A Visit With MikeOfficer/Carlisle (Wed/Aug 20)
Mike & I go back to the very start...back when he was a home-winemaker. My first meeting was at
ZAP about 1996, where he was showing his wine at the home-winemaker's table. His Zin was one of
the best ones there at ZAP that year. I was invited to dinner at his & Kendall's home up in Santa
Rosa. It was an interesting evening. As Mike & I tasted thru some of the barrels, including his
Mondeuse from TwoAcres, which impressed me mightly, Kendall fed Rachel & Riley, who were then
firmly ensconced in front of the TV when we sat down to eat. Midway thru the meal, I looked out
into the kitchen. (Then) Little Riley had managed to rip open a box of powdered sugar and proceeded
to dump the entire contents atop his head. One of the funniest wine scenes I've ever done see'd.
Sure wish I'd had my camera with me at the time. Mike & Kendall were mortified to be embarassed
by Riley in front of a famous wine personage. It's always been good for a laugh whenever we meet
up again. Riley has since matured (we hope) and is destined to go on to be one of the Nation's
great point guards (we hope), of the SteveNash mold.
We meet up that afternoon at Mike's part of the Copain facility where he makes his wine. His
winemaker, Jay Maddox, joins us. First I need to find out what's new at Carlisle. This year, he'll
get some new Zin. Twenty-seven yr old vines at the highest vnyd in the AlexanderVlly. The AshCreek
Vnyd, now known as the TinCrossVnyd. He'll also be getting grapes from some 50 yr old head-pruned
vines off the TaylorVnyd in DryCreekVlly. One block is over 100 yrs old. The grapes formerly
went to Benzinger. Michael Topolos (of the late Topolos@RussianRvrVnyd, where some of the most
incredibly volatile wines I've ever had hailed from, and who's RossiRanch Ultimo was at one time
one of Calif's great Zins) has been overseeing new plantings of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Zin,
and PetiteSirah at RossiRanch and who will yield its first crop this year. They will use the
Grenache & Mourvedre from here to, once again, make a ThreeBirds RedWine (the 3Birds commerates
his, Kendall's, and Jay's matriculation from PomonaCollege, whose mascot is the GameHens. Thank
goodness they didn't go to UC/SantaCruz...wouldn't want to market a wine called ThreeSlugs!!).
Most exciting, Mike has a planting on the north side of SonomaMtn which will be producing in 2010...
Viognier and GrunerVeltliner. Mike is a huge fan of GruVee wines from Austria. Things w/ the
Montalfi (nee TomFeeneyRanch) Ranch are still in flux, but Mike is hoping they save an old block
of it for him so he can continue w/ MontalfiRanch Zin. He'll be getting Syrah from GaryFranscioni
in 2010. In 2007, he was able to get some killer PetiteSirah from the PalisadesVnyd above Calistoga.
So, we then went to the barrels for an overview of the '07's (notes are rather brief...sorry..
we were working fast):
___________________
1. Carlisle DryCreekVlly (Teldeschi + Mounts vnyd) Zin '07: Lovely bright raspberry classic DCV
nose w/ light oak; tart bright very spicy raspberry/DCV Zin flavor; classic DCV Zin.
___________________
2. Carlisle Carlo's Zin (fair amount of AlicanteBouchet) '07: Very dark color; deeper more blackberry
very spicy slight plummy/licorice nose; tart/structured very spicy/blackberry Zin flavor.
___________________
3. Carlisle IvyGlen Zin (planted in 1900; base of the SonomaCnty) '07: Very pretty/bright/
Zinberry/raspberry nose; ripe/lush bright Zinberry/raspberry flavor; pretty Zin.
___________________
4. Carlisle Montalfi Zin '07: Very dark color; very deep strong blackberry/peppery/dusty slight
menthol/eucalyptus nose; deep tart rich structured blackberry/peppery/spicy slight minty/
eucalyptus flavor; big/structured Zin.
___________________
5. Carlisle RossiRanch Zin '07: Very dark color; very deep blackberry/peppery/Zin quite spicy
nose; tart rich classic RRV/blackberry/spicy/Zin flavor.
___________________
6. Carlisle Carlisle Zin (some Alicante + GrandNoir) '07: Very dark color; deep very spicy/Zin/
raspberry very spicy nose; tart bright/spicy/raspberry/blackberry/Zin flavor w/ ample tannins;
almost more DCV in character than RRV.
