Easter dinner called for some Carlisle. First up was 2019 Papera Zin. Poured an almost neon ruby red.
—very youthful appearance. Super typical Papera nose of dusty cinnamon, bright raspberries and strawberries, tobacco, sandalwood, roses, and nori. Bright and juicy on the palate with nice acidity and fine tannins. Finish was long and harmonious. I really love how these turn more and more spicy a few years after release, and I enjoyed this bottle a lot.
Next up was another 2019, this time the Radiant Ridge Syrah from Bennett Valley. This was super dark and concentrated. Savory aromas of smoky bacon fat, black pepper, iodine (a bit Scotch-y), and blackberry. Very concentrated, full-bodied, and powerful on the palate. Big tannins and mouthwatering acidity led into a long smoky finish. This was still very youthful, and in a perfect world I think I’d wait another 10 years before opening another of these, as I don’t see this aging quickly at all.
The Radiant Ridge Syrah was even better tonight, turning more peppery and taking on a clearer meaty (ground beef/venison purge) quality. Tannins still grippy, but I’m happy to drink this now or wait.
Dinner with Friends to celebrate their new house! I asked what kind of wine they would like to drink and gave them a few options for a little comparative tasting and they said Mourvèdre so here we are!
The notes will be short and to the point since we were not sitting there dissecting the wines but in general, the Extradimensional and the Sandlands were showing a lot of similarity (probably due to location) and the Carlisle was on the polar opposite end of the spectrum! All were excellent though
2024 Extradimensional Evangelho Mourvèdre (94 Pts)
Lifted, rasperry fruit, purple florals. This barely eeked out the win for WOTN over the Sandlands!
2023 Sandlands Mataro Contra Costa County (94 Pts)
Vibrant, ripe red fruited and slightly more juicy than the Extradimensional
2018 Carlisle Radiant Ridge Mourvèdre (93 Pts)
Darker, more concentrated and plush than the other wines, and showing some pepper and olive notes. If blind I think I would have called this Syrah. Still excellent and an awesome way to compare some California terroir influence!
2022 Carlisle Piner-Olivet Ranches Zin showed nicely tonight. Dark zin-y fruit, blueberries, black pepper, strawberry, and a scone-y baked goods aroma. Darker and weighty on the palate, with cream and dark fruits lingering nicely on the finish. Good acidity, tannins polished and totally unobtrusive. Still very primary, and it’ll be nice to see those peppery notes come out a bit more as the fruit quiets down. Very nice stuff.
Good timing - I have the 2015 Monte Rosso on my list to open this week!! Mom and pop local greek resturant charges $11 corkage and was going to try this with some lamb or chicken kabobs.
