Will Kelly Praises the 2015 Vintage from Rhys Vineyards in latest Wine Advocate
Will Kelly Praises the 2015 Vintage from Rhys Vineyards in latest Wine Advocate
Will Kelly Wine Advocate Interim End of May 2018
There are two important pieces of news from Rhys Vineyards. The first is that Kevin Harvey’s new venture with Italian grape varieties, Aeris, is about to debut, and readers are directed to my notes under that name for more information. The second is that beginning with the 2016 vintage, appellation wines will no longer be produced under the Rhys Vineyards label, which henceforth will be reserved for vineyard-designate wines. Instead, Harvey’s Alesia label, formerly used for wines from purchased fruit, is being re-introduced as a home for appellation wines—even though these wines will now be produced entirely from estate-grown fruit. At the risk of creating confusion, the Alesia wines are reviewed here under Rhys Vineyards; they will still, of course, be offered for sale via the Rhys Vineyards mailing list.
Beyond these two innovations, the story of incremental progress every year (with which followers of the Rhys wines will by now be familiar) remains the same. High-density estate vineyards and meticulous farming are the rule. Pinot Noir sees classical vinification in one-ton tanks (frequently incorporating significant proportions of whole clusters), followed by maturation in François Frères barrels (produced from the winery’s own four-year seasoned oak staves). Chardonnay ferments in barrels and matures on the lees before racking to tank several months before bottling—a regimen that’s common in contemporary Burgundy.
All the Rhys wines start life quite tight-knit and firmly structured, though my sense is that the Pinot Noir vintages from this decade are more structurally refined than those from the last. They do seem to open up and become expressive more rapidly than their qualitative equivalents from the Côte d’Or, but five or six years of cellaring is certainly recommended, even required. Happily, the Rhys website features a regularly updated vintage chart for anyone looking for advice on what is currently showing well. From my own cellar, the 2012 vineyard-designate Pinot Noirs are performing very well. I also encourage readers not to miss the Chardonnays, which are without doubt among the best being produced in North America.
2015 Rhys Vineyards Chardonnay Bearwallow Vineyard
The 2015 Chardonnay Bearwallow Vineyard is the most expressive of the vineyard designate Chardonnays today, offering up a pretty nose of crisp green orchard fruit, white flowers, subtle nutmeg and lemon curd. On the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied, bright and intense, with an elegantly textural attack, good concentration and a long, mouthwatering finish. It’s not quite as searingly stony as the Horseshoe or Alpine bottlings, but that only lends it additional youthful charm.94
2015 Rhys Vineyards Chardonnay Horseshoe Vineyard
The 2015 Chardonnay Horseshoe Vineyard is more aromatically shy than its Alpine counterpart, unfurling with aeration to reveal a complex nose of crisp green orchard fruit, white flowers, subtle beeswax and oyster shell. On the palate, it’s medium-bodied, intense and tightly coiled, with a bright line of acidity and an unmistakable stony, saline quality that defies the taster not to invoke the much-abused term “minerality.” Beautifully delineated and pure, this could also go toe to toe with Burgundy’s best, but it will demand 4 or 5 years of bottle age before it realizes its full potential.94
2015 Rhys Vineyards Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard
The 2015 Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard is a brilliant young wine with a great future ahead of it, unwinding in the glass with notes of Anjou pear, lime zest and preserved citrus, complemented by subtle nuances of fresh nutmeg and drawn butter. On the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied, bright and racy, with elegantly glossy texture on the attack that segues into a racy line of ripe acidity that carries through the extremely long, tongue-tinglingly intense and mouthwatering finish. Deep and concentrated, it’s also uncompromisingly structured for the cellar, and I expect it will gain considerably in mid-palate amplitude after a few years of cellaring. It’s hard to find wines like this in Burgundy, let alone California. 95+
2015 Rhys Vineyards Pinot Noir Anderson Valley
The 2015 Pinot Noir Anderson Valley is already quite expressive, exhibiting attractively lifted aromas of sweet red berries, blood orange, cocoa nib, subtle spices and rich soil. On the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied, supple and expansive, with juicy acids and a juicy core of sapid fruit, framed by rich, fine-grained tannins. While this will certainly reward a few years in the cellar, it won’t be a crime to pull corks today. Note that from 2016 onward, this cuvée will bear the Alesia label.90
