by John Gilman, View From the Cellar (March/April 2023)

2021 Rhys Anderson Valley Chardonnay
The 2021 “Anderson Valley” bottling of chardonnay from Rhys Vineyards (made from their younger vines in Bearwallow Vineyard) is really pretty and one of their bottlings that I would not hesitate to reach for to enjoy in its first blush of youth, as it is drinking beautifully. The bouquet is bright and already nicely expressive, delivering scents of pear, fresh pineapple, salty soil tones, spring flowers, a touch of orange peel and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and shows off lovely depth in the core, with bright acids, fine balance and grip and a long, bouncy and complex finish. This is very svelte at 12.8 percent octane and absolutely delicious right out of the blocks. 2023-2040.91+.

2021 Rhys Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay
The 2021 Santa Cruz Mountains bottling of chardonnay from Rhys Vineyards is nicely ripe this year, reporting in at 13.3 percent alcohol. The bouquet is young and vibrant, wafting from the glass in a beautifully floral mix of lemon, pear, white lilies, lemon blossoms, salty soil tones and a deft framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, focused and complex, with lovely depth at the core, good soil signature and grip, bouncy acids and a long, seamlessly balanced and energetic finish. This is certainly quite tasty today, but will add another layer of complexity if allowed to blossom with some hibernation time in the cellar. 2023-2043. 92.

2021 Rhys Anderson Valley Pinot Noir
The 2021 “Anderson Valley” of Pinot Noir from Rhys Vineyards is a bit riper than the Santa Cruz Mountains bottling, coming in at 13.6 percent octane in this vintage. The bouquet is beautifully complex and wide open at the present time, delivering scents of black cherries, dark berries, a hint of cola, dark soil tones, woodsmoke, a dollop of sweet stem tones and a gentle framing of new oak. On the palate the wine is pure, ripe and full-bodied, with a lovely core, a good foundation of suave tannin, lovely focus and grip and a long, nascently complex and well balanced finish. This is more closed on the palate than the nose suggests, so tuck it away in the cellar for at least five or six years and let those tannins soften up a bit before having at the wine with gusto! 2028-2065. 92.

2021 Rhys Santa Cruz Mountain Pinot Noir
The 2021 Pinot Noir “Santa Cruz Mountains” bottling from Kevin Harvey and Jeff Brinkman at Rhys is a lovely wine in the making. The bouquet is precise and nascently complex, hopping from the glass in a vivid blend of sweet dark berries, pomegranate, espresso, fresh thyme, brown spices, stony minerality, woodsmoke and cedar. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied and soil-driven in personality, with a superb core of black fruit, tangy acids, ripe tannins and excellent balance and grip on the long and complex finish. This is excellent juice! 2031-2075. 92+.

2021 Rhys Mt. Pajaro Chenin Blanc
Rhys Vineyards’ 2021 Chenin Blanc from the Mount Pajaro Vineyard is nicely ripe this year, coming in at 13.8 percent octane and offering up a bright and nascently complex bouquet of lemon, quince, fresh pineapple, a touch of lanolin, a beautifully expressive base of minerality, a touch of vanillin oak and a topnote of white flowers. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and still quite primary, with fine depth at the core, lovely soil signature and grip, bright acids and a long, poised and beautifully balanced finish. This is still a puppy and deserves at least three or four years in the cellar to blossom and unlock its secondary layers of complexity. It will be a superb wine in due course. 2026-2055+. 92+.

2021 Rhys Horseshoe Chenin Blanc
he 2021 Chenin Blanc “Horseshoe Vineyard” bottling from Rhys Vineyards is a beautiful new addition to the winery’s lineup. Like the Mount Pajaro bottling, this tips the scales at 13.8 percent alcohol in this vintage and delivers a beautifully precise and complex bouquet of fresh pineapple, sweet quince, lime peel, stony minerality, incipient notes of beeswax and a topnote of dried flowers. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied and more minerally-infused in personality out of the blocks than the Mount Pajaro, with a fine core, a zesty girdle of acidity and excellent focus and balance on the long, nascently complex and very promising finish. This will take a year or two longer to blossom than the Mount Pajaro, but should end up being every bit as long-lived and compelling. 2028-2055+. 93.

2021 Rhys Bearwallow Vineyard Chardonnay
The 2021 Bearwallow Chardonnay from Kevin Harvey and his talented team at Rhys is really superb. The bouquet is very floral in its early iteration, hopping from the glass in a mix of pear, passion fruit, honeysuckle, white lilies, a touch of raw almond, beautiful soil tones and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is pure, young and full-bodied, with beautiful depth at the core, gorgeous soil signature and grip, zesty acids and impeccable balance on the long, nascently complex and vibrant finish. This is certainly very easy to drink today, but it is still a puppy and I would try to tuck it away in the cellar for five or six years and really allow its secondary layers of complexity to emerge. But, be forewarned, it is so good right now that it is not going to be easy to keep one’s hands off of bottles down in the cellar! 2025-2045. 94.

