TN: 2008 Rhys Alesia Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast

WINE TALK
1

This is my first bottle of the 2008. On night one even after 4 hours of air this wine wasnt giving off much and I was a bit disappointed. I re-corked 1/4th of the wine in the bottle and came back to it tonight. It seems that this wine needs some serious air or cellar time before drinking. The middle fattened up a bit and the bright red fruits seemed to pop a bit more. I really cant see any reason to drink these now unless you are going to give it a good 6+ hours in the decanter or open the night before and re-cork. Lots of promise here after night two, cant wait to see what this does with some sideways time.

Here is my note from last night.

  • 2008 Rhys Alesia Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (4/6/2011)
    Decanted for close to 4 hours before this note. Dark reddish color with a purple hue. Faint and closed nose of dark raspberries and pomegranate. Woody floral elements with a perfume like aspect of rose petals and forest floor like underbrush. Continues to evolve with some pine tree sap and maybe a slight touch of cocoa powder. Nice medium body with good balance and bright acidity. Seems to be lacking a bit of density in the middle but finished strong with nice firm structure. It seems that this needs more time but I dont see the fruit presence that will promote some deep cellar time.

Posted from CellarTracker

2

FWIW, cracked one last week and found that 4 hrs after decant, it was showing pretty nicely, but still pretty tight. Totally agree with patience on this one…I suspect it will end up being a fairly good QPR with enough time. After 3+ hours, it had nice strawberry tones with a pleasant stemmy/savory quality. I remember thinking that it’s a very nice wine, but just not ready.

3

I think that Tyler isn’t exactly recommending more time. He mentions that it appears to need more time, BUT isn’t sure that it will age well (lack of fruit).

4

That was my initial thought when I wrote my CT note on night one. On night two the fruit emerged and it seemed that the wine just needs time (air or cellar) to unwind.

5

Thanks for the clarification, Tyler [cheers.gif]

Edit: Now I know to wait or give it a lot of air, first. I appreciate the info since I only have one bottle and that’s only due to the kindness of another berzerker. [welldone.gif]

6

Had this the other night and it was smoking good.

7

Had my first last week. Pretty fruit forward. Unmistakably Cali. I liked it. I have no idea how these things age. Do they trim down?

8

Based on more notable tasters around here, the flagship Rhys do slim down over time.

Based on my tasting and Tyler’s note, I think you have two choices. Either pop and pour or roll the dice on a very long decant. At this time pop and pour shows so much character from 0-2 hours I think it’s the way to go. Rhys does recommend 3-4yrs age on this to settle out. My $.02.

9

I’ve had 6+ plus bottles of this wine way too young and my experience has been that a slow ox in bottle has been fantastic while a decant (long or short) generally means the nose is mostly to totally missing and while the palate will show more its shifting all the time (from sip to sip at points) and it really never settles down. It has settled down a lot more now though than late 2010, so if you have these, I’d give it a min of a year and a slow ox or you’re missing out. The QPR is hight but just because of that it doesn’t make sense to miss out on what this could be rather than what it is today.

10

LOL, the notes on this wine run the gamut… open, closed, pop and pour, long decant, smokin’ good, where’s the fruit. I had the wine yesterday, my fourth taste of this, and I think it very difficult to read at this point. There is a lot of stem influence IMO, and the wine is tight and relatively unyielding to me. Trying hard to penetrate the wine, I can see glimpses of much more to come. Check back in a year.

11

lol, that’s the fun part about wine, everyone is right and wrong. [pillow-fight.gif]

I agree with you, tight and unyielding for the most part.

12

I’ve had 15 bottles of this and my experiences are all over the place. some great with just a pop and pour. some needed time and really opened up after a few hours. others were totally dormant and refused to come to the show even after two days in the bottle and only one bad bottle. at this point I’ll try a bottle every month or two and see what happens. had an 07 last week and an 06 the week before and they are all very different and good in their own way.

13

15 bottles, are you serious. I just opened my second '06 last night and it seemed to be just entering it’s optimum drinking window. Last year almost to the day it still showed tight with a lot of stem notes. I’ll wait another year before getting to the '07’s. I got to hand it to you guys opening '08’s already (gluttons for punishment I guess) I just don’t think your going to get a real sense of what these wines are all about if you don’t give them the time they need.

The '06 was a pleasure to drink and I’m glad to be sitting on 1 mag still.