Home
: 2016 Rhys "Alpine Vineyard" Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay

2016 Rhys "Alpine Vineyard" Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay

SKU #1446359 96 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Outer quote mark The 2016 Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard is a stunning young wine that's one of the best whites Rhys has produced to date. Opening up with vivid aromas of lemon oil, citrus pith, crisp apple and nutmeg, it's fuller-bodied, glossier and more textural than the Horseshoe bottling, with a broader attack as well. But it's also intensely saline and mineral, with wonderful concentration and intensity. (WK) Inner quote mark (5/2018)

95 points Jeb Dunnuck

Outer quote mark More rounded and elegant, the 2016 Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard offers beautiful notes of ripe orchard fruits, oyster shell, spice, and white flowers to go with an incredibly layered, seamless style on the palate. Inner quote mark (2/2019)

95 points Vinous

Outer quote mark The 2016 Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard is fascinating to taste next to the Horseshoe, as it is quite a more tropical and generous in feel. Even so, there is quite a bit of energy running through the passionfruit, pineapple and yellow stone fruit. The Alpine will appeal more to readers who enjoy oily, textured Chardonnays. (AG) Inner quote mark (8/2018)

94 points John Gilman

Outer quote mark The Rhys Vineyards’ bottling of chardonnay from the Alpine Vineyard is one of my very favorite white wine cuvées in all of California, and the 2016 vintage of this bottling is outstanding. The wine is another cool chard, coming in at 12.7 percent and offering up excellent aromatic refinement in its blend of pear, nectarine, fresh almond, a beautifully complex base of soil, spring flowers and a deft framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and nascently complex, with an excellent core of fruit, lovely mineral drive, bright acids and superb length and grip on the very classy finish. This is like a top flight Puligny premier cru with different minerality. Inner quote mark (7/2018)

Share |

2016 Rhys "Alpine Vineyard" Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay

Price: $99.95

Quantity:

Real Time Inventory by location:

The item you have chosen is not in stock in our retail stores or within our main warehouse.

Product turnaround time varies by location of inventory and your chosen method of shipping/pickup. For a detailed explanation click here.

Related Items

Additional Information:

Varietal:

Chardonnay

- It's hard to believe that up until about 30 years ago, this extremely popular varietal hid behind the veil of geographical names like Chablis and Puligny-Montrachet. Now grown all over the world and bottled by its varietal name, Chardonnay has achieved a level of branding unlike any other wine. Surprisingly, though, what you get when you buy Chardonnay can differ greatly from country to country and even within one country, depending on the climate where it's grown and how it is vinified and aged. From fresh, crisp and minerally with apple and lemon notes to rich and buttery with tropical fruit overtones, Chardonnay runs the gamut. In France's Burgundy, Chardonnay is the source of the prized wines of Chablis, Corton-Charlemagne, Mâcon, Meursault and Montrachet. It also the foundation of exceptional Champagne, where it is blended with Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier or vinified on its own into Blanc de Blancs. It is also extremely popular in California, and is gaining popularity in Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Spain and South Africa.

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:

Santa Cruz Mountains

- Vineyards dot the valleys and ridges of this coastal AVA just south of San Francisco. Microclimates make it difficult to generalize, and vineyards are frequently separated by acres of forests and meadowlands (not to mention entire towns!), but this is nonetheless known as a cooler-climate zone ideal for pinot noir. Ridge is doubtless the most famous local producer, with its cabernet blend, Monte Bello, named after a Santa Cruz mountain peak. High-quality, low-production chardonnay and some Rhône varietals prosper as well.

Organic: