fruit. The palate shows beautiful darker fruit. Pure and focused. This needs some time to flesh out.


Wine Three

Less concentration here. More floral elements and spice in the nose. A beautiful reddish pinot fruit here with some other element that adds a little complexity. Good length. Dominated by fruit at this point but this is nice.

Wine Four

Darker and concentrated. Very fruit forward. Some element of complex spice. Rich in the mouth but sexy. Doesn’t become too strong or overwhelm you. Very good harmony here. This is the flashy one. This took several first place votes.


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  1. Kutch 2007 Sonoma Coast
  2. Alesia 2007 Green Valley
  3. Alesia 2007 Falstaff Vineyard
  4. Kutch 2007 Kanzler Vineyard




    Flight Three (Rhy’s and Copain) Blinded



    Wine One

Dark fruit. A complex nose that is fruit forward. The palate shows great volume. Dark fruit and finishing spice. Terrific.


Wine Two

Oh my! The nose here is intoxicating. More complex dark fruit and spice. The palate is multidimensional. What incredible length. Wow!!!

Wine Three

This one is very one dimensional at this point. Darker fruit. There is good acidity, which balanced it on the finish. This needs some time.


Wine Four

Dark fruit. Again this is rather fruit driven. The finish is nice and there is good volume but this needs time.

Wine Five

The nose is rather closed in on this one. There is a focus and clarity of fruit on the nose and palate that is special. This needs time to unwind.

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  1. Rhys Alpine 2006
  2. Rhys Home 2004 (BT Bob’s and glad to have more)
  3. Copain Kiser en Haut 2006
  4. Rhys Alpine 2006 (Yes. I screwed up and opened this instead of Hillside)
  5. Rhys Swan Terrace 2006



    Flight Four (Dain, Rhys, Roumier, Kutch, Rivers Marie) Double Blinded

These wines even with palate fatigue were uniformly rocking good.


Wine One

A gorgeous nose of almost floral type dark pinot fruit. The palate is so wonderfully balanced. Fabulous length. I really liked this!


Wine Two

Very lush and big fruited. The nose and palate show very nice balance and vibrancy despite this. A really nice finish.

Wine Three

Dark pinot fruit and spice on the nose. A subtle palate that just brims with minerality. Great length. I loved this.

Wine Four

Holy S… This is the total package. Medium concentrated red fruit with floral elements. The palate is so seductive. Vibrant. Incredible length despite being young. Profound. Wow!!!

Wine Five

This is a wine that shows great restraint. Focused red fruit. Pure. Vibrant in the mouth. This only needs some time to flesh out complexity. This is special.

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  1. Dain Savage Juliette 2007
  2. Rivers-Marie Summa Vineyard 2006
  3. Kutch McDougal 2007
  4. Roumier Chambolle-Musigny 2005
  5. Rhys Skyline Vineyard 2007

A really great finishing flight!

WsOTN for me. Tie: 2005 Roumier Chambolle-Musigny and 2004 Rhys Home Vineyard.


We had some sweets at the end. What a grand evening.
Kevin. You are just the best. Some incredible wines. Thanks so much.
Big thanks also to Dain and Jamie. Some incredible wines there too.

Good luck with your odds and ends purchases. Some great values to be had I am sure.

Here are a few photos from Charles Johnson.

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Cheers,

Don

Outstanding lineup Don. Thanks for the notes.

This was really a great night of wine.
Each of the wines was outstanding in its own right.
Would be happy to keep my cellar full of any or all of them.
Some of the best Cali pinot going; even in their youth, they shined.
A great evening with great guys.
Thanks, Don!

Don, thanks for sharing your house and wines. Great notes…always good to see wines from year to year.

I was searching for something and stumbled upon this old thread.
What a great night of wine. Fun to look back on some of these early Rhys and Kutch wines.
I cannot believe it’s been 10 years. Where does the time go?

Incredible dumpster dive. I am drinking a 2009 Rhys Horseshoe Pinot right now, and it’s special.

Wow, great tasting. I still have bottles left of most of the Rhys/Alesias you had that night and have also had many of the Alesias in the past few years as well. I’ve been pretty happy with almost all of them.

That was a lot of fun!

Would be fun to revisit some of the older Rhys/Alesia wines from that night. I know where to find you. [cheers.gif]

That sounds like a wonderful night! Thanks for the notes. With the Rhys futures offer sitting in my inbox I’ve been waivering on whether or not to exercise my offer for some 375s. I think this solidifies it.

TW

That idea is why I mentioned that I have them, I’d love to share some older wines with people who would appreciate them.

This thread made me think the same thing! 10 years, Wow! It feels like yesterday.
Thanks to everyone for taking this journey with us!!

Count me in! [cheers.gif]

Let’s do it. I offer up my house again. I still have some of those Alesias too. No 2004 Homes however now. That wine was SO good.

I still have a few from ‘08, ‘10 and ‘12. Sounds like we could do a fun “first decade” testing.

(I’ve got some '07 still! happily in!)

Sounds like a great tasting.

I too have a few from ‘07-‘09 that I have to find the right occasions to pop.

think i have one. absolutely have a solo 2004 vintage bottle left

and a magnum of 2006. waiting for the proper venue

Wasn’t my intention, but I do like what I have done here. I have a couple of '07 and '08s lingering.
Let’s get it on the books, boys! [cheers.gif]