OK, Harasthy didn’t allegedly bring Zin to California until the 1860s and the term ‘Premier Grand Cru Classe’ was in use at least by the 1855 Classification of Bordeaux.
I’ve never seen a classification of California’s Zinfandel vineyards, but I would be surprised if it hasn’t been attempted. I am enormously unqualified to do it, but after last night’s bottle, I’m ready to nominate Dupratt as Premier Grand Cru Classe.
I’ve had probably half a dozen vintages made by Jed Steele, split between his early work for Edmeades and more recently his own bottlings. I’ve always been very impressed by the combination of fruit intensity, balance and subtlety. While Zin is often treated and described as a powerful, high-alcohol fruit bomb, I’ve also seen a lot of descriptions mentioning the subtlety of Bordeaux. That’s the side of Zin I prize most. Last night I had the first Dupratt Zin not made by Jed Steele. With great respect for Mr. Steele, the wine I had last night reached another level:
2012 Carlisle Zinfandel Mendocino Ridge ‘Dupratt Vineyard’ – Very healthy almost opaque black ruby color. Aromas are pungent with ripe, powerful black raspberry and black cherry fruit, tautly balanced with a refreshing mountain conifer note. The palate is sensational, the texture is opulent yet granite rock solid, with a beautiful streak of acidity bringing zingy freshness and incredible balance and harmony. This is one of the greatest Zinfandels I’ve ever had. The finish went on and on, with increasing intricacy. Ready to drink, but I hope and expect it will evolve to have even greater subtlety. I have three bottles left, will wait a year to try again. Rated 97, but could improve.
I’ve deeply loved Jed Steele’s wines from this site, but I found this bottling even better.
According to the website, the release price was $40. That means it was probably $32 to the mailing list. None of the Carlisle wines are over $40 to the mailing list (with the possible exception of the James Berry Syrah, not sure about that one).
My point is that we all set possible prices in our mind for wines.
$47 seems expensive for Zin but for Napa Cab or St Julien etc it seems not expensive.
I used to sell American wine in the UK. I sold Nalle Zin and various Pinot Noirs…People could not relate to Nalle Zin being as expensive as Pinot Noitr, even tho the youngest vineyard Doug Nalle used was older than the oldest Pinot vineyard anybody used. All of them used French oak at the time.
Mike Officer uses very ex-pensive French oak and buys from wonderful old vineyards. $32 release price to mailing list clients is a bit of a bargain.
My spreadsheet says I paid $37 on release, but I always include two or three bucks for shipping when I make an entry on my spreadsheet (I usually buy a case or two at each release). So the release price to the mailing list was probably about $35. Yes, somewhat of a bargain.
Parker gave it a 93. My notes say drink it by 2024; not sure if I got that date from Parker or from Carlisle. In any event, I am looking forward to drinking my two bottles. My only problem is that I have lots of other Carlisles that need to be opened sooner. And lots of Bedrocks that are similarly higher on my “drink by” list. This is a constant problem whenever I crawl down into my basement to find something to drink. Problems, problems, problems . . . .
Phil Jones
+174, which is how much Carlisle I own. Mike Officer complains that is because I do not drink enough, but last night I had a 2014 Carlisle Rossi Ranch Zin, just because it was what I grabbed. It was outstanding. It delivered more pleasure than some wines costing twice as much and Rossi Ranch definitely deserves to be in the Grand Cru Classe category. As to the barrels, when I was at his winery - the old one in the warehouse - there were plenty of barrels with names like Tarransaud that I know are not cheap, and that are a lot more expensive than the barrels I have seen at other vineyards, and not just in California, with names branded in the side like Costco and Walmart.
The market acceptance of zin is, of course, because when you ask for zinfandel, half of the servers and wine shop employees respond with “white or red?”
And my point is I don’t like spending more than winery release price be it mailing list or not. Especially on wines which I am on the winery mailing list. Once they are marked up 30% the value decreases for me. Normally I find winery direct prices to be higher than retailers. All the Bedrock wines there were $5-10/btl above release pricing as well. I remember being able to buy Bedrock Zin at Bottle Barn for $20 back before it was all the rage.
I agree. I can buy Bedrock Old Vine locally for $26, but I pay $19 at release. I just can’t get myself to buy it at $26. Too many other options around there, but at $19, nothing touches it. Weird thought process on my part, I know.
On another thread we have people worried their over $100 ($200?) a bottle Schrader wines will change and here we have people who cringe at the notion of paying an extra $7 for Bedrock.
Nice review. I avoided this wine for a while - just too many vineyards to follow them all, I tend to think of Carlisle as RRV, and don’t really have a place in my head for Mendocino Zin. But, mike poured it an an HVS/Zap event a few years ago and it was easily wine of the day. Now I buy as much as I can.
Carlisle DuPratt is a terrific wine and one that is doubly interesting to me as a longstanding Carlisle drinker as well as one who remembers the fine old Jed Steele efforts. Worth seeking out!
I recall that DuPratt was an Edmeades vineyard. Van Williamson made wonderful zins there (as well as from Ciapusci, one of my favorites). Van started Witching Stick a few years ago and his wines continue to be great in terms of both deliciousness and value. Mike and Kendall’s version is as good as Van’s- maybe better.
It seems to be a lose-lose for a winery. If a retailer charges less for wine than the mailing list price, the winery gets tons of letter complaining about being able to get the bottle for less – so why be on the mailing list. If the winery charges less than retail then threads like this pop up where the wine is said to not be worth the price. Apparently there isn’t a correct answer.