2021 Pinot Noir Horseshoe Vineyard

There's a lot to explore in these new releases from proprietor Kevin Harvey and Winemaker Jeff Brinkman. Vintage 2022 presented an unusual set of circumstances quite different from those that affected much of northern California. For example, rainfall was as much as 50% higher than it was in 2021. The summer months of July and August saw below-average temperatures before a significant heat wave arrived over Labor Day.

In tasting, the Pinots offer quite a bit of early accessibility, which is not often the case here. The 2022s clearly don't fully have the dimension and layers of the very best years, but they are impeccably balanced, expressive of site and easy to like. Moreover, the management of tannin and overall phenolic ripeness is spot on. The Anderson Valley Pinots are especially strong, a reflection of those sites being less further along in their ripening when the heat arrived, which meant the fruit was less impacted. The Chardonnays are softer than most years but also not quite as rich, a sort of accidental combination that works well. In most years, the Chardonnays, especially the Santa Cruz Mountains vineyard designates, need a few years in bottle to shine. I don't expect that to be the case with the 2022s. Most importantly, the 2022s offer a notable expression of site, which, in my view, is one of the most important attributes of single vineyard wines. That's especially of note for a year marked by late-season heat.

Winemaking remains pretty classic. Chardonnays were whole cluster pressed to barrel. They spent 12 months in Damy barrels, 15% new, and then 6 months in tank, a classic Burgundian aging regime. The Pinots spent 14 months in barrel prior to racking and blending, followed by another four months in barrel. Whole cluster inclusion was a bit lower than the norm overall. There’s not a lot of overt stem character in the wines, except for some Pinots, like the Home Vineyard, where stem inclusion is manifested more in the wine’s closed personality rather than in its aromatic or flavor profile. The Anderson Valley Pinots and the Horseshoe are done with fully destemmed fruit, while the Skyline, Swan Terrace and Home see the highest percentage of whole clusters. New oak goes up to 25-33% for the vineyard designates, down overall from the 50% or so Rhys favored in the early days.

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.