Rhys Vineyards

Alpine Vineyard, Pinot Noir, 2021

Name: Alpine Vineyard, Pinot Noir
Brand: Rhys Vineyards
Price: 573.53 GBP

96/100

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

98/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

all 2013 2018 2019 2021 2022

delivery

in bond

portfolio

2021
75cl
DP
£95.59
2021
6x75cl
DP
£573.53

Broking

2021
6x75cl
DP
£573.53

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

Never the first to reveal itself, Alpine, which was totally destemmed in 2021 offers up a tightly wound and hauntingly taut Pinot Noir whose crisply gripping structure contains notes of wild red berries, salt, brine, olive, birch sap and crushed rocks. This is a dart of a wine, full of energy and torque, which very slowly opens in the glass, revealing another fine layer with every passing minute. As you sit and appreciate the shape of this wine, you start to appreciate just how much complexity is contained in the glass. This is a wine that demands a bit of time – five years at the very least, so as to give it a chance to show off all its nuanced dimension.

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GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of utmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

96/100

Matthew Luczy,

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Aromatically explosive on the first pour, the 2021 Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard opens with aromas of green pepper, watercress, dried leather and petrichor. The palate springs into action with a weightless, floating and enveloping texture. Bolstered tannins and firm acidity coat the palate, producing a cascading, assertive, spherical finish. Along with the horseshoe bottling, this is a benchmark for not only Rhys but for California as a whole. As always, this requires cellaring to get past its outer walls, but patience should provide immense pleasure and complexity.

drinking window 2026 - 2046

date of review 04/2024

98/100

Antonio Galloni,

Vinous

Density and power are the calling cards in the 2021 Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard. This embryonic Pinot is going to need time to really blossom, but it is so impressive today. Kirsch, tobacco, cinnamon, dried herbs and spice open with coaxing. As is so often the case, the Alpine has an aromatic profile that recalls one of the great vineyards in Vosne-Romanée. I love its exotic beauty.

drinking window 2026 - 2036

date of review 11/2023

product details

Specifications

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abv:

13%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.