Wine Advocate | Rating: 94
The 2015 Pinot Noir Family Farm Vineyard is a beauty, and while it's obviously one of the riper wines in the range this year, it handles it very well, opening in the glass with notes of red cherries, wild berries, aromatic bark, subtle sweet spices and savory bass notes. On the palate, it's full-bodied, ample and layered, with a generous core of ripe fruit, beautifully ripe, velvety tannins and succulent balancing acids. Attractively multidimensional and complete, the vintage and site have made for a very harmonious marriage this year and a Rhys wine that's unusually seductive and voluptuous in its youth.Drink Dates: 2018 - 2033Author: William KelleyIssue: Interim End of May 2018
Chiseled deep into a Santa Cruz Mountain hillside with such vast and echoing chambers that it's lovingly termed "the rebel base," Rhys Vineyards and its visionary owner are on a mission. It all started for Kevin Harvey, a Silicon Valley software entrepreneur with a Burgundy obsession, in 1995 when he planted a small Pinot Noir vineyard in his backyard, and has transformed into a quest to uncover the mysteries of his un-glorified appellation's geography and achieve world-class Pinot Noir.
From his first garage wine, Harvey was struck with minerality that reminded him more of Burgundy than any domestic Pinot. So, using ambitious, biodynamic farming of tightly-spaced, high elevation, cool climate vineyards planted in specific sites in the Santa Cruz Mountains with shallow, rocky soils, preferably on hillsides, he set out to make the most mineral-driven, terroir-focused domestic Pinot. The results have garnered overwhelming praise from the entire spectrum of critical review. From Robert Parker to Allen Meadows, it's hard to find anyone who isn't impressed with this passionate operation producing perhaps the best New World Pinot anywhere.
From his first garage wine, Harvey was struck with minerality that reminded him more of Burgundy than any domestic Pinot. So, using ambitious, biodynamic farming of tightly-spaced, high elevation, cool climate vineyards planted in specific sites in the Santa Cruz Mountains with shallow, rocky soils, preferably on hillsides, he set out to make the most mineral-driven, terroir-focused domestic Pinot. The results have garnered overwhelming praise from the entire spectrum of critical review. From Robert Parker to Allen Meadows, it's hard to find anyone who isn't impressed with this passionate operation producing perhaps the best New World Pinot anywhere.
Collector Data For This Wine
- 111 bottles owned
- 20 collectors