Shows well, with tannin starting to resolve and plenty of fruit still there. Comes across as savory, but there is still fruit in the background. Improves with air. No rush.
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Despite owning a case plus of mixed vintages going back to '08, this is the first Rhys Skyline syrah I've opened. Seems like I have a lot more experience with their Horseshoe according to CT. Anyways, this bottle left me a bit underwhelmed, despite giving it two days of air. The nose is its best feature, with a nice mineral streak to go along with some subtle black fruit. A bit lean and shrill, with dry tannins, that became more pronounced on day 2. I'm not sure this will improve further with aging.
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Warren's. Since when does California syrah show dense blackberry fruit layered with mint, dark chocolate and redwood sawdust? Since this one. Never in a million years would have guessed it could be anything other than Cabernet Sauvignon, and delicious as such. But syrah? Wow, how different.
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Boring upon opening, but I decanted for a few hours before the tasting and it was quite nice. Dense minty chocolate aromas and flavors, this was the only wine of the night that might not have been obviously Syrah. I've had better examples from this vineyard. The vines have long been torn out and replanted to Pinot Noir, and it this were the only bottle I had tried, I wouldn't mourn their departure.
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Lots of fruit on the nose with dark berries and maybe a hint of VA. Good structure with quite drying tannins, more dark fruit flavors and some olives on the palate. Nice finish. Quite delicious now, but this really needs more time. I'd try again in 5-10 years. 92-93+
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-- decanted one hour before initial taste -- -- tasted non-blind over a few hours --
NOSE: ripe and purple-fruited; faint tobacco/mineral note on the back end.
BODY: dark garnet color, with a little bit of sediment present; medium bodied.
TASTE: moderate drying tannins; ripe purple fruits; seems straightforward; medium acidity; light oak; seems kind of flat and boring -- muted, with little depth; no obvious signs of TCA, and the aromatics are expressive, so maybe this is just a simple, ho-hum, wine.?
50, 5, 12, 14, 6 = 87
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Popped and poured. Blackberry, spice and a subtle herb/stem note. The palate is deep and rich with lively medium acid fruit and a bunch of burly, drying tannins. Hour 2 update, oh my this wine has seriously burly tannins.
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PnP, cellared since release, and tasted over 2 days. Medium dark red. A bit reticent on the nose but with swirling and on the second day this showed a very herbal/spice driven character. On the palate as noted by others, this wine is quite soft and would be hard to id as Syrah. I don't get the grippy tannins but there is some residual tannin on the finish on day 2. The nose becomes a bit more varietally "correct" with white pepper on day 2 but the palate impression is quite soft and unusual. Interesting wine; may keep my last bottle for a couple more years.
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High toned nose. Very floral. White pepper. Ferrous.
Carries through to the start of the palate. Mineral, ferrous. Fruity and wild. Blackberries? and blood. More fruit presence than the 2008. Very firm tannins.
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Opened a week after an '09 Horseshoe Syrah. This was markedly different. Whereas the HS was big and tannin when opened, the Skyline was immediately more approachable. But if someone had served this blind and told me it was an '09 Nuits Vaucrains, I would have believed them. It's got dark cherry fruit, spice, and flowers. And the palate does not have the weight or tannic structure of the HS syrah from the week before. The body is much lighter and the power of the HS is absent. It's certainly an interesting wine, but is just not a typical syrah in any way. It would be fascinating to taste this side-by-side with the Skyline PN of the same vintage. Maybe I'll do that someday in the future.
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Lovely. I think Rhys syrahs are similar in spirit to their pinot noirs; there's the same acidic energy and fresh fruit flavors. There's more of a smoked meat and pepper character to the syrahs (along with an obviously deeper violet color and stronger tannins), but there's also a burgundian elegance.
The fruit here (candied strawberry?) is gorgeous. But I also admire the syrah aromatic complexity and typicity. This is unique, world-class syrah that seems to have at least ten years of life ahead of it. It tastes remarkably youthful for a 2009.
Popped and put in the decanter, and started drinking within about 20 minutes. Aroma is pretty light, with some cherry. Taste has a bit of a tart cherry thing, but the tart isn't bad..it's just a hint of it. Definitely has some of the cigar box aroma to it as well.