2015 Rhys Vineyards Pinot Noir San Mateo County
The 2015 Pinot Noir San Mateo County offers up an outgoing bouquet of ripe blackberries, plums, cola and potpourri that will be familiar to long-time followers of this cuvée. On the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied, ample and generous, with a lavish core of fruit and fine, structuring tannins. This is the most open, fruit-driven wine in the Rhys range and it’s well adapted to consumption in its youth.90
2015 Rhys Vineyards Pinot Noir Bearwallow Vineyard
From bottle, the 2015 Pinot Noir Bearwallow Vineyard is showing very well, unwinding in the glass with incipiently complex aromas of ripe plums, sweet soil, spices and subtle rose hip. On the palate, it’s medium to full-bodied, with an ample, generous attack that segues into a firmer, tauter mid-palate. With a good core of fruit framed by fine-grained, stony tannins, it concludes with a saline finish. It’s more tight-knit than the 2016 rendition and will need more time. 92+
2015 Rhys Vineyards Pinot Noir Porcupine Hill
The 2015 Pinot Noir Porcupine Hill Bearwallow Vineyard is a particular success in this vintage, opening in the glass with a lovely bouquet of black cherries and raspberries, rich spices, coniferous forest floor and subtle notions of cola. On the palate, it’s full-bodied, lavish and beautifully complete, with a generous core of fruit that’s framed by velvety tannins and underpinned by bright acids. Seamless and superbly delineated, I suspect this is Rhys’ best Porcupine Hill release to date, and it’s well worth seeking out. It also happens to be one of the few cuvées that were produced in reasonable quantities this year.95
2015 Rhys Vineyards Pinot Noir Family Farm Vineyard
The 2015 Pinot Noir Family Farm Vineyard is a beauty, and while it’s obviously one of the riper wines in the range this year, it handles it very well, opening in the glass with notes of red cherries, wild berries, aromatic bark, subtle sweet spices and savory bass notes. On the palate, it’s full-bodied, ample and layered, with a generous core of ripe fruit, beautifully ripe, velvety tannins and succulent balancing acids. Attractively multidimensional and complete, the vintage and site have made for a very harmonious marriage this year and a Rhys wine that’s unusually seductive and voluptuous in its youth. 94
2015 Rhys Vineyards Pinot Noir Home Vineyard
Offering up aromas of ripe cherries, cassis, potpourri and spices, the 2015 Pinot Noir Home Vineyard is full-bodied, ample and layered, with a deep core of ripe fruit and juicy balancing acids, framed by fine-grained but firm, youthfully chewy tannins that make it one of the most overtly structural wines in the range this year. The story is the same in the 2016 vintage, but if anything, the 2015 is even more in need of bottle age. Forget it for a minimum of 5 or 6 years. At full maturity, I suspect it will reveal a textural plushness that will surprise anyone who tastes it today.92+
2015 Rhys Vineyards Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard
Coming together in the glass with constantly evolving aromas of wild berries, rich spices, orange rind, espresso roast and violets, the superb 2015 Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard is a medium-bodied, tight-knit wine that needs a minimum of 5 or 6 years’ bottle age. Intensely concentrated and underpinned by succulent acids, the quality of the powdery, velvety tannins is first-rate, and this Pinot Noir’s finish is extremely long and stony. There’s no doubt, however, that it has shut down since it was bottled. If readers are tempted to pull corks in the near term, I suspect the 2015 Alpine will never be as structurally unforgiving as some of Rhys’ efforts from a decade ago, but the real excitement emphatically lies in the future.94+
2015 Rhys Vineyards Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard
As usual, the 2015 Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard is one of the more tightly coiled wines in the range this year, opening in the glass with coaxing to reveal a youthful bouquet of dark berries, exotic spice, currant leaf and complex savory bass notes. On the palate, it’s medium-bodied, tangy and tensile, with a firm core of crunchy, concentrated fruit framed by fine-grained tannins and bright balancing acids. At this early stage, it’s hard to say whether the 2015 or 2016 Horseshoe will prove superior, as they’re both so tight-knit, but I wouldn’t bet against the 2015 (which incorporates all the fruit that goes into the Hillside bottling when yields are more plentiful).95
