TN: Carlisle - 03 Syrah Bennett Valley Filtered vs. Unfiltered Experiment

WINE TALK
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CARLISLE - 03 SYRAH BENNETT VALLEY FILTERED VS. UNFILTERED EXPERIMENT - (12/13/2009)

Thanks to my friend Roland, I have been lucky enough to do this three times. Back in the 03 vintage Mike Officer released two versions of his Bennett Valley Syrah. The only difference was that one was filtered and one was not. The “point” was to see that filtering, at least a modern gentle version, has gotten a bad rap. The first two times, there was little difference, but I preferred the unfiltered. The crowd on those times preferred the filtered.

Last night, there was a pretty dramatic difference. It was, I think unanimous, that everyone preferred the filtered version. It really was more of a seamless wine that had come together. Of course, there could be bottle and/or cork variation, but I don’t think you can argue that filtering at this level hurts a wine. The other question I guess is how well they will age. I would say that the filtered appeared more mature but I am not sure that was not an illusion.
Although they both got 93’s. I actually gave the filtered a 93+ which does not show up. Both wines were quite good, but side by side I preferred the filtered version.

  • 2003 Carlisle Syrah Unfiltered Bennett Valley - USA, California, Sonoma County, Bennett Valley
    In the past, I have always preferred this version. While I am not sure that was true today, I did prefer the nose. Inky purple in color. The nose is savage with Iodine, black pepper, black raspberry and grilled meats. This wine is big. On the palate, this has black raspberries, some grilled smokiness and firm tannins. There is also some disjointedness and heat. This tastes huge and is really good but lacks the finesse of the filtered version. Nit picking too be sure, and only offered in an attempt at comparison. (93 pts.)
  • 2003 Carlisle Syrah Filtered Bennett Valley - USA, California, Sonoma County, Bennett Valley
    In the past I preferred the unfiltered, not today. Inky purple in color. The nose is much smoother with black raspberries, and smoked meats. OTOH, the palate is much more together. This version is seamless with a great texture. Complex layering of black raspberries and grilled meats with some bacon notes. Long finish. Beautiful wine. (93 pts.)

Thank again to Roland for so generously sharing these over the years. And thanks to Mike O. for releasing the wines like this.
Posted from CellarTracker

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Okay, this is the kind of geekery I can get behind. Very cool experiment. Thanks.

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Do you know what kind of filtering was done? You mentioned gentle but I wonder what that means. newhere
I would love to try this experiment as well. That Mike Officer he loves science! neener
Cheers!

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we did this twice with Mike in attendance and the bottles blind. The first time was several years ago and there was a huge difference, with the filtered version getting 10 of 12 votes (including Mike’s); about six months ago (which was not blind IIRC), the majority still prefered the filtered version but the quality of the wines were much closer. I guess that we will try it again in a couple of more years to see if the unfiltered version can finally inch ahead of the filtered version.

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Loren,

how were the bottles served? Were they both decanted? How was the sediment?

I had a chance to do this with some 1982 Bandol, and the results were similar to yours. The nose on the unfiltered wine was more interesting, but the filtered wine won out overall.

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Loren,

Thank you for the notes. I was fortunate to find a bottle of the filtered version recently, so nice to have a current data point. Sounds like it is drinking well now, but that I should probably save it for an occasion a bit better than Monday Night Football.

Cheers, [cheers.gif]

Steve

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Kimberly, I don’t know. Is Mike on this BB? Perhaps an e-mail to him would get an answer?

Hank, Both were brown bagged and popped. They were enjoyed over a few hours and then revealed.

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IIRC, this was a wine that went through a .45 micron filter during the bottling process vs. not going through the filter . . .

It certainly is fascinating to see this play out - and would be even moreso to do, say, 3 bottles of each at a time to see about ‘consistency’ . . .

This type of ‘experiment’ certainly does shed some light on the ‘conventional wisdom’ that unfiltered wines are ‘better’ then filtered wines . . .

Cheers!

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god, i feel like I should know this answer but the unlabeled bottles…are these the filtered versions, correct? At one point, I had the labeled bottles but there has been enough of them, enough time passed that I forget. I offer this because I drank 2 bottles of the 03 BV in the past 6 weeks, both listed below. These were huge wines, zin-like. They were, though, not labeled with the white stickers on the top of the neck, as I remember the experimental bottles. Maybe someone can speak to that:

  • 2003 Carlisle Syrah Unfiltered Bennett Valley - USA, California, Sonoma County, Bennett Valley (10/19/2009)
    Upon returning from the Bay Area last night, today was my SIL’s birthday. He wanted a syrah and after tasting this wine just this past Saturday, hell, why not again. Consistent showing–blueberry juice, fruit bowl and zin-like. You know, forgetting typicity and site, this wine hit the spot and my SIL and I enjoyed it. A sh#tload of sediment at the last glass but ready to drink. Don’t age further. Drink and enjoy for what it is, leave the expectations about what it should be somewhere else.
  • 2003 Carlisle Syrah Unfiltered Bennett Valley - USA, California, Sonoma County, Bennett Valley (10/17/2009)
    This wine at this stage, it smells like zinfandel. Any cool climate syrah character left the house and at this stage, just all berry, jammy fruit and if smelled blind, with the bramble/cobbler and white floral, I would say zin. Drink now for sure–my last one will go down shortly.

Posted from CellarTracker

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[quote=“Frank Murray III”]god, i feel like I should know this answer but the unlabeled bottles…are these the filtered versions, correct? At one point, I had the labeled bottles but there has been enough of them, enough time passed that I forget. I offer this because I drank 2 bottles of the 03 BV in the past 6 weeks, both listed below. These were huge wines, zin-like. They were, though, not labeled with the white stickers on the top of the neck, as I remember the experimental bottles. Maybe someone can speak to that:

quote]

Frank, the unfiltered versions don’t say anything, the filtered versions indicate that they are filtered.