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Inspired by a friend's note on the 09 horseshoes, decided to open this one up. A very pure wine, in the sense that it's not a super-meaty/savory rhone-style, or a stinky/animal/funky Washington-style, or an under-ripe CA coast style. It's just...a really nice syrah that lives somewhere in between all of those. Still has some tannin but is very drinkable now, with or without food. The nose is a little closed up at least on day 1, will see what day 2 brings.
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Pop and pour and served with food ( Sous vide sirloin, roasted potatoes, and gr,een beans, in caees younwere wondering). Dark purple color. Nose of dark fruits, some floral violet notes, and cured black olives. Flavors of dark fruits, some olives, and a savory and herbal note suggesting some whole cluster. Shows a bot of heat on the finish, which is surprisng given the 12.8% abv.
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2nd bottle I've tried... This has very much come out of its slumber and is starting to fire.
Dark Blood Sangria color.
Super expressive nose of violets, meat, white pepper, camphor and a touch of game.
Cool black fruits on the palate. Hung meat, Loads of black pepper, very firm tannins. Some salinity on the finish. Shows some real depth and yet manages to also be light on its feet in the vein of a fine Cote Rotie.
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Tasted after a one hour decant. Just okay, but not great. Tannins still up front but not much else there. While past wines have often improved with age, I'm not sure this has enough fruit to pull it off. Not a bad bottle of wine, but not special either.
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Decanted one hour, tasted over 2 hrs -nearly opaque dark red no bricking -reticent nose gradually unfurls with air, dark berry spice -med acidity, med weight/concentration subtle brooding dark fruit intermingled with earth but not particularly savory/meaty, med tannins -still tightly wound up and much less approachable than the '09 Horseshoe was 2 years ago
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Not bad, just very closed. A little more open the second day. I was very excited to try this so was disappointed. I'll wait a few years to try the 2010.
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A curious wine for the 3 of us who tasted. A beautiful wine that evolved, advanced, regressed, exhibited by tannins, then fruit, then tannins, etc. it was impossible to predict one taste after another. Most times, the aromas were of red fruits, mostly bitter cherry. We tasted over 2 days. The color was red with few syrah characteristics both on the nose and palate. We wanted to like it and we did, but not as a syrah. We opened a 2007 Bedrock Kick Ranch to compare. This needs more time. Lots of dark fruit and classic Syrah road tar, as well as a bit of Brett that blew off. Sweeter than the Rhys and more alcohol. This was coming around as the hours passes, but never shone. Finally, an evidently poorly stored 2003 Guigal brune et blonde, which should be singing and did a few years ago from a different lot. Instead, with this one, the prunes and raisins were giggling within 12 hours.
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Syrah comes in several forms. In tonight's form, when I went to the cellar, I wanted something that was on the savory side, lower alc, cool climate, and I was apprehensive to some degree when I saw some of the other notes in CT. For sure, when the wine was first opened, it was kind of lean, bland. This needed 2 hours of air to add some flesh, and with the 2nd glass tonight, that air helps to give it some intensity. There is some olive here, some game, sour cherry/blueberry and savory. These markers can turn off some syrah drinkers, depending on what end of the spectrum one finds their syrah palate. Those flavors are here and even in the finish, solid acidity and some chalk. So, from the standpoint of open and pour, this is not recommended...with the added day of air, this really reminds me a lot of the Wind Gap syrahs, all of the savory, saline and red fruits in a medium weight package. This is distinctive in style and it's going to miss the mark with some and I suspect there will be a camp that truly dislikes this wine, yet for me it's sincere, cool climate, cluster driven syrah. As to a drink window, hmmm. As much as I like acid and structure, with air this to me drinks well and really loosened up so I don't see any reason against enjoying now, although I do think the wine can sit another 3-4 years and be just fine.
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Similar to notes below, I didn't get much from this wine. It's possible it will blossom into something special, but I don't detect much stuffing there.
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This wine is obviously not in a good spot right now. Very muffled. Decanted for 3 hours and then drank over 2 it was just not great fabulous that I hear about. The last hour it smoothed out and really came on and maybe showed that it was worthy of all the accolades. Let this rest at least 5 - 10 more years.
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This wine was tried w several other syrah's fom around the world. It wasn't bad, but was truly subpar. Really missing the fruit to warrant a 90 pt score, especially in the mid palate.
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Popped and poured, although perhaps I should have decanted. I quite like this wine. The nose shows a lot of tannin and dark fruit. However, on the tongue it is actually fairly smooth. There is dark fruit, but also quite a bit of fresh cherry on the finish. Some bramble, no doubt from the whole clusters. Will be interested to see how my other bottle evolves.
