2016 Rhys Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard

The 2016 Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard is seamless in the way it floats on the palate. Bright and intensely perfumed, the Alpine is marked by its deeply-pitched aromatics and overall finesse, all of which give it a feeling of total sophistication. Today, I find the Alpine even more compelling than it was from barrel. Time in the glass brings out the wine's silkiness and overall allure. Alpine was the lowest yielding site for Rhys in 2016.

The 2016 Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard is aromatically extravagant, even at this early stage, bursting from the glass with notes of cinnamon, orange rind, nutmeg, cherries and raspberries. On the palate, it's full-bodied, ample and multidimensional, with rich structuring tannins, succulent acids and lovely purity and precision, concluding with a fragrant, transparent finish. The 2016 was vinified with 33% whole cluster and matured in 45% new oak. A few days before my tasting with Brinkman and Harvey, I drank a bottle of the 2012 Alpine Pinot Noir from my own cellar, and the common thread of aromas and textures that connected the older vintage with the younger was striking testimony to the distinctiveness of this terroir.

Another terrific 2016, the Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard is a wine of total finesse. Fresh red berry, mint, spice and floral notes give the wine its distinctive perfumed, lifted personality. Pliant and understated, the 2016 Alpine is loaded with potential. This sample includes lots that might be culled out for a Hillside bottling.