2021 Rhys Mt. Pajaro Vineyard Chardonnay
The 2021 Mount Pajaro Vineyard Chardonnay is a beautiful bottle in the making. The bouquet is deep and complex, offering up scents of lemon, pear, a touch of tangerine, salty minerality, citrus zest, vanillin oak and a faint whiff of chamomile in the upper register. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, focused and youthful, with a lovely core, fine mineral undertow, snappy acids and a long, promising and well balanced finish. Aromatically this is already quite enticing, but on the palate, the wine is closed down behind its girdle of acidity and needs some bottle age before it will start to stir. It will be excellent once it is ready to drink. 2026- 2040+. 93.

2021 Rhys Alpine Vineyard Chardonnay
The 2021 Chardonnay “Alpine Vineyard” bottling from Jeff Brinkman and the team at Rhys is another lovely wine that is going to demand a bit of bottle age before it starts hitting on all cylinders. The wine comes in at a svelte 12.8 percent octane and offers up a very refined aromatic constellation of apple, pear, white lilies, just a whisper of crème pâtissière, stony minerality, apple blossoms and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and still quite primary, with a lovely core, excellent mineral drive and grip, zesty acids and fine balance on the long, nascently complex and very promising finish. This too needs to some hibernation time in the cellar. 2027- 2045. 94.

2021 Rhys Horseshoe Vineyard Chardonnay
The 2021 Horseshoe Vineyard bottling of chardonnay is another excellent young wine. It is a touch riper than the Alpine, coming in at 13.3 percent this year, which allows for just a bit more aromatic expressiveness out of the blocks. The bouquet is a beautiful blend of pear, white peach, spring flowers, raw almond, salty minerality, orange zest and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and more reserved than the palate suggests, with an excellent core of fruit, a fine girdle of acidity, good soil signature and grip and a long, nascently complex and vibrant finish. All this needs is some patience to let it blossom with bottle age! 2027-2045. 94.

2021 Rhys Bearwallow Vineyard Pinot Noir
The bouquet of the 2021 Bearwallow Vineyard pinot noir from Rhys is beautifully sappy and complex right out of the blocks, delivering a refined blend of sweet dark berries, black plums, coffee bean, woodsmoke, incipient notes of cola, a complex base of dark soil, cedary oak and a lovely topnote of sweet stem tones. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied and nicely structured, with a rock solid core of fruit, excellent mineral undertow, ripe, firm tannins and excellent focus and balance on the long, poised and nascently complex finish. This will need at least a decade to really start to drink with generosity, but will a superb bottle once it is ready to go and will have a very, very long life in bottle. 2033-2085. 94.

2021 Rhys Porcupine Hill Pinot Noir
The 2021 Pinot Noir “Porcupine Hill” from Rhys Vineyards is the ripest wine in the line up this year, coming in at 14.1 percent octane, but is very pure and precise on the nose, which wafts from the glass in a complex constellation of sweet dark berries, black plums, a bit of spiced meats, coffee bean, dark soil tones, woodsmoke, cedar and a lovely topnote of sweet stem tones that are already shading towards spices. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and broad- shouldered, with a sappy core of black fruit, excellent transparency and grip, firm, buried tannins and a long, youthfully complex and very promising finish. This will be one of the longest-lived Rhys pinots from 2021 and will need at dozen years of further bottle age before it starts to stir. 2035-2085+. 94+.

2021 Rhys Family Farm Pinot Noir
The 2021 vintage of Family Farm pinot noir from Rhys Vineyards is fairly ripe for this bottling, coming in at 14.1 percent octane in this vintage. Nevertheless, the wine is fresh and vibrant on both the nose and palate, with the bouquet wafting from the glass in a mix of dark berries, black cherries, a touch of beetroot, sweet stem tones, coffee grounds, bonfire, dark soil, a dollop of fresh herb tones and a discreet framing of cedar. On the palate the wine is pure, full- bodied and focused, with a good core, lovely transparency, fine-grained tannins and a long, complex and beautifully balanced finish. This example of Family Farm pinot is going to need plenty of cellaring time to soften up its tannins, but it will end up being a very velvety vintage for this wine once it is ready to drink. 2033-2080. 92.

2021 Rhys Home Vineyard Pinot Noir
The 2019 Home Vineyard bottling of pinot noir from Rhys Vineyards is also a touch riper than in most vintages, coming in at a still civilized 13.9 percent octane and offering up scents of black plum, pomegranate, coffee bean, woodsmoke, a lovely base of dark soil, a dollop of sweet stem tones, cola and a gentle framing of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and impeccably balanced, with a lovely core, excellent transparency and grip, ripe, seamless tannins and a long, complex and very promising finish. This will need a good eight to ten years to really blossom, but it is already really quite tasty to drink in its youth! A lovely vintage for the Home Vineyard. 2031-2085. 93.

