Santa Cruz Mountains, Pinot Noir
Rhys Vineyards

Santa Cruz Mountains, Pinot Noir, 2020


Destination

vintage


portfolio

Portfolio
These wines are in stock and are available for delivery at your convenience.


2020

75cl

DP

£39.11


2020

6x75cl

DP

£234.62



Rhys Vineyards, Santa Cruz Mountains, Pinot Noir, 2020

2020

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

Rhys Vineyards, Santa Cruz Mountains, Pinot Noir, 2020

Like the Chardonnay this is exclusively Mt. Pajaro fruit in 2020. Expressive and open already, with ripe cranberry and autumn raspberry alongside a touch of something else; black tea, black cherry then violets and floral notes. There’s lots of wine here, structure giving control through the mid palate with savoury touches on the finish. Really lovely and should be approachable on release.

ABV:
13%
88/100
Antonio Galloni, Vinous

The 2020 Pinot Noir Alesia (Santa Cruz Mountains) is the only Pinot Rhys made from their core holdings in the Santa Cruz Mountains in and around the winery (which does not include Mt. Pajaro). It's a very pretty wine that offers good depth and attractive floral character at the outset. Nervy tannins are present, but balanced to some degree. This is obviously a very well made wine, but the challenges of the year set a pretty low ceiling as to what was realistically achievable.
Date Reviewed:
11/2022

specifications

country:
USA

region:
California



style:

Grape Variety:

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.


Rhys Vineyards

Rhys Vineyards

Kevin Harvey’s Rhys Vineyards has built up a near cult like following in just a decade of releases. His bottlings of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah from both the Santa Cruz Mountains and now also the Anderson Valley in Mendocino are rightly seen as amongst the very top echelon of wines produced anywhere in the United States.

Everything about these wines speaks of attention to detail and a deep commitment to making great wine. From purchasing uncoopered staves of the finest French oak a full four years prior to cooperage, to the vast underground purpose built winemaking cellar, no detail is left to chance. In the often steep vineyards, vine density is extremely high and as a result farming is entirely manual and very labour intensive. In the winery, vinification is carried out at a micro-level in tiny 4ft square vats: fermentations are native and everything is gravity-fed without pumping, fining or filtration. In essence, the wines are given kid gloves treatment, and then aged in almost neutral French barrels, so better to promote the site specific characters of the vineyards in the portfolio.

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