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2006 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (3/4/2012)
Decanted at 1pm for an hour, then back in the bottle to slow-o for another 6 hours, recorked and brought to dinner. When first poured the wine did not show much, didn’t really appear tight, just a bit thin. Very nice brambly mature fruit with some fine dry tannins and mineral notes, certainly a big step above the typical Cali Pinot style. Darker in appearance than expected. I thought this was just the way it was, but while following for the next 2 hours, it did start to get a little bit bigger, fuller and the finish gained some length and added Vosne like tea notes and spice. Seems like it wants to be a Iron fist in a Velvet glove, and in a way it is, but while it is great in terms of balance and finesse, it just didn’t have quite enough to be exceptional…
This was the first '06 Alpine I popped. Next time I will leave it to decant for a few hours … I think this wine will continue to improve for another year or two.
To me this wine is a very good example of why I love what they are doing at Rhys, making wines which lean towards balance and grace with the reflection of the land on which they are grown…
To me this is a wine to pay attention to, in the way that it would be a shame only to look at the rose, without stopping to smell it. (92 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker
This was brought to X2O in Westchester last night. I would give the meal an 87, and this wine might not have been the perfect pairing to the food we ordered, which was good, but over sauced and over salted (very) for my tastes.
Best,
G