WineLovers Discussion Group

2008 Rhys Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (5/19/2013)

First bottle was badly corked. Rather than decide on something else to drink I went right back to the well.

A year and a half in the cellar has civilized this wine quite a bit. It's still very dense, but the aromatics are much more interesting (flowers, dark berries, cool earth), and on the palate it is stern but not bruising. Overall it is still a coiled spring, waiting to extend to its full length. I would wait several years (5+) before venturing to open this wine again. Excellent potential. Too bad I am impatient.

David M. Bueker wrote:2008 Rhys Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (5/19/2013)

First bottle was badly corked. Rather than decide on something else to drink I went right back to the well.

A year and a half in the cellar has civilized this wine quite a bit. It's still very dense, but the aromatics are much more interesting (flowers, dark berries, cool earth), and on the palate it is stern but not bruising. Overall it is still a coiled spring, waiting to extend to its full length. I would wait several years (5+) before venturing to open this wine again. Excellent potential. Too bad I am impatient.

I definitely appreciate your research David. I have 6 of these sitting in the cellar, before I let my WA subscription lapse I noticed that Parker expressed strong reservations as to whether or not the fruit would outlast the tannins, so I'm happy to see that a WL person of some standing thinks that it will.