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  • Country ranking ?

    382
  • Producer ranking ?

    4
  • Decanting time

    1h
  • When to drink

    Now
  • Food Pairing

    Beef Bourgignon & Coq au Vin

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The Story

From its steep and rocky perch, Alpine Vineyard gazes at the Pacific Ocean 10 miles in the distance. The chalky Purisima Formation soils are shallow and rocky while the slopes can range up to 40%. The altitude and proximity to the ocean contribute to a very cool climate, but unlike most of California’s cool and foggy sites Alpine has little wind. This unique combination of climate and soil produces wines that do not taste like any other Pinot Noir or Chardonnay in the world.

Alpine is divided into ½ acre blocks with tightly planted 6' by 4' rows. These blocks contain 16 different selections of Pinot Noir and 4 different selections of Chardonnay. Most of these are of low-yielding “Heritage” or “Suitcase” selections such as Calera, Swan, La Tache, Hyde and Wente. Each of these blocks is micro-vinified, which has allowed us to isolate three distinct Pinot Noirs. The small east-facing Rhys Swan Terrace offers an elegant and beautifully sophisticated expression of the vineyard while a rigorous selection of fruit from the south facing blocks produces the larger Rhys Alpine Vineyard bottling. In some years we also produce a Rhys Alpine Hillside bottling from the steepest and lowest yielding section of the vineyard. Each of these Alpine Pinots offers the unusual combination of rich black fruit and crushed rock complexity that makes this vineyard so special.

While much of the vineyard is devoted to Pinot Noir, Alpine Vineyard Chardonnay is every bit as important. The distinctive combination of coiled power and fine marine/saline complexity is truly unforgettable.

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Vintage 2009

Napa 2009 Vintage Report   “We consider the vintage 2009 was the start of a three year cooling cycle (2009, 2010, 2011) that ended with the 2012 vintage.  If We look at the big picture of the decade We see warming each year from 2006, 2007 and then 2008.  2009 then started a cooling cycle where the vintages were progressively cooler and wetter. Out of these vintages the 2011 was the coolest and wettest. We are pleased to see the vintage 2012 is breaking this cycle.”

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

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Written Notes

Here the nose is similar to that of the Skyline but with more obvious spice notes that carry over to the exceptionally rich and large-scaled flavors that possess very firm and ripe tannins that coat the mouth yet are not aggressive or drying. This very serious effort is not as refined as the Skyline but it is just as complex and a lot more powerful. – Allen Meadows, Burghound.com 93p

  • 93p
Just one sniff on the wine and you’re stuck! It’s so different from the previous presented wines. It has a fantastic nose, bright and extremely intense, loads of both dark and light red cherries, sweet and sour, a floral touch and the typical aromatics derived from the stems, in this case 65 percent of the cluster wasn’t destemmed. Again, the oak (60 percent new) is extremely well integrated – bravo! On the palate, it is medium bodied, a bit more shy and closed that expected, but with good intensity and fine mid-palate and with marked tannins and a lively minerality that, at least today, gives a kind of closed impression. I’d give this wine another year or two in the bottle to let the structure soften a bit, and when that happens, the wine will be even more seductive and elegant. Winemaker Jeff Brinkman was kind enough to open a bottle of the 2006 Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard (95-96 p) to show me how the wine develops over time, and is was a stunning bottle of wine. On the nose, it reminded me of the cherry notes in the grand crus of Morey-Saint-Denis, and the body, earthy notes, structure and minerality of the grand crus of southern Gevrey-Chambertin – but with a much more Californian type of richness. To me, the Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard may be one of the finest bottling from Rhys Vineyards.
  • 94p
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Information

Origin

Santa Cruz Mountains, California

Grapes

100% Pinot Noir

Drinking temperature

16-17C
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