2021 Pinot Noir Home Vineyard

The Rhys 2021s are off the charts. After a very difficult year in 2020, Mother Nature provided far more ideal conditions in 2021. Annual rainfall was down 50%, and yet combined effects of drought and a cool season with no heat extremes or shock events yielded a set of powerful, deep wines. Cool nights during the final phase of ripening helped preserve acidity. Readers will find wines that marry uncommon textural depth with intense vibrancy and minerality. Moreover, the 2021s are also incredibly expressive of site, something I always look for in vineyard-designate wines. I followed the 2021s over several days and saw them blossom beautifully over that time, with the exception of one or two wines that remain a bit closed.

The Chardonnays spent 12 months in barrel, 15-20% new, and another six months in tank, an aging regime that is quite standard in Burgundy these days. The Pinots saw 12-14 months in barrel and then were racked back into oak for another four months or so. Stem inclusion is done on a wine-by-wine basis, but the overall trend over time at Rhys has been a reduction in whole cluster usage. The Anderson Valley Pinots and the Horseshoe are all done with fully destemmed fruit. Alpine sees some stems, while Skyline, Swan Terrace and Home tend to be done with the highest percentage of whole clusters. In 2021, Rhys did not bottle the Swan Terrace or Horseshoe Own Rooted Pinots as the winemaking team did not feel those selections were as differentiated as they needed to be. Readers will note that all the wines are now bottled under the Rhys brand, a move away from a brief period during which the appellation wines were labeled under the sister Alesia brand. In short, this is a brilliant collection of 2021s from proprietor Kevin Harvey and winemaker Jeff Brinkman.