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: 2014 Rhys "Bearwallow Vineyard" Anderson Valley Pinot Noir

2014 Rhys "Bearwallow Vineyard" Anderson Valley Pinot Noir

SKU #1345048 94 points Wine Advocate

Outer quote mark The 2014 Pinot Noir Bearwallow Vineyard is a solid step up over the Anderson Valley release and has more tension, elegance and precision. Offering up classic notes of strawberries, spice, black cherries and a touch of sous bois, it has medium to full-bodied richness, terrific purity of fruit and integrated acidity. Give bottles a year or two and drink through 2026. While the majority of 2014s are charming and supple, that’s certainly not the case with these latest releases from Kevin Harvey. I found all of his 2014s to be concentrated, structured wines that defy the vintage stereotype. While it's going to be great to follow the 2014s, 2013s and 2012s over the coming decade or more, I suspect when all is said and done, the 2014s will be the best of the three. (JD) Inner quote mark (10/2016)

93 points John Gilman

Outer quote mark I simply adored the 2013 vintage of Bearwallow Pinot Noir, and the 2014 version is a fine follow-up to that superb wine. The bouquet is deep, pure and nascently complex, wafting from the glass in a blend of black cherries, cola, black plums, woodsmoke, sweet herbs, a dollop of spicy oak and a topnote of cumin. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and laser-like in its focus, with outstanding mid-palate depth, ripe, perfectly integrated tannins, bright acids and outstanding length and grip on the poised and youthful finish. This shows significantly more complexity and precision than the very good Anderson Valley bottling, but it is still a puppy and a bit bound up in its suave structural elements. It is built for the long haul and I would give this at least seven or eight years in the cellar before I even contemplated opening a bottle. Not that it is all that bad of a drink right out of the blocks, but there is so much more to come here with bottle age that it would be infanticide to even think of opening bottles before it really has had a chance to develop! (JG) 93+ Inner quote mark (8/2016)

92 points Vinous

Outer quote mark The 2014 Pinot Noir Bearwallow Vineyard is a huge wine. Dark, powerful and intense. The low yields of the vintage are felt in the wine's massive fruit and pure heft. Dark red cherry, plum, smoke and licorice abound in a towering, somewhat burly wine that is going to need quite a bit of time to come around. (AG) 92+ Inner quote mark (7/2016)

90 points Burghound

Outer quote mark A densely fruited nose consists of spiced black cherry, plum and violet scents. The round, supple and delicious medium weight flavors are deceptively forward on the mid-palate as the backend immediately tightens up due to an abundance of dusty and mouth coating tannins that impart a mild austerity on the somewhat warm finale. My sense is that while this will require on the order of 10 to 12 years of bottle age to resolve the majority of the structure, this should drink reasonably well after only 5 or so. Inner quote mark (6/2017)

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2014 Rhys "Bearwallow Vineyard" Anderson Valley Pinot Noir

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Product Reviews:

By: Jackson Lee | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: 12/3/2019 | Send Email

I tried this wine both upon opening and after letting it sit for a day (corked, in the bottle) and enjoyed it all the way through. The first glass was bramble-y and herbaceous sitting on top of dark fruits, big and complex with a full body. After some oxygen interaction, sweeter notes started to come out that reminded me of mulberry pie with blueberry ice cream and candied parsley on the side. The finish had more of that sweet herbal component with a slight bit of anise that was reminiscent of a Ricola cough drop. This is one of the better bottles of Pinot's I've had and even purchased a couple myself to put in the cellar and experience their potential down the line.

By: Stefanie Juelsgaard | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: 8/23/2019 | Send Email

The winemakers at Rhys have spent years in Burgundy trying to learn the farming techniques and winemaking methodologies that result in a truly great bottle of wine, and I believe they have harnessed that knowledge in this bottling. Long a wait-list only winery, this exclusive brand is now available to the general public, and K&L is the first and largest single retailer of this producer. They are experts in both Anderson Valley and Santa Cruz Mountains varietals. This particular bottling definitely carries the classic Burgundy flavor profile. Medium-bodied with dusty tannin, well-incorporated minerality, and soft red fruits, this wine feels shy and so expressive at the same time. It's not punchy and in your face, but subtle and incredibly complex. One of the best Pinots I've had this year.

Additional Information:

Varietal:

Pinot Noir

- One of France's most legendary grapes and the grape that earned Burgundy its reputation. The parent of varietals like Pinot Gris/Grigio and Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir is blue to violet to indigo in color with relatively thin skins, and it is said to have been cultivated in France for more than 2,000 years. At its best, Pinot Noir creates elegant wines that are filled with primary red fruit aromas and flavors while young, revealing with an array of secondary characteristics like earth, smoke, violet, truffle and game with age. The varietal is also known, perhaps better than any, for its ability to translate terroir, or a sense of place. While the best Pinot Noir still comes from Burgundy, it is being produced with increasing success in cooler climates around the world. In France, it is part of the trifecta of grapes that can go into Champagne, and it is also grown in Alsace, Irancy, Jura, Savoie, Lorraine and Sancerre. Outside of France it is produced under the names Pinot Nero and Blauburgunder in Italy's mountainous regions, as Spätburgunder in Germany and as Blauburgunder in Austria. In the US, Pinot Noir has found suitable growing conditions in the cooler parts of California, including Carneros, the Russian River Valley, the Anderson Valley, the Sonoma Coast, Monterey County, the Santa Lucia Highlands and Santa Barbara County, as well as in Oregon's Willamette Valley. In recent years, New Zealand has demonstrated its ability to interpret this hard-to-grow varietal, with successful bottlings coming from careful and attentive growers in Central Otago, Martinborough and Canterbury. Chile is also an up-and-coming region for Pinot Noir, creating fresh, fruit-forward, early-drinking and affordable Pinots from the coastal Casablanca Valley and the Limari Valley.

Country:

United States

- When people consider domestic wine, they normally think about the state of California. The fine viticultural Region within California, including the Napa Valley, Sonoma, Santa Cruz Mountains, Mendocino and Santa Barbara, are capable of growing grapes of world-class quality. But there's plenty of fabulous wine coming from other states, too. Oregon, Washington and New York are also causing eyebrows (and glassware) to be raised around the world.

Sub-Region:

California

- With the explosive growth that California's wine industry has seen the past several years, it's easy to view winemaking and grape growing in the Golden State as a recent phenomenon. And while it's true that California's viticultural history is brief compared to several European countries, this state's roots date back well over 200 years. Due to the enormous response to California wine within the United States and worldwide, there are thousands of excellent and diverse wines being produced within the state each year.

Specific Appellation:

Anderson Valley/Mendocino

- Cooled by the nearby ocean and the seemingly omnipresent bank of oceanic fog, this picturesque wine region is home to a wealth of cool-climate grapes like riesling and gewürztraminer plus chardonnay and pinor noir, which are responsible for impressive and intense sparkling wines.