2005 Carlisle Syrah Bennett Valley- USA, California, Sonoma County, Bennett Valley (6/8/2009)
Amazing nose of pure raspberry. Can’t recall experiencing such a beautiful raspberry aroma in any other wine. Mid palate confirms the raspberry along with darker fruits and a hint of meat. Very little spice. Well balanced with relatively long finish. Very mature for such a young wine. Sad to only have one more of these left. This wine has improved by leaps and bounds since December '08
Here’s one of the main reasons I love drinking with you, Jan - you have a wide variety of wines you enjoy. We both love the older CA cabs, Barolo, Chablis, Champagne, and even the more New World-style, big Syrahs like the Carlisle.
Carlisle may be a “big” syrah, but the balance was impeccable. Absolutely no heat.
I left out the fact that we paired it with good 'ol Wisconsin Bratwurst. It takes a wine with some balls to pair with brats !
You are absolutely correct: Boiled in beer/onions then straight to the grill. Served with mustard and saurkraut. Beer is always the safe pairing, but syrah/zinfandel or even Riesling does OK.
For the record I prepared Brats last week actually. My method is to get beer, whole garlic cloves and a Vidalia onion in a large dutch oven. Simmer for about thirty minutes and add the brats. Allow to cook for about twenty minutes without boiling. I then take them out, dry them off and put some color in a big saute pan. Serve with kraut, stone ground mustard and pan roasted taters.
Any cheesehead could point out the fail in this method.
Garlic cloves and Vidalia onions to start. Go white or yellow onions, period, as when you cook any onion in beer, it gets sweet. Garlic? What is this, Italian food? Saute pan? Put it on the GRILL, broseif. Stone ground mustard is acceptable, and kraut is a must, but without chopped fresh onions, you might as well just walk away.
Preparing brats in these parts any way other than on the grill would be a major offense. Brats need some char. You may lose one or two to “splitting”, but it’s well worth the sacrifice.
If you do it any other way, or use Vidalia onions or garlic or some fancy-schmancy mustard, you best be doing it inside a dome, where nobody can see you.