TN: April 2012 Rhys Visit--Taste The Newly Bottled 2010s

APRIL 2012 RHYS VISIT–TASTE THE 2010S - Rhys Estate (At The Winery) (4/6/2012)

Was up for a visit recently, to taste through some wines. I appreciated very much Jeff showing us through the 2010s and having a chance to discuss the wines with him. For my palate and what I find myself attracted to now, these wines are of keen interest to me. There is structure, acid, red fruit (not all but many of them) and intensity. I can’t proclaim what others should drink, what tastes or styles of pinot that represents the “right” course, only what works for me. I really enjoy these wines, especially the chardonnays that were thrilling this time, along with many of the pinot noirs like the Skyline and the Swan Terrace. I also enjoyed the new Horsehoe syrah. All of my notes are contained below and thanks to Jeff for a terrific afternoon in the castle. One thing I should note about Jeff Brinkman, he has command of these wines in terms of the vision, winemaking and backstory for each of them. Very impressive.

PS–I should note that we also tasted some wines from a few past vintages, which I embedded into the notes below in the order I tasted them. These additional wines offer some context for how some of these cuvees to me are evolving.

  • 2010 Rhys Chardonnay Horseshoe Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
    Bottle was opened earlier in the morning, tasted in late afternoon. Listed alc 13.4% with 25% new wood. Mineral, orange blossom, mandarin orange, lean pineapple, green apple and honey. Has a rich element to the fruit but the acid holds it all together. Not as intense as the 2010 Alpine chard but I enjoyed this a lot.
  • 2010 Rhys Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
    Bottle was opened earlier in the morning, tasted in late afternoon. Listed alc 13.2% with 25% new wood. As compared to the 2010 Horseshoe chard, this Alpine has the edges more filled in, texturally more complete and rounder. Lemon zest, almost grapefuit-like in the intensity of the acidity. Brisk and long with orange oil. One of the best CA chards I have tasted and in my view a standard setter for what CA chard can be. Tremendous.
  • 2007 Rhys Chardonnay Horseshoe Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
    Listed alc 13.5% and 25% new wood. Color here is slightly darker than the 2010s (no surprise) and also the 2008 Alpine, which was also tasted alongside. This 2007 has an intense core of flavor, with excellent depth. Yellow apple, lemon and a long finish. Vibrant acidity with a rounder texture and fresh lime oil.
  • 2008 Rhys Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
    I last tasted this wine in Dec 2010, which I sourced a bottle from the winery for a dinner we were conducting. At that time, I thought and wrote about the oak sticking out for me. In today’s bottle, that oak has fully integrated and the wine is far different, and better, than that 2010 bottle. Listed alc 13.3% with 25% new wood. Pineapple, yellow and green apple, with lemony citrus that really carries the wine. Drinking very well and delicious.


