TN: 2006 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard

  • 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

I’m a bit surprised to say it, but I think some of the best 2006’s in this concentrated low octane style are in a bit of an awkward stage right now. I had this wine in January, and liked it better on day 2, FWIW.

Had this at a Sonoma offline on Thursday. Perhaps I liked it more than you, but I agree that its future is still ahead.

  • 2006 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (3/4/2012)
    Dinner in Sonoma (at Estate): Probably the consensus WOTN although no formal vote was taken. It had a lot of things that people didn’t like in other wines such as a feminine stemmy quality, but had such sweet pure cherry fruit that it all came together for lots of different stylistic preferences. I loved the feminine aspect to this wine and it has stated to unwind its layering showing a very interesting complexity. Just delicious. young but with lots of time until to peak. Got better all night long. (93 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

I wonder if the 06 needs more than an hour decant at this point? Glad it continues to round into shape. [cheers.gif]