Aria, Atlanta, GA
Tasted Tuesday, May 2, 2017 by MikeATL with 462 views
When Don Cornutt asked if I was interested in joining in another Rhys dinner at Aria, I didn't hesitate. Eight of us gathered at Aria, one of Atlanta's best restaurants, with a selection of wines from our cellars chosen with guidance from Kevin Harvey. I really enjoy these kinds of mini-vertical tastings, as I find that I get a much better understanding of a vineyard's character after tasting multiple vintages together.
I can't praise the food and service enough. Don worked with GM and Wine Director Andres Loaiza and Chef/Owner Gerry Klaskala to put together a delicious seven course tasting menu to complement the wines which exceeded the lofty expectations, as did the brilliantly well-coordinated service. Combine great food, great wine, great service, and great company, and you get an incredibly memorable evening.
We opened with three vintages of Horseshoe Vineyard Chardonnay to accompany a refreshing salad of chilled Maine lobster, green apple, and fennel mixed with a creamy lime-tarragon vinaigrette. The 2011 was a bit of an outlier, and I liked it better than did most of the rest of the group. My sense from this and from prior tastings is that the Horseshoe Chardonnay is a little more exuberant and tropical than the more stately and restrained Alpine bottlings, but it is still more elegant and nuanced than most California Chardonnays.
The next flight featured three older vintages of Alpine Vineyard Chardonnay with an intoxicating dish of pan seared scallops with avocado slices, supremes of orange and grapefruit, and a three citrus ponzu. The salinity of the perfectly cooked scallops, richness of the avocado, and sweet/tart citrus paired very well with the flight. The 2009 was the outlier in this group, while my last bottle of 2007 was a show stopper. Curse me for not taking my full allocations of Chardonnay in the early years before I realized how great they are.
We switched to reds for the third flight and an arugula and endive salad with pine nuts, thin slices of Pekin duck ham, and a strawberry vinaigrette which marked the first of three consecutive duck courses. The duck was similar to prosciutto, and the salad worked with the wines. Bearwallow probably has the most distinctive character of the Rhys single vineyards, with a dark fruit and spiciness unlike any of the others. I'm also becoming more and more enamored with it as each vintages seems to be better than the one before it.
This was intended to be a 2006 Alpine horizontal, but because of an inventory management issue we had a Home Vineyard instead of a Swan Terrace. I don't think I've had the 2006 Home before, so I wasn't concerned at all. The wines worked well with what was probably my favorite course of the night, a slow-braised Muscovy duck sauce with pappardelle and Parmagiano-Reggiano. The regular 2006 Alpine stole the show with this flight.
There were mixed results from this flight, though the dish of a roasted Roan duck breast with baby spinach, roasted shallots, and natural jus was another standout with perfectly rendered skin.
The final savory flight featured a pairing of 2014 Alpine Vineyard and Bearwallow Vineyard Pinot Noirs paired with a Berkshire pork rack from Southeast Family Farms with young carrots, tokyo turnips, pearl onions, snow peas, and a grainy mustard sauce. Both wines were lighter and more translucent than any of the other Pinot Noirs, showing great concentration and acidic zip without being heavy which made for a great pairing with a more intense dish. I'm very excited to see how these evolve, but they are so delicious that it is going to be hard to keep my hands off of them.
We concluded with a tasty assortment of chocolate-hazelnut cookies, fruit and nut nougat, and brown sugar-nut bars, which was a great way to end the meal.
2011 Rhys Chardonnay Horseshoe Vineyard 91 Points
USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains
Meyer lemon and minerals, with great acidic zing. With air, the acid seemed to fade and it lost some of its freshness and zip. I liked it more than the rest of the group.
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2012 Rhys Chardonnay Horseshoe Vineyard 92 Points
USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains
Lemon and stone, with refreshing acidity. Still very young.
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2013 Rhys Chardonnay Horseshoe Vineyard 93 Points
USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains
A little matchstick, lemon, slate, nice richness but well-endowed with acidity. Also very young. Just a little more complex and deeper than the 2012.
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