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: 2016 Rhys "Horseshoe Vineyard" Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir (500ml)

2016 Rhys "Horseshoe Vineyard" Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir (500ml)

SKU #1509994 97 points Vinous

Outer quote mark Even better than it was from barrel, the 2016 Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard is a flat-out stunner. Crazy, beautiful, deeply spiced aromatics literally explode from the glass. Broad and ample on the palate, with tremendous intensity, the Horseshoe has a lot to offer. Orange peel, mint and spice overtones add an exotic flair. This is an utterly captivating Pinot Noir from Rhys. (AG) Inner quote mark (8/2018)

96 points Jeb Dunnuck

Outer quote mark The 2016 Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard offers a more savory, mineral style as well as terrific depth of fruit. Lots of currant and black cherry fruits, ample rocky, earthy minerality, medium to full body, and a seamless texture all emerge from the glass. This classic Horseshoe Vineyard release has building structure that’s going to benefit from a few years in the cellar. Inner quote mark (2/2019)

94 points John Gilman

Outer quote mark The 2016 Horseshoe Vineyard Pinot Noir is absolutely stellar. The wine is a cool customer, coming in at 12.5% octane and offering up a beautifully complex and classy bouquet of black cherries, dark berries, cola, beautiful spice tones, excellent minerality, a touch of cedar and a topnote of woodsmoke. On the palate the wine is deep, pure, full-bodied and already quite complex, with a sappy core, fine focus and grip, seamless tannins and a very long, focused and energetic finish. The mineral drive of all of these Santa Cruz Mountain Pinots from Rhys is very impressive this year. 94+ Inner quote mark (7/2018)

94 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Outer quote mark The 2016 Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard takes some time to unwind in the glass, unfurling to reveal notes of strawberries, red cherries, rich spices, forest floor and subtle grilled meat. On the palate, it's medium-bodied, taut and youthfully firm, its bright core of concentrated fruit framed by chalky, fine-grained tannins. This is one of the most tightly coiled wines in the range and will require 5 or 6 years of patience. But when it shows all its cards, its precision and energy will be striking. (WK) Inner quote mark (5/2018)

93 points Allen Meadows - Burghound

Outer quote mark This is the first wine to display any appreciable reduction and even here it's sufficiently subtle that it does not completely overshadow the otherwise layered red berry fruit and floral scents; it should not be an issue going forward as my sense is that it will dissipate with a few years of bottle age. Otherwise there is good freshness and richness to the delicious and highly seductive medium-bodied flavors that possess good verve on the moderately firm and lengthy finish. This notably complex effort could also actually be enjoyed young but has the stuffing to successfully reward up to a decade of keeping. Inner quote mark (4/2019)

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2016 Rhys "Horseshoe Vineyard" Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir (500ml)

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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:

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.

Alcohol Content (%):

12.5