Rhys Vineyards

Porcupine Hill, Pinot Noir, 2016

Name: Porcupine Hill, Pinot Noir
Brand: Rhys Vineyards
Price: 121.15 GBP

94/100

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

93/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

all 2016 2019 2022

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in bond

portfolio

Last Few
2016
75cl
DP
£121.15

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

Porcupine Hill represents a specific high performing block from the Rhys Bearwallow vineyard up in the Anderson Valley. There is essentially no new wood on this cuvee, and just 8-10% whole cluster fermentation. The spice and earth notes combine with dark berry and wild flowers and this deep, resonant Pinot Noir. There is a concentration here, though not at the sacrifice of deftness as polished dark earth notes mingle with sweet black berries. The finish betrays that Bearwallow sting that the vineyard is known for, this fascinating textural peacocks tail that gives a piquantly mineral shape to the finish.

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GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of upmost 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

93/100

Antonio Galloni,

Vinous

The 2016 Pinot Noir Bearwallow Vineyard Porcupine Hill offers terrific depth and textural resonance in its dark cherry and plum fruit. Today, the difference between the two Bearwallow Pinots is not large. The Porcupine Hill offers a bit more depth and overall structure than the straight Porcupine Hill.

drinking window 2020 - 2031

date of review 08/2018

94/100

William Kelley,

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Derived from a section of the vineyard where the vines are planted at such high density that the stakes resembled the quills of a porcupine, the 2016 Pinot Noir Porcupine Hill Bearwallow Vineyard is very attractive, revealing a more brooding and sapid bouquet than the regular Bearwallow bottling. Offering up aromas of plums, wild berries, dark chocolate and incipient coniferous floor, the wine is medium to full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, with more concentration and amplitude than the regular Bearwallow, underpinned by bright acids and concluding with a stony, precise finish.

drinking window 2021 - 2037

date of review 05/2018

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Specifications

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abv:

13.5%

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.