  • 2010 Rhys Pinot Noir San Mateo County - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, San Mateo County
    Listed alc 13.3%, with 66% whole cluster and 40% new wood. A blend of the various single vineyard parcels, the fruit that didn’t make the single cuvee cuts. Starts out with a gamey, sauvage quality with floral dark fruit, both red and black. However, it’s not for me the sweet black but instead more dark plum in tone. Also shows a soily, iron note. Not elegant or overly complex but shows a good push of solid fruit. Stems show in the aromatic, they add a pungence to the palate.
  • 2010 Rhys Pinot Noir Family Farm Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, San Mateo County
    Added to the database so this is early on in the wine’s chronicle. Listed alc 12.7%, with 66% whole cluster and 40% new wood. Stem signature is present but not prominent. The fruit shows a lush quality, expressive, bright with orange rind, blue and red, a strawberry note. It also exhibits a crunchy and zesty quality, vibrant. I want to convey the energy in the wine, the juicy quailty that it shows on the palate. Very good.
  • 2010 Rhys Pinot Noir Home Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay
    Added to the database so an early look at this wine from bottle, for sure. Listed alc is 12.5% with 100% whole cluster and 15% new wood. Floral and woodsy with a hint of pepper, all of this intending to convey spice. Has such a pure cherry flavor, an intense core of red fruit and acidity, with good minerality showing in the finish. I also found a sour red apple note, too. What I found compelling about this cuvee is despite the low wood and complete stem inclusion, there is simply for me no real stem signature to speak of–amazing. Really a terrific bottle of pinot noir.
  • 2008 Rhys Pinot Noir Home Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay
    Tasted alongside the 2010 Home, which was excellent. For this 2008, listed alc of 13.0% with 100% whole cluster and 0% new wood. Exotic aromatic, richer than the 2010 and certainly for me up a level in volume. The fruit just seems more dense to me, whereas the 2010 is more pure and acidity driven. Dark watermelon, dark strawberry and cherry juice. Where this wine succeeds is despite the higher volume level, it stays all together with a real intensity.
  • 2010 Rhys Pinot Noir Bearwallow Vineyard - USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley
    Listed alc 13.4% with 50% whole cluster and new oak. I have to say, this wine did not thrill me at this stage as the other cuvees on this visit. The wine has a density that I did not warm up to and the stems also show on the aromatic. The fruit seemed blue to me and I found a black licorice note, an anise-like component. The fruit seems sweeter in tone to me, also. Overall, it doesn’t have the definition or core integration that some of the other 2010s showed me. Just calling it as I found it. Will it get better? I will be looking forward to others logging some impressions so I can compare.
  • 2010 Rhys Pinot Noir Skyline Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
    Added to the database and what a treat to be the first one to log a note here. Listed alc of 12.4% with 100% whole cluster and 50% new wood. Shows beautiful aromatics, quite floral. Some decadence in the bouquet but like the 2010 Home pinot, the stems are beautifully woven into this wine already. Perfect balance and yet there is also weight here. Strawberry, raspberry, elegant and even. Just a complete wine with acid, flavor and minerality. This is a helluva wine.
  • 2010 Rhys Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
    Added to the database. Listed alc is 12.8% with 66% whole cluster and new oak. Stems show here. Fleshy dark cherry, some of the new wood also seaps into the flavor of the palate, probably the most (and really only) of any of the 2010s I tried. Red raspberry, some nice red fruits and good acid, along with some river rock. At this point, the wood tannin (?) and vanilla is still a player but I believe the raw material is here to build forward. Too soon to judge this wine based upon how for me it is showing.
  • 2010 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
    Listed alc of 13.6% with 66% whole cluster and 50% new oak. For me, this was the richest flavored of all the 2010s. Shows a black fruit, and a note that Alan Rath who was seated next to me called “meat juice”. Pretty dead on descriptor. Some of the menthol from the stems is also in the palate. Finishes with a mineral tone and orange zest.
  • 2010 Rhys Pinot Noir Swan Terrace Alpine Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
    Added to database and what a wine it is even so early on in its life. Listed alc of 13.6% with 100% whole cluster and 33% new wood. I tasted this wine alongside the 2010 Alpine, which is simply a different exposure and clonal selection from the Swan, but by god the 2 are damn near in the same plot and yet for me, the Swan just beats the Alpine hands down. The aromatic is just stunning, aided by a mix of florals and stems, culminating in a piercing display. Like with the 2010 Skyline, the balance here is beautiful, with fruit showing in the vein of cherry hard candy. Lithe and elegant. Whereas the 2010 Alpine shows a heady, dark richness, the Swan here shows a nice spicy core of blue and red fruit, orange rind and kiwi. Minerality, too. What a stunner of a pinot.
  • 2006 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Hillside - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
    Had not tasted this wine previously and was appreciative that Jeff pulled this for the group to try. Shows a hint of smoke, a gamy note. While this was a pop and pour (take that into context, plz), the wine still showed raspberry, that was spicy and energetic, as well as juicy. Very nice.


  • 2010 Rhys Syrah Horseshoe Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
    Added to the database, so again, a wine early on in its life. Listed alc of 12.8% with 100% whole cluster and 0% new wood. As with past Horseshoe syrahs, this maintains its pedigree of the black pepper aromatic. I love this quality to syrah and its dead on here, too. Tangy blue fruit, sweet leather and green olive. Finishes with a burst of fruit and tannin. This is a young wine, and while now in bottle, call this an early look.
  • 2010 Rhys Syrah Skyline Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
    Like with the 2010 Horseshoe syrah, had to add this to the database, so keep in context this is an early look at a young wine. Made exactly like the Horseshoe–100% whole cluster and 0% new wood, with 12.8% listed alc. Unlike the Horseshoe, no pepper here. Instead, blue and purple flower, with blue fruit. Also, a maple note, which I might attribute to new wood or ripe fruit but neither of those are at play here. Tangy with a sweeter edge. At this stage, I prefer the 2010 Horseshoe as it’s more rugged and savory. I’ll also note that this was the last wine I tasted during the visit so my palate was growing a bit tired. I do believe I captured the wine pretty closely, though.

