I’m sure this applies to other producers but maybe because I live sort of nearby I’m more fascinated by terroir in Rhys wines than in most other multi-vineyard wineries
Tonight I opened, with a dinner I actually put some effort into, with some Whole Foods black truffles that a chef friend told me to sautee in olive oil to release the flavor and it didn’t work, they were like delicious potato chips – wonderful but not strong flavored – while the refrigerator was redolent of truffles even though they were packed in Arborio with two layers of plastic – I lost my verb and subject but somewhere in this sentence is Rhys Alpine 2008 and Rhys Swan Terrace 2008, decanted, two hours is the absolute minimum right now, both terrific, both with bite and earth, and nothing like each other. More fun and educational than if I had only opened one. And each bottle has a third left for tomorrow.
Descriptors and specifics? First, I’m terrible at that, second, the only point of this post is, try two Rhyses from the same vintage next to each other with LOTS of air, it’s really revelatory about how terroir matters.
George,
Thanks for suggesting this type of tasting. I know it isn’t often possible to compare bottlings as you did, but illustrating and understanding the various personalities of our vineyards is one of our primary motivations at Rhys. It’s great to see our customers learning about our differences in terroir as I think it can really add to the enjoyment of opening our wines.
In addition to the site soil and exposure differences the clonal selections and rootstocks also vary, which makes for an interesting combination of factors in the end product.
Glenn,
At this point, our various vineyard bottlings are not a great way to explore differences in plant material since the aggregates vary by only small percentages. We do have various clonal/rootstock comparisons within vineyards which we evaluate each year prior to bottling. Over the years this has driven a regrafting program which has diminished the plant composition difference between vineyards as we have focused on a subset of the original 17 clones. We have also eliminated clones that we felt were less transparent to site character.
The Swan Terrace versus Alpine comparison that George mentioned comes the closest since the Swan Terrace does not include some of the clones that are used in Alpine but a large block of Alpine is planted with the exact same field selection and rootstock as the Swan Terrace. The blocks are 50 ft apart but have different aspect and soil depth. Each year we compare them and find the difference pretty striking and consistent across vintages.