2011 Rhys Alpine PN

WINE TALK
1

My wife assumed that this recently arrived bottle standing in the cellar NEAR “her” bin was the same as being IN “her” bin and opened it. And when I came home, I discovered the mistake, and she told me she didn’t like it. When I tasted it, I agreed…it tasted a bit green and herbaceous and did not improve over the evening…? related to the stems?
Not sure if this is a phase, or a characteristic of this particular vineyard in 2011, or a characteristic of the 2011’s in general…but I am hoping not. Only had one bottle of the Alpine, so not of great concern, unless the other 2011’s share this characteristic.
Anyone else have any tasting notes on this wine since release?

2

Doubt it was stems; I think Alpine was mostly or totally destemmed in '11. Probably just a bad time to visit a bottle. I think it’ll be a few years for any of the cooler vintage '11 Pinots to strut their stuff. I hope so, because I have several.

Cheers,
Warren

3

A “her” bin? Why didn’t I think of that?

4

Yes, one day years ago I came home from work and we were going to make pizza. I noticed a familiar label on an opened bottle on the counter. It was an 82 Mouton. Went well with the pizza. I decided I needed to dedicate a few bins that my wife was welcome to grab wine from without asking.

5

There’s an old thread on topic with lots of suggestions: Cooking wine my wife chose tonight - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers

6

Robert,
Your post made me realize that for some reason our 2011 TNs are no longer on the website. We will fix that. In any case the 2011 Alpine is definitely in a “do not open under any circumstances” phase right now. It showed much better earlier which gives me confidence that it will integrate and return to form with some bottle age. The Family Farm is similarly not ready.
I think the Skyline, Home and Bearwallow would be the best candidates for an early check-in on 2011 (though all will benefit from more cellar time).

7

I didn’t care of it either (I had ordered it by mistake) but it’s definitely not a 2011 thing. The Bearwallow was beautiful a few weeks ago.

8

Kevin,
Unfortunately it was an unintended early check-in! I will let the rest of the 2011’s sleep along with all of their siblings from the past few vintages.
Glad to hear this was not representative of how it showed earlier or a vintage characteristic.
Thank you.

9

Montrachet chicken. [cry.gif]

10

Very interesting. I went back to look at my notes from a year ago, and the Alpine was in the top tier of the lineup for me.

11

Never had mistakes of that magnitude, but have a had a few plus a few broken bottles from when she rooted around. Now I have a “Drinkers” bin she can pull from with impunity.