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Tasted at the Rhys pickup. Black fruit and smoke on the nose, some anise; powerful and tannic palate (thought the tannins are quite fine), yet still has an elegance and charm to it, this is very primary today, and in my opinion will likely require a few years to even be approachable.
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Tasted blind. Inky black purple. Very pretty purple aromatics of lilac, lavender and violet along with cinnamon stick, sandstone minerality and cherry pit. Stout tannin, decent acidity and a lovely bitter cocoa texture. Intense and persistent with low alcohol. The whole cluster aspect to this wine is beautiful and integrated. This wine is strikingly accessible yet displays complexity and finesse without being overbearing. Decant and savor.
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1/9/2023 - gbauer wrote:
Shows well, with tannin starting to resolve and plenty of fruit still there. Comes across as savory, but there is still fruit in the background. Improves with air. No rush.
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4/11/2022 - GrapeScott wrote: 87 Points
Despite owning a case plus of mixed vintages going back to '08, this is the first Rhys Skyline syrah I've opened. Seems like I have a lot more experience with their Horseshoe according to CT. Anyways, this bottle left me a bit underwhelmed, despite giving it two days of air. The nose is its best feature, with a nice mineral streak to go along with some subtle black fruit. A bit lean and shrill, with dry tannins, that became more pronounced on day 2. I'm not sure this will improve further with aging.
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3/20/2022 - Neecies Likes this wine:
Warren's. Since when does California syrah show dense blackberry fruit layered with mint, dark chocolate and redwood sawdust? Since this one. Never in a million years would have guessed it could be anything other than Cabernet Sauvignon, and delicious as such. But syrah? Wow, how different.
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3/20/2022 - WST Likes this wine:
Boring upon opening, but I decanted for a few hours before the tasting and it was quite nice. Dense minty chocolate aromas and flavors, this was the only wine of the night that might not have been obviously Syrah. I've had better examples from this vineyard. The vines have long been torn out and replanted to Pinot Noir, and it this were the only bottle I had tried, I wouldn't mourn their departure.
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3/14/2022 - glou.sf Likes this wine: 93 Points
Lots of fruit on the nose with dark berries and maybe a hint of VA. Good structure with quite drying tannins, more dark fruit flavors and some olives on the palate. Nice finish. Quite delicious now, but this really needs more time. I'd try again in 5-10 years. 92-93+
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12/21/2021 - grafstrb wrote: 87 Points
-- decanted one hour before initial taste --
-- tasted non-blind over a few hours --
NOSE: ripe and purple-fruited; faint tobacco/mineral note on the back end.
BODY: dark garnet color, with a little bit of sediment present; medium bodied.
TASTE: moderate drying tannins; ripe purple fruits; seems straightforward; medium acidity; light oak; seems kind of flat and boring -- muted, with little depth; no obvious signs of TCA, and the aromatics are expressive, so maybe this is just a simple, ho-hum, wine.?
50, 5, 12, 14, 6 = 87
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2/17/2021 - llink wrote: 90 Points
Popped and poured. Blackberry, spice and a subtle herb/stem note. The palate is deep and rich with lively medium acid fruit and a bunch of burly, drying tannins. Hour 2 update, oh my this wine has seriously burly tannins.
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10/9/2020 - pjhr Likes this wine: 92 Points
As tasty as the last bottle with similar tasting notes.
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10/8/2020 - rosenst1 wrote: 91 Points
PnP, cellared since release, and tasted over 2 days. Medium dark red. A bit reticent on the nose but with swirling and on the second day this showed a very herbal/spice driven character. On the palate as noted by others, this wine is quite soft and would be hard to id as Syrah. I don't get the grippy tannins but there is some residual tannin on the finish on day 2. The nose becomes a bit more varietally "correct" with white pepper on day 2 but the palate impression is quite soft and unusual. Interesting wine; may keep my last bottle for a couple more years.
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9/10/2020 - blisscompound Likes this wine: 91 Points
Don’t doubt that Rhys is doing good work
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7/10/2020 - pjhr Likes this wine: 92 Points
Tasty blackberry, olive, and floral notes on the nose and savory palate with chewy tannins on the moderate finish.
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4/16/2020 - bobdobilina wrote: 93 Points
Dark and slightly cloudy sangria color.
