My order was delivered to my office in DC yesterday. Everything looked fine. Bottles felt cold- which is fine. I will put the wines away and not touch for two/three years. I guess we are all watching how Rhys wines age. From initial experience, I think they are longer lived than most Cal. PN, but not so long lived you can’t enjoy a bottle at age 3/4, and maybe peak by age 5-7. Fortunately, have some 06 and 07 - but one always feels like they have less Rhys then they would like to have given the high quality.
Kevin, I have noticed in the last year or two, some orders from CA taking more than a week to arrive - use to be wine that went out from CA on Monday would show up that Thurs/Fri, which meant not having the wine sit during the weekend, awaiting Monday delivery! Hopefully, UPS can get back to that for products like wine that are sensitive to temperature shifts during transit.
Same here in central Virginia. Up until this year a shipment from CA sent on Monday would get here by Thursday or Friday. Everything this year is Monday to Monday so far. Not really thrilled about it.
Yes you must! I couldn’t do it… had some good friends visiting who I knew would appreciate it so no regrets opening, but this needs time!
2008 Rhys Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard- USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (11/6/2010)
Yellow. Complex nose of oak, butterscotch, pineapple, minerality and a touch of sulfur. High-acid entry to the palate, more pineapple and oak, but not as much as on the nose. Rich and complex but disjointed at this stage. Tons of potential but leave these alone for awhile.
wish that California to California shipments would go GSO–Golden State Overnight. Cheap, reliable, overnight delivery. (no affiliation, yada, yada, yada)
alan
We’re looking into it Alan, and may well do a trial w/ GSO in the spring. It’s another logistical hurdle to integrate their software and ship via two carriers, as we do everything in house, but the improved service times to socal are a major draw and you are certainly not GSO’s only fan. It’s too bad they don’t also do standard overnight to AZ!
Josh - The weather was cool so this is really a Nitpick but when shipping cross country Ground the best day for wine to leave CA is Thursday not Monday. I know there is real inertia behind Monday shipping but it’s based on assumptions that are no longer true; neither FedEx nor UPS make it accross the country within a week reliably. If you ship on a Thursday it will usually arrive the following Wednesday or Thursday and have Friday as a recovery day if there is a mishap like missing the UPS man or weather related delay en route.
Yes, we opened one the day they arrived (how could you not!)
2008 Rhys Alpine Vineyard PN - Black Cherry, Violet, Clove, Concentrated, Complex – it is going to be goooooood in time. I’m such a baby killer!
Based on this wine, it seems 2008 will be an exceptional Rhys vintage. Just had the 2006 Alpine a few days before and it pales by comparison. Though I was a bit loaded when I got to the 2006 so take that for what its worth.
Taylor, I had the 06 Alpine a month ago and really found it to be developing nicely - medium weight - nicely concentrated flavors - forest floor nuances beginning to integrate - a year or three away - one of the best CA pinots I’ve tried.
I have yet to actually open one of my own bottles of the estate wines, but have opened one bottle of most of the alesia wines. feel safer that way as Jeff advised me to wait a few more years on the estate ones. I have tasted all the estate wines from 06, 07 and 08 when visiting them and I agree with him. when to open them? 06’s need another 3 years, 07 5 and if I can control myself, 8-10 for the 08’s
Indeed, Monday shipments barely make it to St. Louis by Friday.
And, to the point of this thread, just got my first Rhys bottles last week. While the temptation is strong, I’m holding off on opening any for a year or two.
Got a chance to taste the '08 Alpine fresh off the truck the other day, and it was very accessible right out of the gate, moreso than any Rhys I can remember. If you haven’t had Rhys before, this one is worth trying to see what they’re all about.
I agree Keith. I opened an '08 Alpine Monday night and thought it was very tasty (but then I like young Burgs too). I think it will be much better in a few years but offers a lot now for the impatient.
The '08 Sonoma Coast is similarly approachable but I would recommend against opening the Family Farm right now.
We looked pretty hard at this David. It turns out that, according to UPS, ground shipments don’t move over the weekend, they stay in a hub. We considered shipping on Thursday or Friday, thinking that we’d get some “free shipping” days over the weekend and people would get their wine sooner. UPS informed us that it wasn’t true. So the logistics of trying to figure out where the wines will spend the weekend is pretty much impossible. UPS couldn’t tell us either. If we ship from CA, it might spend the weekend in LA, or Vegas or Denver, etc. Unless UPS changes their travel times, we haven’t found a way to keep the wine from being in a warehouse over the weekend. We spend a lot of time and energy trying to maximize our shipping efficiency, so if we can find a better solution, we’ll do it.
I’ve got several different shipments coming via FedEx that were shipped Monday and are scheduled to be delivered tomorrow, Friday. I’ll report back on when they get delivered.
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Fortunately, have some 06 and 07 - but one always feels like they have less Rhys then they would like to have given the high quality.![[help.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/4/4030a9a60185376a7393a78002ce3ec0176e975e.gif "help"){kind=small}
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just got my first Rhys bottles last week. While the temptation is strong, I’m holding off on opening any for a year or two.