2016 Rhys Pinot Noir Bearwallow Vineyard Porcupine Hill
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Tasting notes
A selection from the Bearwallow Vineyard, the 2016 Pinot Noir Porcupine Hill is brilliant stuff and a solid step up over the straight vineyard release. More cassis, crushed flowers, violets, and pine notes all flow to a medium-bodied, silky effort that has building tannins. Vibrant, incredibly pure, and with a terrific finish, it’s a great bottle of wine that will keep for 10-15 years.
Critic scores
Jeb Dunnuck
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2016 Pinot Noir Bearwallow Vineyard Porcupine Hill offers terrific depth and textural resonance in its dark cherry and plum fruit. Today, the difference between the two Bearwallow Pinots is not large. The Porcupine Hill offers a bit more depth and overall structure than the straight Porcupine Hill.
Derived from a section of the vineyard where the vines are planted at such high density that the stakes resembled the quills of a porcupine, the 2016 Pinot Noir Porcupine Hill Bearwallow Vineyard is very attractive, revealing a more brooding and sapid bouquet than the regular Bearwallow bottling. Offering up aromas of plums, wild berries, dark chocolate and incipient coniferous floor, the wine is medium to full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, with more concentration and amplitude than the regular Bearwallow, underpinned by bright acids and concluding with a stony, precise finish.