2012 Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard

Once again, I tasted a large number of wines with proprietor Kevin Harvey and winemaker Jeff Brinkman. The Rhys 2012 Pinots are just as gorgeous from bottle as they were from barrel. As fabulous as the 2012s are, the 2013 are at least as good, if not better. While the 2012s are open and supple, the 2013s have a touch more energy, power and minerality. Readers who can find the wines should not hesitate, as these are quite possibly the best back-to-back vintages in Rhys's short history thus far. It is impossible not to marvel at what Harvey and his team have achieved in just a few years. The Rhys Pinots aren't just modern-day reference points for California, they are now among the greatest Pinot Noirs being made anywhere in the world.

Kevin Harvey and his winemakerJeff Brinkman, who aren't exactly prone to overstatement, told me that 2012 was "a godsend after 2011, in a yield sense," but they're not writing off '11. Harvey describes his '11s as wines that show their place while 2012 was an example of Mother Nature at her benign best, "and definitely too generous if you wanted to go that way." Harvey's investment in the Bearwallow vineyard up north, in the Anderson Valley, is a big focus here right now. Brinkman said that moving outside their home zone of the Santa Cruz Mountains has given the team the chance to further expand the game of "soil plus exposure plus climate plus rootstock plus clone" and what comes from it (he compared it to 3-D chess) by getting to understand a place that's completely removed from their home base.The 2012 vintage brought Rhys the highest acidity levels in its fruit to date, by the way.

This is a fabulous set of new releases from Rhys, proprietor Kevin Harvey and winemaker Jeff Brinkman. I am not sure where to start, as all of these wines are highly recommended. Yields were brutally low in 2011, to the point Harvey told me he had never seen the cellar so empty during the fall. The Pinots were made with lower amounts of whole clusters, none in the Horseshoe and very little in the Alpine. Although Pinot Noir gets most of the limelight at Rhys, in top vintages the Syrahs are every bit as exciting. I hope readers can check them out as quality is world-class, while pricing remains incredibly reasonable. Rhys's two Chardonnay sites are 400 yards apart, but totally different in style. Ideally, the Chardonnays need several years of bottle age. If that is not an option, readers should give the Chardonnays a generous decant. Unfortunately, neither the San Mateo nor the Swan Terrace Pinot was made in 2011. However, Rhys fans will want to take a look at the Alesia wines (Rhys's second label), which are reviewed separately in this article. I also tasted all of the 2012 Pinots from barrel in composite blends. Harvey describes 2012 as the ‘vintage we have been waiting for.' It was a bumper crop for Rhys, which in these marginal sites means 30 hectoliters per hectare, yields that would be considered minimal in any other region in the world. Harvey's latest project is a Nebbiolo vineyard in Sonoma. The first vines went in just a few weeks ago. I can't wait to see how things develop at this site given Harvey's relentless passion and dedication. It is not an overstatement to say that what Kevin Harvey and his team have achieved at Rhys in just a few short years is nothing less than remarkable. These are benchmark California wines, it's as simple as that.