2021 Rhys Mt. Pajaro Vineyard Pinot Noir
The pinot noir vines at Mount Pajaro get older with each passing vintage and this fine vineyard is starting to close the gap with some of the other Rhys bottlings from the Santa Cruz Mountains, now that the vines are really getting established. The 2021 version is excellent, showing off beautiful complexity on the nose in its blend of sweet dark berries, pomegranate, black tea, bonfire, brown spices, a superb base of soil, sweet stem tones and a deft framing of new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and soil-driven, with a lovely core of fruit, ripe tannins, fine focus and grip and a long, impeccably balanced and complex finish. This is lovely juice. 2031- 2085. 93+.

2021 Rhys Skyline Vineyard Pinot Noir
The 2021 Skyline Vineyard pinot noir from Kevin Harvey and Jeff Brinkman and the rest of the team at Rhys is an outstanding young wine. This is pretty ripe by Skyline standards, coming in at 13.9 percent alcohol in this vintage, but offers lovely aromatic precision in its bouquet of black plums, black cherries, woodsmoke, gamebird, sweet stem tones, raw cocoa, a beautiful foundation of soil and a gentle framing of new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a sappy core of fruit, superb mineral drive and grip, ripe, buried tannins and impeccable balance on the long and very, very promising finish. This is going to be great wine in due course, but will require some extended cellaring to properly blossom. 2033-2085+. 94+.

2021 Rhys Alpine Vineyard Pinot Noir
The 2021 Alpine Vineyard cuvée of pinot noir from Rhys Vineyards is an outstanding young wine. This is one of the lower octane pinots in the 2021 roster this year, coming in at 13.4 percent. The wine offers up a beautifully refined, signature black fruity bouquet of dark berries, black plums, coffee bean, incipient notes of cola, dark minerality, a touch of brown spices, woodsmoke and cedar. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and beautifully complex already, with a sappy core of black fruit, great mineral undertow and grip, suave, buried tannins and a long, energetic and precise finish of impeccable balance and inherent elegance. 2033- 2085+. 95.

2021 Rhys Alpine Hillside Pinot Noir
The 2021 Hillside bottling from the Alpine Vineyard is just a touch riper than the regular Alpine in this vintage, coming in at 13.8 percent alcohol, though it shares the same precision on both the nose and palate. However, the dollop of additional ripeness has just made the 2021 Hillside sappier in personality, with its stunning aromatic constellation leaping from the glass in a blend of black cherries, sweet dark berries, black plums, raw cocoa, gamebird, a complex base of dark soil, brown spices, a touch of sweet stem tones, cedary oak and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and seamless, with a gorgeous core of fruit, superb soil signature and grip, ripe, chewy tannins, tangy acids and stunning length on the long and impeccably balanced, complex finish. Interestingly, the initial sense of sappiness disappears pretty briskly once the wine is opened, as the structure rises up and insists on this being viewed as a wine that will demand at least a dozen years in the cellar before it starts to give up the goods. Expect it to truly enter its plateau of primetime drinkability about age twenty! 2035-2085+. 96.

2021 Rhys Horseshoe Vineyard Pinot Noir
The 2021 Horseshoe Vineyard Pinot Noir from Kevin Harvey and Jeff Brinkman is fairly ripe by the standards of this bottling, coming in at 13.7 percent octane this year. However, the wine is fresh and pure, with the complex bouquet jumping from the glass in a mix of dark berries, black cherries, espresso, a gorgeous base of soil, woodsmoke, beautiful sweet stem tones and a deft foundation of new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, pure and full-bodied, with a lovely core of black fruit, excellent soil signature and grip, ripe, buried tannins and a long, complex and impeccably balanced finish. This is going to be stellar, but will need plenty of cellaring time to properly blossom. 2033-2085+. 94.

2021 Rhys Horseshoe Hillside Pinot Noir
The Hillside reserve bottling from the Horseshoe Vineyard is a tad lower in octane than the regular in 2021, tipping the scales at a svelte 13.4 percent. It shares the same beautifully black fruity of the regular Horseshoe, offering up a refined aromatic constellation of cassis, black raspberries, coffee bean, a complex foundation of minerality, savory stem tones, smoked meats, incipient notes of cola, cedar and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is pure, refined and full- bodied, with a great core of fruit, superb soil transparency, fine-grained tannins, excellent focus and balance and a very long, nascently complex finish. This is a another quantum level up in refinement from the stellar regular bottling of Horseshoe this year! 2033-2085+. 96.

2020 Rhys Bearwallow Vineyard Syrah
This is the second vintage of Syrah from the Bearwallow Vineyard and it is stunning. The wine is fairly ripe at 13.9 percent alcohol, but pure and impeccably balanced. The gorgeous bouquet wafts from the glass in a mix of black raspberries, sweet cassis, pepper, grilled meats, a superb base of dark soil tones, black olive, a touch of chocolate, lovely spice tones, sweet stem notes from the whole clusters and a deft framing of new oak. On the palate the wine is pure, precise and rippling with energy, with a full-bodied format, a great core, excellent mineral undertow, ripe tannins, tangy acids and stunning length and grip on the perfectly balanced finish. This is flat out great syrah! 2033-2080+. 95.