2012 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard- USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (12/3/2016)
Decanted for a few hours prior to serving at a birthday multi-course dinner. Paired with a brown butter sage pumpkin ravioli. Reticent on the nose, which was the first indicator this may have been opened too young. Earthy in flavor, but with strong underlying fruit, this was enjoyed by everyone at the dinner. Suggest holding this wine for a few more years. Excellent, nonetheless. (93 pts.)
Scott, so glad to read this one working out. I barrel tasted this back on 11-3-2013 and my notes are below. Based on that I bought 2 mags and 3 750’s - an unusual mag quantity buy for me.
At Rhys from barrel: forest floor, cherry, slight spice, blackberry, lighter refined style, low oak, not particularly tannic. This is drinking exceptional out of the barrel. While you won’t regret opening it sooner, this has the makings to only improve with age. Very nice Rhys effort and 2 magnums on my shopping list with a 750ml chaser. 94 pts.
2012 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard - USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains (6/1/2024)
– decanted 1.25 hrs. before initial taste –
– tasted non-blind over 2-3 hrs. –
NOSE: juicy, high-toned dark red berries; oak; rubber tires.
BODY: medium-light to medium bodied; fairly dark red color, with some bricking throughout.
TASTE: high acidity; cherry leathers; very nice!; transitioning; a bit thin on the mid-palate, but overall excellent and in a really nice spot; kind of thinned-out over a couple hours; all things considered, I think this is best to Drink Now. Gut impression score: 92 - 93
Popped and poured at cellar temp. Still quite dark color, opaque reddish black with no real bricking. Lots of stemmy spice on the nose, with some muted blackberry and a hint of cocoa powder. A bit muted but lovely. Cranberry fruit on the attack with lots of acidity and spice from the stems. No hard edges, but again this seems like it needs some time to unfurl. I am going to decant to see if it opens up, but I think a bit more time in the cellar would do this some good.
2012 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard - USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains (6/1/2026)
– decanted 45 min. before initial taste –
– tasted non-blind over 2.75 hrs. –
NOSE: expressive, and markedly high-toned (VA?); aged red berries, with hints of asphalt and pine needle.
BODY: garnet-violet color with slight bricking throughout; color is of medium-deep depth; light to medium-light bodied.
TASTE: aged; plenty of tertiary character now – fruits are aged, and now have a fruit leather presentation to them; baked earthy red berries; bit of aged Pinot funk on the finish; light lashings of oak; not tannic; alc. is well-hidden; acidity is high. This is a touch watery/loose, so it gives the impression of a wine that’s about to start its downswing, but it is in a great spot right now. Drink Now and over the near term. Gut impression score: 91 - 93, which ticks a bit higher than my more thoughtfully-considered score, below.