High toned nose. Very floral. White pepper. Ferrous.
Carries through to the start of the palate. Mineral, ferrous. Fruity and wild. Blackberries? and blood. More fruit presence than the 2008. Very firm tannins.
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2/14/2020 - jjct wrote:
As others have noted, this has soft, pinot-y fruit. However this bottle also had some pretty grippy tannins. Good quality wine.
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11/2/2019 - jlm wrote:
Opened a week after an '09 Horseshoe Syrah. This was markedly different. Whereas the HS was big and tannin when opened, the Skyline was immediately more approachable. But if someone had served this blind and told me it was an '09 Nuits Vaucrains, I would have believed them. It's got dark cherry fruit, spice, and flowers. And the palate does not have the weight or tannic structure of the HS syrah from the week before. The body is much lighter and the power of the HS is absent. It's certainly an interesting wine, but is just not a typical syrah in any way. It would be fascinating to taste this side-by-side with the Skyline PN of the same vintage. Maybe I'll do that someday in the future.
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5/5/2019 - Tom Warden wrote: 91 Points
A bit flat.
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4/8/2019 - soyhead wrote:
plummy, no black pepper, tasted blind DC called it straightaway a california pinot. and to his point its actually quite pinoty for a syrah
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9/20/2018 - theharve wrote: 92 Points
well balanced with good fruit and acidity and mild tannins which diminished
after 30 minutes. try again next year.
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3/19/2018 - Acohen Likes this wine: 90 Points
Dark fruit with lots of plum and some licorice notes
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8/27/2017 - rmalloy Likes this wine: 93 Points
Lovely. I think Rhys syrahs are similar in spirit to their pinot noirs; there's the same acidic energy and fresh fruit flavors. There's more of a smoked meat and pepper character to the syrahs (along with an obviously deeper violet color and stronger tannins), but there's also a burgundian elegance.
The fruit here (candied strawberry?) is gorgeous. But I also admire the syrah aromatic complexity and typicity. This is unique, world-class syrah that seems to have at least ten years of life ahead of it. It tastes remarkably youthful for a 2009.
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7/20/2017 - Wine Sparty wrote: 92 Points
Popped and put in the decanter, and started drinking within about 20 minutes. Aroma is pretty light, with some cherry. Taste has a bit of a tart cherry thing, but the tart isn't bad..it's just a hint of it. Definitely has some of the cigar box aroma to it as well.
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4/17/2017 - Tubulus wrote: 92 Points
Inspired by a friend's note on the 09 horseshoes, decided to open this one up. A very pure wine, in the sense that it's not a super-meaty/savory rhone-style, or a stinky/animal/funky Washington-style, or an under-ripe CA coast style. It's just...a really nice syrah that lives somewhere in between all of those. Still has some tannin but is very drinkable now, with or without food. The nose is a little closed up at least on day 1, will see what day 2 brings.
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2/11/2017 - t_moderne wrote: 90 Points
Pop and pour and served with food ( Sous vide sirloin, roasted potatoes, and gr,een beans, in caees younwere wondering).
Dark purple color.
Nose of dark fruits, some floral violet notes, and cured black olives.
Flavors of dark fruits, some olives, and a savory and herbal note suggesting some whole cluster. Shows a bot of heat on the finish, which is surprisng given the 12.8% abv.
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2/9/2017 - cartime wrote:
Still tight. Needs more time or significant decanting.
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8/9/2016 - bobdobilina wrote: 93 Points
2nd bottle I've tried... This has very much come out of its slumber and is starting to fire.
Dark Blood Sangria color.
Super expressive nose of violets, meat, white pepper, camphor and a touch of game.
Cool black fruits on the palate. Hung meat, Loads of black pepper, very firm tannins. Some salinity on the finish. Shows some real depth and yet manages to also be light on its feet in the vein of a fine Cote Rotie.
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12/5/2015 - RSC wrote: 89 Points
Tasted after a one hour decant. Just okay, but not great. Tannins still up front but not much else there. While past wines have often improved with age, I'm not sure this has enough fruit to pull it off. Not a bad bottle of wine, but not special either.
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8/22/2015 - Cote d'Or wrote:
Decanted one hour, tasted over 2 hrs
-nearly opaque dark red no bricking
-reticent nose gradually unfurls with air, dark berry spice
-med acidity, med weight/concentration subtle brooding dark fruit intermingled with earth but not particularly savory/meaty, med tannins
-still tightly wound up and much less approachable than the '09 Horseshoe was 2 years ago
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1/10/2015 - lozatron wrote:
Closed. I would not buy Rhys syrahs with under 10 years of age in the future...
