Skyline, Pinot Noir, 2019
Perhaps the most arresting Skyline we’ve tasted, this smells like rocks, then wild fruits, then orange peel, then wild red berries. You can sense the paucity of the soil, the proximity of the bedrock in the flavours of red berries crushed over rocks. This is laid bare. That said, there’s less austerity here, less inscrutability than in some previous years, and it makes for a magical wine to taste. As usual Skyline is 100% whole cluster but you simply don’t taste the stems. This is very serious and deep yet not heavy, juicy but also so rocky and stony. There’s almost an exotic element, sweet spices, orange peel, baking spice and angostura appear in the super long finish. A breath-taking wine, and just 12.9% abv.
critic reviews
If the Rhys Horseshoe and Alpine bottlings are in perpetual friendly competition, the Skyline bottling watches from the sidelines and doesn't bother to get involved. The trifecta of extreme-density plantings, the highest-elevation site and 100% whole-cluster fermentation take this wine to another aromatic and textural dimension, even for Rhys. The 2019 Pinot Noir Skyline Vineyard enters with a kaleidoscopic yet organized nose, as if neatly compartmentalizing its dark fruited, floral, mossy, exotic aromas. The palate follows with similar delineation and focus, with lavish density and precision, exploding into a finish that completely envelopes the palate with quenching acidity and pleasantly chewy tannins. It is a superb and sublime showing from Rhys that should effortlessly age for over two decades.
Soaring floral and spice notes open effortlessly in the 2019 Pinot Noir Skyline Vineyard. Rose petal, pomegranate, mint, blood orange and cinnamon all grace this classy, mid-weight Pinot from Rhys. The Skyline is another wine that is all about understatement. Here, too, the whole clusters (100%) are not especially evident.