Here’s a little warmup for tonight’s dinner, from a taste 2 nights ago:
2008 Rhys Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard- USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (6/23/2014)
From a Coravined taste. This wine is showing some evolution now, and fine-grained tannins make this enjoyable. There is a touch of stems/bitterness showing that still needs to resolve but this is otherwise a fine example of the Rhys style - red fruited with admirable acidity yielding a slightly tart balance that never feels overripe. One of the best Rhys pinots I have had to date. (93 pts.)
Alan, I was interested in your TN. I am not familiar with Rhys PNs. Brodie brought this wine to a lunch where we had a number of Burgundies and NZ PNs and most of us worried that it may be did not have enough acids …
2008 Rhys Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard- USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (2/26/2014)
Tasted non-blind alongside NZ Martinborough pinots with a little saved to compare with the red Burgundies. On opening, aromatics savoury, spicy, black fruited, tending game meat and a little pepper, with a herby element (some whole bunch?). Also black fruited on palate with umami, relatively sweet and rich with big structure and impressive, sweet but very firm tannins. Smooth texture and dense mid palate with intensity on the back palate. A big wine, but with no alcohol burn, I was expecting more than 12.8 alc. Styled after a red Burgundy but it seemed not to have enough acid. After 1 hour it began to dramatically shut down. It needs at least 5 years. Even without the acid, it seems to have sufficient structure and tannins for long term cellaring. At present, 91.
This wine provoked a major debate between tasters who thought it out of balance, over-sweet and lacking acid versus others who thought it Burgundian with a complex palate structure and from a good year. I give it the benefit of the doubt. (91 pts.)
I had a bottle of the 08 Horseshoe recently, and I would agree with Alan’s comments on its stage of deveopment, overall balance and quality. I found the wine medium bodied with fairly intense flavors, nice structure with fine grained tannins, complex finish, and a sense that this wine will continue to develop in the years ahead. However, I would also say that the acid may not be as prominent as some prefer, i.e., providing as much lift and freshness - but the wine also has some bottle age on it now that is beginning to round things out to some degree. Also just tried a bottle of the 07 Alpine pinot, which is coming along nicely, but still needs a few years of aging. Reminds me of the 06 in style, perhaps a bit more rustic.
Thanks all for your comments. Howard, there’s enough overlap in our tasting notes that I think we tasted similar bottles but just had different reads of the wine. I’d probably chalk it up to different preferences and different frame of reference. I drink a fair amount of Cali pinot and in that context this wine is not that big overall, or low in acid, but you might feel that way if you drink a lot of burgs and lean toward higher acid vintages. This wine is not in the lineup for a Rhys dinner we are having tonight but I may try and revisit this wine later in the week.
It’s interesting to see the evolution of horseshoe from 07 to 12. The tanins are less rough and wine feels more refined…even though it’s the brooding sibling of the bunch. Similar to how bearwallow progressed? Rootstock, clones, viticulture, and learning the vineyard?
Very floral and savory. Love the spicy nose and purity of red fruit. Earthy with anchoring tannin and loads of umami. Medium to full bodied but by no means heavy. In a great place now with tertiary hints showing.
When Horseshoe is on, it is one of my favorite CA PN. This bottle has more to come.
Another bottle 2 years later. Pretty much in a holding pattern, emulating my prior note. Very enjoyable with charcoal grilled elk sausage and truffle BBQ sauce.
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