Posted from CellarTracker

Thanks! Lots to look forward to.

Thx for detailed notes Frank. This one description causes me heed as I need this kind of intense acid to integrate in order to enjoy domestic Chardonnay.

That was a great tasting. Big Thanks to Jeff for pulling out bottles from the library for contrasts/compares.
Jeff really intended to pull out the 2006 Alpine, but he accidentally opened the Alpine Hillside instead. We didn’t find out until we were cleaning up.

When I get off my ass and enter my notes in cellartracker, I may add my notes in this thread as well.

In general, the 2010 bottles were overall very impressive. Allocations of Skyline (~60 case production!) will be quite limited as usual to many tasters’ exaggerated chagrin. While in past vintages, I’ve been impressed by the Horseshoe pinot’s power, this vintage, I found myself drawn more towards the Swan Terrace and Skyline. If my memory doesn’t fail me, Swan and Skyline were also the top two for many of the tasters that day. Swan had a production ~150 cases, so even I may have a chance to get an allocation of Swan.

Frank, thanks for the early rundown on the 2010’s. When you noted that the Horseshoe chardonnay was “not as intense as the 2010 Skyline chard,” did you mean to compare it to the Alpine? I didn’t see a note on Skyline chardonnay, and did not know there is any chardonnay planted there.

Woah woah woah…easy on the “ball washing”…

[stirthepothal.gif]

It’s okay. Cleanliness is next to Godliness.

Oops. Yes, that’s an error on my end. Thanks for raising that up. I went into CT and changed the reference, as well as edited the post above.

Funny, for all the bad words I have used for CA chard the past several months, this past week in tasting both the 2010 Copain Brosseau and 2010 Rhys Apline, these for me are game changers in my perspective.

Thanks for the Notes.
I have a fair amount of Rhys in the cellar across the board and, if you go by the Drink/Hold recommendations, the Fall order will soon be due before I open up some of the 08’s and 09’s now resting in dark, 55F slumber. I also read the percentages of whole cluster used and think these should continue to rest for a bit longer.
It is useful to get some perspective on the soon to be new releases, especially from FMIII. Your descriptions convey a good base impression and, from past experience, I know whether or not I will enjoy the wines. That is much appreciated, especially since I just can’t hop on the 5 or the 101 for a visit and taste the wines. Thanks.

TASTING AT RHYS - Rhys Vineyards (4/5/2012-4/11/2012)

Joined Frank Murray’s group up at Rhys to sit down and taste through most of the 2010s, and a few additions. A spectacularly clear day to sit in the renovated upstairs tasting room, look out over the South Bay, and sample some excellent wines, led by an enthusiastic and informative Jeff Brinkman.
Rhys Chardonnays
A sampling of the two vineyard Chardonnays from three vintages. I was blown away by the quality and uniqueness of these wines, which have an unusual level of intensity and concentration for such low alcohol wines. These wines resist being connected to either Burgundy or other California, they are uniquely Rhys.

  • 2010 Rhys Chardonnay Horseshoe Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (4/11/2012)
    Very rich, intense, honey, dried pineapple, full bodied, great acidity, long finish. A bit rounder and softer than the 2010 Alpine, but still plenty of cut. These Rhys Chardonnays are in a world of their own, resisting any obvious connection to either Burgundy or other California wines. Fabulous and unique. (93 pts.)
  • 2010 Rhys Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (4/11/2012)
    Very rich, orange blossom honey, fabulous piercing acidity, lemon, steely mineral finish. Another example of the uniqueness and intense concentration of the Rhys Chardonnays, somehow achieving these levels while maintaining amazing acidity and balance. (94 pts.)
  • 2007 Rhys Chardonnay Horseshoe Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (4/11/2012)
    Peach pit, stone, flint, touch of smoke, great acidity, mineral, polished steel, a more reserved Rhys Chardonnay, though still plenty of concentration.
  • 2008 Rhys Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (4/11/2012)
    Intense, rich, honeyed, dried pineapple, fabulous acidity, excellent finish. Achieves levels of concentration and flavor, together with balancing acidity unlike many other wines in the world. Hard to describe these Rhys Chardonnays, they resist being categorized as “burgundian” or “Californian,” they are their own category. (94 pts.)

