2023 Rhys Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard Ungrafted Vines
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Tasting notes
The 2023 Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard feels particularly composed and polished, especially juxtaposed against the wilder Horseshoe Hillside bottling tasting alongside. Notes of garrigue , palo santo, dark cherry, black raspberry, iodine and star anise blossom with aeration, building intensity and delineation. But where the Horseshoe really shines is in its seamless, finessed texture and exceptional energy. Though approachable today, the Horseshoe will only grow even more complex with time in the cellar. It’s a masterclass in California terroir.
Critic scores
Matthew Luczy, Wine Advocate
Billy Norris, Vinous
More reviews and scores
As is typically the case in the rare instances when this cuvée is assembled, the 2023 Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard Ungrafted Vines offers an even more transparent and high-resolution expression of the Horseshoe site. It leads with an exquisite, red fruit and citrus-driven bouquet with a more plush and weightless density compared to the standard bottling. The finish is similarly exquisite and as impressively balanced as the regular bottling, leaning into a more gentle saturation and textural precision. I found the standard Horseshoe bottling to overperform in this vintage, making this a truly difficult race to call, but I think the additional textural purity here could give it another level of dimension after time in the cellar.