2010 Horseshoe Vineyard Pinot Noir
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Tasting notes
Here the floral dark berry fruit and spice-tinged nose is presently marked by the toasty wood though an hour or so of air helps to dissipate it. There is good volume and mid-palate density to the delicious, round and nicely detailed medium-bodied flavors that exhibit noticeable bitterness on the otherwise attractively long finish. The extended aeration also helped to largely, if not completely, dissipate the bitterness and it seems clear that this will be one of those wines that is best left to slumber in the cellar for several years first as it's conspicuously awkward today.
Critic scores
Average Score
Allen Meadows, Burghound
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2010 Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard is another wine with superb integrity in its fruit and terrific overall balance. Juicy red berries, hard candy. flowers, mint and spices are all woven together nicely. The whole clusters are very nicely balanced. There is wonderful focus and vibrancy throughout, leading to a weightless, totally gracious finish.
The 2010 Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard is another wine with superb integrity in its fruit and terrific overall balance. Juicy red berries, hard candy, flowers, mint and spices are all woven together nicely. The whole clusters are very nicely balanced. There is wonderful focus and vibrancy throughout, leading to a weightless, totally gracious finish. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2022. Proprietor Kevin Harvey and his team, led by winemaker Jeff Brinkman, have received quite a bit of attention of late. They deserve every bit of it, if not more. Harvey has spared no expense in building a state of the art facility, which includes 100 one-ton fermenters that allow for multiple small lot fermentations. In the vineyard, Harvey has taken the type of risks only someone with a background in early stage technology investing could stomach. The result is a series of breathtaking wines, Pinots especially, that are among the finest being made in the United States. I am quite sure Harvey’s goals are much more ambitious than that, though. It will be interesting to see how things play out at Rhys over the coming years, but there is no question these are exciting, compelling wines of the highest level. My experience with the Rhys Pinots is that they develop very slowly in bottle, so readers need to exercise a bit more patience than is typically required with California Pinot Noir. Like most estates in 2010, Rhys grappled with the September heat spikes, which took place during the harvest. The Home and Family Farm were brought in before the spikes, as was 80% of Alpine, Horseshoe and Bearwallow. Rhys had a harder time with Skyline, which came in after the spikes. Ultimately, only 25% of that fruit made it into the fermentation tanks. Tel. (866) 511-1520; www.rhysvineyards.com
Vivid ruby. Sexy, high-pitched aromas of raspberry, candied cherry, fresh flowers and Asian spices. At once juicy and deep, with silky texture and superb intensity to its red fruit and floral pastille flavors. Pure, energetic and mineral-dominated on the very long finish. (ST)