2021 Rhys Vineyards Pinot Noir Family Farm San Mateo County Central Coast 750 ml

Since Eric Asimov of the New York Times proclaimed Rhys to be “among the best American Pinot Noirs” a decade ago, the winery’s reputation has only grown. Jancis Robinson said they produce “some of the most ambitious Pinot Noir being made anywhere in the world,” and Elin McCoy wrote in Bloomberg that Rhys Pinots are “the closest yet to a California version of great Burgundy.” 

They started modestly enough: Proprietor Kevin Harvey’s love for Pinot Noir inspired him to plant 35 vines behind his home in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, which stand between Silicon Valley and the Pacific. The vines grew to become a quarter acre, producing enough Pinot to vinify in the garage. The idea got even bigger. 

Kevin was convinced his Santa Cruz Mountains home near the San Andreas fault—where colliding tectonic plates have surfaced an incredible range of soils—held unlimited Pinot Noir potential, so he sought out more sites. 

Sitting just across the San Andreas fault from Rhys’s Home Vineyard, the 20-acre Family Farm Vineyard boasts just over six acres of Pinot Noir. The site was a Christmas tree farm until Harvey and his neighbors—the Sletten, Martin, and Sullivan families—planted it to vines. Sitting at 400 feet of elevation, Family Farm is far lower than Rhys’s Alpine and Horseshoe Vineyards (and just below the Home Vineyard). It’s known for producing one of Rhys’s more plush and immediately pleasing Pinots—although the wine will certainly thrive in the cellar. 

This is a special allocation from one of the finest Pinot Noir producers in the world. We’re lucky to have it, so please don’t miss out.