Tried this last night:
- Carlisle Syrah BennettVlly (15.9%; 255 cs) 2003: Black/inky color w/ no bricking; intense blackberry/Syrah/spicy/licorice some peppery/cold-climate/black cherry liquer some pungent/ozone/peppery light smokey/oak complex nose; fairly tart very slight alcoholic intense blackberry/Syrah/black cherry liquer/boysenberry/huge fruit fairly smooth/lush light smokey/pungent/oak peppery/pungentmouthfilling/glycerined some complex flavor; very long big/ripe/mouthfilling intense blackberry/black cherry liquer/boysenberry/Syrah light toasty/oak/smokey some peppery/spicy rich/lush finish w/ smooth/plush tannins; lots of ripe fruit but not raisened or over-the-top; a classic Carlisle Syrah.
A wee BloodyPulpit:
- Killer Syrah in the Carlisle style. Huge fruit, great structure. The tannins have really smoothed out on this wine. Where will it go??? Haven’t a clue. Will it develop more complexity and those lovely floral aromatics of some Syrahs? Haven’t a clue. But it certainly is a killer Syrah right now.
Does it display BennettVlly terroir?? Haven’t a clue. It has that slight cracked black pepper that cold-climate Syrah often shows, but I’m not sure that that’s unique to BennettVlly, as I get it in Carneros and PetalumaGap Syrahs as well, in addition to extreme SonomaCoast and Cambria Syrahs. So…yes…it spoke of cold-climate Syrah somewhat, but of BennettVlly?? Clueless, as usual. It had more unique character than the SonomaVlly '06 of the other day…so I guess that must be that terroir thing that all the wine geeks who are more knowledgeable than I blather about all the time.
Tom