Carlisle Montafi Ranch Zin 2006. I love this wine!

WINE TALK
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  • 2006 Carlisle Zinfandel Montafi Ranch - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley (5/15/2014)
    Montafi Ranch is my favorite Carlisle Zinfandel and this was an outstanding one. Full of flavor and great depth with no apparent sweetness. It was dark red fruit, cherry and plum, with meaty components and power with no bite. Really rounding into shape after 7-1/2 years. (93 pts.)

  • 2006 Carlisle Zinfandel Montafi Ranch - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley (1/4/2014)
    Bought direct on release. I was emailing back and forth with Mike Officer a few days ago and mentioned this wine. He noted that I was past his projected drinking window and he did not think from the beginning that it would age well. Since I have three, I decided to open one today. As we drank the wine, my wife said to tell Mike to open one himself because he is wrong. Decanted and then followed over three hours. All the initial roughness is gone. Maybe a bit of the power is gone, but it has been replaced by an overall mature, smooth, well integrated whole. There is some dark brooding red and black fruit, with a bit of blueberry. No one would suggest that this should be used for pancake syrup. There is a tiny bit of cedar wood in the flavor profile. The mouth feel is smooth without being creamy. The finish is very long. I’m glad we have two more. (94 pts.)

  • 2006 Carlisle Zinfandel Montafi Ranch - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley (7/6/2008)
    Wow. This is a great Zinfandel. I do not remember ever having a better one, including a bunch of Turleys (never had a Martinelli Jackass Hill). Very dark in color (duh!) almost black. Nice nose of fruit and spice. The only negative, if I have to find one, is a slightly noticeable alcohol aroma on the nose. Excellent balance on the palate. Red fruit including sweet cherry, a bit of plum and some blueberry. Just a hint of oak influence with vanilla and oak itself. Undifferentiated spice without the stringency of fierce tannins. Round and smooth mouthfeel that is almost creamy.

This was popped and poured at Jacob’s Pillow before watching the Lar Lubovich Dance Company. Yeah, we’re geeks, we brought our own regular wine glasses. We drank half the bottle, put it back in the car (cloudy and 70 degrees so it didn’t cook) , and finished it off when we got back to the hotel about 4 hours after we first opened it. The balance seemed to have shifted a bit in the direction of spice and the fruit was a bit lighter, but it was still a great wine. (93 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

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Nice comparison over time. I’m not sure I have one of these left but need to do some digging in my Carlisle stash where I store some older ones. Thanks for notes.

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I made the mistake of reading Mike’s (Officer) notes that said to drink it early… and I did. Most of the time, he’s right on it. Looks like he may have misjudged this one.

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My 2006’s are gone … BUT … my 2007 awaits.

Nice notes.

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I have only one 2007 left. I believe Mike is advising we drink those up, too.

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I think that I have more respect for his wine, or perhaps his winemaking abilities, than he does. I do not like tired, old dead wine, but I believe the drinking windows that he suggests for many of his Zins are too short. I have yet to have a Carlisle wine that showed adverse signs of age, and I have had many at the 7, 8 and 9 year points. The oldest one I still have is the 2004 Three Birds. Mike’s drinking window ended in 2011. Southern Rhone blend. Maybe I’ll open it at BF 7.0 at my house and we can get some opinions on whether it’s on the way up or down.

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My Carlisle’s don’t make it that long- I tend to like these on the young side.

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This came up in a dinner with Mike where he stated he personally prefers to drink his zin younger with a brighter fruit profile.

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I drank the '08 Montafi a week ago and loved it. Rated it 91/92.