“Proprietor Kevin Harvey and winemaker Jeff Brinkman continue to up their game at Rhys…. the 2019s are positively stellar across the board.” Antonio Galloni
A recent visit from Jeff Brinkman gave us the opportunity to re-taste his superb 2019 Pinots. While the more illustrious vineyards situated on the poorest, rockiest soils possess tremendous promise and deserve a little longer in the cellar; we discovered the Family Farm cuvee was already in a beautiful place. Very definitely a Santa Cruz Mountain wine, this is a vineyard whose richer alluvial soils produce tender, charming wines that are approachable early on, developing a more savoury, exotic side after a few years in bottle.
Read MoreThe 2019 displays perfectly polished mountain berry fruit accented by black tea and pine notes on the nose. With plenty of engaging succulence it is supple and pliant on the palate, offering up waves of silky fruit, then tempering them with herbs, citrus and notes of the forest. It is fresh through the finish, which has a typically tapering shape to it, and a satisfying sense of symmetry. As an entry into the upper reaches of the Rhys range it is hard to beat, and while earlier vintages sometimes presented the more rustic side of Mountain pinot, since 2018, the wines from this site have possessed a level of refinement and polish that makes them feel like worthy siblings to the wines coming from Horseshoe and Alpine.
“The 2019 Pinot Noir Family Farm is bright, forward and seductive, as it so often is. Sweet floral aromatics meld into a core of red/purplish berry fruit, blood orange and star anise. In 2019, the Family Farm has an exotic quality that is hugely appealing. The 2019 was done with all destemmed fruit (a first for this wine) and aged mostly in neutral oak.” 94/100 Antonio Galloni
Another wine that showed off for us was the Alesia 2019 – soon to be relabelled as simply Rhys Santa Cruz Mountains. The fruit for these cuvees comes exclusively from the Rhys estate owned single vineyards in the SC mountains, ergo Mt. Pajaro, Horeseshoe, Alpine, Family Farm and Skyline. The 2019 is extremely pretty, red fruited, fine grained, open and present – with plenty of fruit intensity. Weighing in at just 12.5% abv it offering up sheer drinkability and exceptional value for the equivalent of a 1er cru blend; the perfect introduction to the elegant, style of mountain Pinot Noir that Rhys are capable of producing.