Good lord, in 2007 the Alpine vineyard was magical.
2007 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard- USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (10/3/2014)
Blind. - guessed Rhys Alpine. No seriously, stop laughing. Stuck my nose in the glass and thought “hey, I’m going to like this” and then I took a sip and immediately had a flashback to a few years ago when I tasted the swan terrace. That was the best PN I’ve had and this is right there with it. I like the tart cranberry and tart cherry, medium plus acidty, some mineral in the form of chalk and sour fruit and pepper ending. Love it. (95 pts.)
I haven’t started in on my treasure trove of '07s. Do folks think these are starting to show well? I know Kevin has said out of the '07 - '10 vintages the '07s are the most structured and will need extended aging to show their best.
Thanks everyone who contributed notes! All the talk of allocations and purchase history in the Rhys release thread got me looking into mine, and thinking I’m way overdue to open one. I’ve got a few bottles of '07 Alpine but it’s a wine that has gone through some shutdown phase it seems. Maybe time to open one? I’ve only opened '08 & '09 Rhys to date, mostly Bearwallow, FF, and Alesia.
Thursday, October 2, 2014. I was surprised with this bottle how dominant the stem inclusuion still impacts the wine, as they appear in both the aromatic and palate still. They do add a cool complexity and discussion point but if you are of the persuasion of destemmed pinot noir, this may not appeal to you. There is a deep pomegranate here, jammy but not cloying, along with a bright acidity. FWIW, this didn’t see a lot of air, maybe 2 hours and there is none left to taste today. As for a drink window, I don’t see any hurry in drinking this now, as my bet is that this continues to develop and smooth out with time and turn into a real winner. Fine now, delicious actually, provided you have context for the herbal aspects of the whole cluster.
Don’t quote me, but I’m pretty sure Kevin has said that the drinking order should be '09, '10, '08 and then '07. I’ll likely continue waiting on my '07s.
Had 09 Alpine last night. Was pop and pour. Really blossomed after an hour or so in glass. Red fruit, baking spice, tea. Right after opening it had very little finish, but on weight after being opened. Would decant at least an hour or 2 next time.
2007 family farm was the first Rhys (non alesia) wine I tasted at a pickup event. It was very angular and stalky (relative to future vintages) then. I hope it all mellows out in time, and I can see myself waiting for several more years yet before venturing a try.
FWIW, I haven’t really started to open our '07s. Most of the wines are getting close and can be opened especially with decanting but I think a few more years will only help.
Meanwhile, I am opening '06s, '09s, '10s and '12s plus '11 and '12 Alesia.
A couple of the '12s have tightened a little bit but we expect the '12s to have a very long drinking window that starts as early as now.
We had an 07 Alpine last week and I thought it was showing great. My last note on CT is from Oct '11, and see that at the time, it need a few years rest - it’s evolved significantly since then. I’m convinced these need a bit of cellar time to show their best, but there seems to be some implications that these wines need Burgundy time sideways. That hasn’t been my experience. I find them slow to open up, needing 6-7 years, but from there, they are quite accessible and start evolving quickly.
As a reference point, I opened an '07 Home pinot this week and that was a mistake, definitely not ready. I just was in the mood for a Rhys after placing my order and have finished all my '06’s and older vintages. Next time, I will consult their vintage chart.
Great burgundy needs 20 years sideways to start showing it’s full promise. I don’t see any implications of that timeframe being expressed in this thread. Maybe 9-10 years for the '07s.
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}