Rhys Pinots
Next, on to the Pinots, I think the entire range from 2010, plus a couple of earlier vintages for comparison. There is a broader range of wines coming from the various vineyards, with a couple reaching elevated heights (no pun intended), and all of them being at least very good.

  • 2010 Rhys Pinot Noir San Mateo County - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, San Mateo County (4/11/2012)
    Leads with a strong nose of whole cluster, then nice, darker raspberry/strawberry fruit, good structure, loamy spice, creosote, nice acidity. (88 pts.)
  • 2010 Rhys Pinot Noir Family Farm Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, San Mateo County (4/11/2012)
    Moderate stems on the nose, then dark dried cherry, orange peel, good acidity and nice structure overall. (91 pts.)
  • 2010 Rhys Pinot Noir Home Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay (4/11/2012)
    Less obvious whole cluster on the nose in this wine, nice dried cherry fruit, excellent structure, drinks quite well even at this youthful stage. Very nice.
  • 2008 Rhys Pinot Noir Home Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay (4/11/2012)
    Rich nose with stems and spice, palate shows slightly underripe deep cherry, nice texture, good balance. (91 pts.)
  • 2010 Rhys Pinot Noir Bearwallow Vineyard - USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley (4/11/2012)
    Stems and spice on the nose, palate is rich, lush black cherry, nicely balanced, decent acidity. Enjoyable, and a pretty clear distinction between this and the Santa Cruz Mountains wines. (90 pts.)
  • 2010 Rhys Pinot Noir Skyline Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (4/11/2012)
    Earthy loamy nose, med-light body, beautiful cherry/raspberry, excellent acidity, mineral strawberry finish. Lovely and elegant. (93 pts.)
  • 2010 Rhys Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (4/11/2012)
    Medium dark cherry, a nice savory component, good acidity. Quite nice. (91 pts.)
  • 2010 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (4/11/2012)
    Rich black cherry, grilled meats, orange peel, good balance. (92 pts.)
  • 2010 Rhys Pinot Noir Swan Terrace Alpine Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (4/11/2012)
    Nose of floral spice and face powder; Deep, rich, enticing elegant black cherry, excellent structure, fine tannins, good acidity. Fabulous. (94 pts.)
  • 2006 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (4/11/2012)
    Dark black cherry, juicy and lush but with good balancing acidity. (92 pts.)

Rhys Syrahs
Finished off with the two vineyard Syrahs, which show great promise for this cool climate location.

  • 2010 Rhys Syrah Horseshoe Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (4/11/2012)
    Beautiful reserved dark boysenberry fruit, good acidity, fine tannins, pepper, green olive. Wonderful cool climate syrah. (93 pts.)
  • 2010 Rhys Syrah Skyline Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (4/11/2012)
    Light stem nose, gorgeous reserved blue/blackberry fruit, face powder, structured more around acidity than tannins. Nice syrah. (91 pts.)

Thanks again to Jeff, and Kevin for letting us all come up and spend an afternoon. And to Frank for including me.
Posted from CellarTracker

Great lineup and recap there. Thank you guys for posting your notes, sounds like it was a great experience (when is going to Rhys a bad experience?). I am a bit surprised to see the comments on 2010 Horseshoe Pinot - looks like this one needs to flesh out in the bottle.

Did anyone get to go through the ‘Iron Gate’?

Come on Jeff…let me in there…I won’t break anything or ask simple, yet complicated questions.

This was an extremely generous tasting hosted by Jeff. We started out with a tour of the upper Skyline Vineyard and a run through the caves. Those who have visited this property are aware of the hyper-impeccable state of the vineyards and property. I’ve really seen nothing quite like this.

What impressed me most was Jeff’s ability to communicate all aspects of the vineyard/winery process, from the Oligocene/Eocene (Skyline) geology, through the vineyard/clonal practices and finally the state of the art, minimal intervention winemaking.

Alan and FMIII have provided excellent and comprehensive notes on the upcoming wines. My take was the lineup continues on a steep ascent. As fine as the present is for this property, the future is brighter. I’m not really sure where the ceiling is, but I’m enjoying the journey.