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11/22/2014 - MitchL wrote: 86 Points
Not bad, just very closed. A little more open the second day. I was very excited to try this so was disappointed. I'll wait a few years to try the 2010.
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11/22/2014 - BklynNeophyte wrote:
A curious wine for the 3 of us who tasted. A beautiful wine that evolved, advanced, regressed, exhibited by tannins, then fruit, then tannins, etc. it was impossible to predict one taste after another. Most times, the aromas were of red fruits, mostly bitter cherry. We tasted over 2 days. The color was red with few syrah characteristics both on the nose and palate. We wanted to like it and we did, but not as a syrah. We opened a 2007 Bedrock Kick Ranch to compare. This needs more time. Lots of dark fruit and classic Syrah road tar, as well as a bit of Brett that blew off. Sweeter than the Rhys and more alcohol. This was coming around as the hours passes, but never shone. Finally, an evidently poorly stored 2003 Guigal brune et blonde, which should be singing and did a few years ago from a different lot. Instead, with this one, the prunes and raisins were giggling within 12 hours.
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8/10/2014 - Frank Murray III wrote:
Syrah comes in several forms. In tonight's form, when I went to the cellar, I wanted something that was on the savory side, lower alc, cool climate, and I was apprehensive to some degree when I saw some of the other notes in CT. For sure, when the wine was first opened, it was kind of lean, bland. This needed 2 hours of air to add some flesh, and with the 2nd glass tonight, that air helps to give it some intensity. There is some olive here, some game, sour cherry/blueberry and savory. These markers can turn off some syrah drinkers, depending on what end of the spectrum one finds their syrah palate. Those flavors are here and even in the finish, solid acidity and some chalk. So, from the standpoint of open and pour, this is not recommended...with the added day of air, this really reminds me a lot of the Wind Gap syrahs, all of the savory, saline and red fruits in a medium weight package. This is distinctive in style and it's going to miss the mark with some and I suspect there will be a camp that truly dislikes this wine, yet for me it's sincere, cool climate, cluster driven syrah. As to a drink window, hmmm. As much as I like acid and structure, with air this to me drinks well and really loosened up so I don't see any reason against enjoying now, although I do think the wine can sit another 3-4 years and be just fine.
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10/19/2013 - Michael Davidson wrote:
Similar to notes below, I didn't get much from this wine. It's possible it will blossom into something special, but I don't detect much stuffing there.
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9/30/2013 - cubswinws Likes this wine: 90 Points
Nice cool climate syrah with nice balance and acidity. Drinking well at present
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9/30/2013 - TLR wrote: 88 Points
This wine is obviously not in a good spot right now. Very muffled. Decanted for 3 hours and then drank over 2 it was just not great fabulous that I hear about. The last hour it smoothed out and really came on and maybe showed that it was worthy of all the accolades. Let this rest at least 5 - 10 more years.
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9/29/2013 - bonedoc wrote: 89 Points
This wine was tried w several other syrah's fom around the world. It wasn't bad, but was truly subpar. Really missing the fruit to warrant a 90 pt score, especially in the mid palate.
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9/6/2013 - youngjc1 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Popped and poured, although perhaps I should have decanted. I quite like this wine. The nose shows a lot of tannin and dark fruit. However, on the tongue it is actually fairly smooth. There is dark fruit, but also quite a bit of fresh cherry on the finish. Some bramble, no doubt from the whole clusters. Will be interested to see how my other bottle evolves.
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11/4/2012 - xwine wrote:
Tasted at the Rhys pickup. Black fruit and smoke on the nose, some anise; powerful and tannic palate (thought the tannins are quite fine), yet still has an elegance and charm to it, this is very primary today, and in my opinion will likely require a few years to even be approachable.
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9/28/2011 - sethmorgenlong wrote:
Tasted blind. Inky black purple. Very pretty purple aromatics of lilac, lavender and violet along with cinnamon stick, sandstone minerality and cherry pit. Stout tannin, decent acidity and a lovely bitter cocoa texture. Intense and persistent with low alcohol. The whole cluster aspect to this wine is beautiful and integrated. This wine is strikingly accessible yet displays complexity and finesse without being overbearing. Decant and savor.
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