Yesterday was really one of the most amazing days I’ve had tasting wine, in a long time, if not ever. On Tuesday I had scheduled our 11am Wednesday morning tasting at Ridge. But beyond that I was still trying to decide what to do with our afternoon after that. Then at 8:30pm on Tuesday night, I received an email from Jeff at Rhys. He was going to be taking a break from blending on Wednesday and he said he would be happy to have us. I quickly replied and we planned to meet over there sometime in the afternoon. We started the day in Santa Cruz, picked up some cheeses and sandwiches from Zoccoli’s and headed over the hill.
We started the day with a tasting at Ridge. If you have never been up to the Monte Bello property, the views alone are worth it. We arrived shortly before 11am and after enjoying the views and weather, we were brought inside to taste. All the wines were opened about 1 ½ hours prior to our visit. I took no formal notes, so these are just my general impressions from memory.
Ridge Vineyards
2009 Ridge Estate Chardonnay – A nice way to start things off after coming in from the heat of the day. Nice nose of lemon, pineapple, and nutmeg. Really seemed and felt balanced and had a good finish.
2009 Ridge Geyserville Zinfandel – This is a Zin that seems made for summer. Nice nose of plums, cherries and some spice. Very easy drinking with a light feel. Everyone enjoyed this one and we bought a bottle to have with our picnic after the tasting.
2009 Ridge Lytton Spring Zinfandel – To be released this fall. Darker fruits and spice on the nose, great feel and finish. Another top notch effort from Ridge.
2006 Ridge Lytton Estate Syrah – 92% Syrah, 8% Viognier - Great nose of red fruits, anise, fennel, and hints of pepper. Really jumps out of the glass seemed to fill up the room. Nice feel and finish to this one as well.
2008 Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon (previously name SCM) – A mini-Monte Bello. Great nose lush feel with a finish that seemed to linger on.
2007 Ridge Monte Bello – Similar in profile to the Estate Cab, but more restrained and tannic. Should be excellent.
After we finished up at Ridge we started the treck over to Rhys. 45 minutes later we finally made it to the property. Wow, what a view. From there property you look over the valley to Ridge and then the bay area beyond that. Jeff came out of the caves to meet us and gave us a great geology lesson. As everyone in the group was a geek of some kind (wine, science, or what not), we were all fascinated by the details in the geology of the sites and how they contribute to the differences in the wine. Once the science lesson was over, Jeff took us into the caves for a tour and tasting. If you have never seen the caves they are incredible in both beauty and design. And if you have never had a tour and tasting with Jeff you are missing out, he’s incredibly generous with his time, knowledge and wine. He took us through the grand tour of the caves, following the path the grapes would take from harvest to bottle.
We tried 5 wines while on our visit and all were great wines. My brief impressions follow. All wines were opened about 4 hours prior to our visit.
Rhys Vineyards
2009 Rhys Alpine Chardonnay – WOW. STUNNING. The best Chardonnay I’ve ever had (from anywhere in the world). If I had to compare it just think of the best White Burg you’ve ever had. Incredible nose, great depth, structure, feel and finish. Just an amazing wine.
2009 Family Farm Pinot Noir – Even with 4 hours of air this seemed a bit tight, especially when compared to the rest of the wines. Nice nose with both red and dark fruits and some spice. Very balanced feel to it.
2009 Skyline Pinot Noir – Simply put, Delicious.
2009 Swan Terrace Pinot Noir – This also gets a WOW and STUNNING from me. As soon as he poured it I asked if it was the Alpine (I’ve only had the 04 Family Farm and 06 Alpine previously and the spicy nose from the Alpine still sticks with me and this reminded me of that). The nose jumps out of the glass with an incredible spice component that really grabbed me.
2009 Horseshow Pinot Noir – Yum!! This has a very different profile than the others, shower a darker fruit profile. Like all the other wines it sows incredible balance with a great feel and lingering finish.
As we finished things up and thanked Jeff and said goodbye, Jeff was generous enough to share the extras with us. I know 2 of the people in our group who had never tried anything from Rhys had both fallen in love with the wines, and were ecstatic with this. Each of them were hugging their favorite bottles on the way out while heaping praises and thanks to Jeff.
We took a beautiful drive home along skyline. Went from Rhys all the way across to Soquel/San Jose and then down to our place where we went back for a BBQ with everyone and a couple more friends. While sitting outside on a perfect evening enjoying the Corralitos Market bloddy mary marinated tri tip and pesto chicken we finished off the rest of the Rhys as well as a stunning bottle of 2001 Charvin CDP. While talking about the day we all came to the conclusion that we were incredibly lucky to have tasted the best (or close to it) examples of Cab, Pinot and Chardonnay that the world has to offer.