___________________
7. Papera (2/3'rd Carignan + Valdigue+Cab/PN/PS) '07: Very dark color; slightly pungent/dusty bit
tarry rather black cherry nose; tart/rich black cherry/blackberry/spicy dusty/pungent/tarry
flavor; one of the best Carignans I've had from Calif.
___________________
8. HooverVnyd WhiteZin '07: Very pale white color; pretty cranberry/spicy light/fragrant durian
nose; tart/thin/lean durian/cranberry flavor; interesting rendition of WhiteZin if you like
durian.
___________________
9. Carlisle Twackers (85% Mourvedre + PS/Carignan/Syrah/AB) '07: Dark color; rather plummy/licorice
bit Rhonish/pungent dusty complex nose; rich pungent/plummy/licorice deep/dusty flavor; Mike
thinks this his best Twackers yet.
___________________
10. Carlisle CardiacHill Syrah/BennettVlly '07: Dark/black color; very strong blackberry/boysenberry/
Syrah slight tarry/pungent nose; tart very rich blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah light pungent/
licorice/tarry slight Rhonish flavor; another terrific BennettVlly Syrah.
___________________
11. Carlisle Papa'sBlock Syrah (a 2 acre block of 80+ yr old vines) '07: Black color; very intense
blackberry/peppery/Syrah slight pungent/smokey nose; rich/big/extracted blackberry/Syrah/peppery/
spicy flavor w/ ample tannins; terrific Syrah.
___________________
12. Carlisle Rosella's/SantaLuciaHighlands Syrah '07: Very dark/black color; very strong blackberry/
boysenberry/Syrah some herbal/ruby red grapefruit white pepper/spicy nose; rich/lush boysenberry/
blackberry/Syrah some herbal/walnutty very cracked white pepper almost exotic flavor; very
interesting rendition of Syrah.
___________________
13. Carlisle JamesBerry Syrah '07: Black color; intense blackberry/Syrah very cracked black pepper
spicy nose; rich/structured/lush intense blackberry/Syrah/cracked pepper flavor; very unclassic
Paso Syrah w/o the jamminess many of them show.
___________________
14. Carlisle PalisadesVnyd PetiteSirah '07: Black to dark black to opaque color; very intense
boysenberry/blackberry/framboise/liquer nose; huge fruit/boysenberry/framboise extracted/
structured flavor; beautiful/intense fruit not usually found w/ PS; stunning PS.
____________________________________________________________________
And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Another pretty stellar lineup of wines I thought. Very classic Carlisle reds. Of the Zins,
I liked the RossiRanch the best. Of the Syrah, probably the CardiacHill for classic Syrah and
the Rosella for its exotic character. HerbertHoover was President when the famous Smoot-Hawley
Tarrif Act was passed. The Papera Carignan was one of the best Carignans I've had and doesn't
have that hard/tannic edge that makes Carignan hard to appreciate. One of the things that's
always struck me about Mike's wines is that although they're obviously very ripe, the alcohol
is usually not very apparent and they have a structure that you don't usually find in such
ripe wines. One of the things, over the yrs, is that Mike has become recognized as a very
good winemaker and growers are eager for him to use their grapes. Thus he's been able to obtain
premium grapes from other regions further afield. Now from PasoRobles all the way up to the
YorkvilleHighlands. I'd love to see what Mike can do w/ some of those old Zin vnyds near
Occidental. There are some great old PS and Zin vnyds in the UkiahVlly and it would be
interesting to see him do something with those grapes. Maybe even some ShenandoahVlly Zin?
Later at dinner at Monty's in MontgomeryPlaza, we tried:
1. Weingut SchlossGobelsburg GrunerVeltliner KammererGrub Kamptal (14%) 2006: Light gold color;
very strong white pepper/spicy/ripe pineapply huge fruit bit smokey/earthy nose; soft very rich/
lush white pepper/pineapply slight earthy/minerally/smokey flavor; very long/lingering
spicy/white pepper/pineapply finish; quite ripe but good acidity & minerality.
___________________
2. Terra di Lavaro IGT Roccamonfina (13.5%; 80% Aliganico, 20% PiedraRossa) 2003: Very dark color;
very strong pungent/smokey/toasty blackberry some earthy/rustic nose; strong smokey/pungent/
toasty/charred blackberry earthy/rustic rather tannic flavor; obviously made in a mordern
style but still speaks of its rustic/peasant heritage; delicious. This is a wine from Campania
that I'd never tried before. Easily the best red I've had from that region. Very clean and
well-made w/o the goatpen character you often find in hot climate/Southern Italian wines.
I need to follow some of ShellyLindgren's recs and try more of these wines.