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  • Country ranking ?

    417
  • Producer ranking ?

    10
  • Decanting time

    45min
  • When to drink

    now to 2030

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The Story

Planted in 2004 with a total of 17.5 acres, Horseshoe Ranch is our most beautiful vineyard site. It is less than 1/2 mile from Alpine vineyard, but they are different in many ways. The ridge between the vineyards protects Horseshoe from some of the direct ocean influence but allows for similarly cool temperatures. More importantly, Horseshoe lies on a ridge of sedimentary shale called Monterey formation that has made its way to surface over th...

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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 i...

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

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Written Notes

Winemaker Jeff Brinkman crafts this wine in the same way, but with around 30 percent new oak here. The difference lies in the terroir, and it’s notable. “The vineyards are close to each other, just a few kilometers a part, but looking into the aspects of the soils, they are ten million years apart”, Jeff says. As in all vineyards of Rhys, this is stony and well drained, but of volcanic origin. The clones, which as for the previous wine, are the Old Wente and a selection from Hyde Vineyard, which is also of the Old Wente type, and they were planted in 2004 to 2006. This wine is fuller than the Alpine Vineyard selection, not too much but still notable, with the same intensity and texture and – although at the moment a bit covered by the fruit – the acidity and mineral notes are more of less the same. Again, there’s a steely note in the wine that may fool you a fraction of it was fermented in steel, but again that’s not the case. The oak, or at least what I suspect is the oak, is somehow a bit spicier in this wine. Also this wine kept very well in the open bottle until the day after. For both these wines I recommend decanting at least one hour before you serve them. I suggest a serving temperature of 12-14 degrees Celsius.
  • 93p
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Information

Origin

Santa Cruz Mountains, California
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