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WTN: Five Calif Whites (Carlisle/LL/Bedrock)..(short/boring)

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TomHill

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WTN: Five Calif Whites (Carlisle/LL/Bedrock)..(short/boring)

by TomHill » Mon Feb 05, 2018 9:53 pm

Last week, Morgan,Jake,Chris were in SantaFe for a tasting at LoyalHound of old-vine Zins. After the dinner, we stayed for dinner w/ some additional Carlisle/LL/Bedrock wines. These were 5 of the whites we had:
1. LimerickLane 70% Furmint/30% Harslevelu Estate/RRV/SonomaCnty (11.8%; 50 cs) 2014: Med.gold color;
beautiful aromatic Furmint/floral/spicy/peach blossom quite honeyed/honeycomb light earthy/metallic/
stony complex nose; fairly tart/tangy/metallic dry rather honeyed/honeycomb some floral/peach
blossom/Furmint slight earthy flavor; very long/lingering strong floral/peach blossom/Furmint
dry/rich/lush slight stony/metallic finish; unusually fragrant for Furmint; as good as any dry
Furmint from Hungary; beautiful expression of Furmint. $36.00
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2. Bedrock Riesling WirzVnyd/CienegaVlly (13.5%; Plntd: 1963; Own Rooted; Tended mustached Pat Wirz;
Aged: Neutral Fr.oak) 2011
: Light gold color; some pineapple/R/floral slight gout de petrol/Mosel
valve oil quite aromatic/floral bit old Rheinpfalz rather complex oldR nose; quite tart totally dry
slight metallic/Mosel valve oil very perfumed/floral/spicy/mango/pineapple/R lovely flavor;
very long/lingering light gout de petrol/Mosel valve oil/metallic slight chalky/mineral very perfumed/
floral/mango/pineapple/R quite tart/dry finish; much like an older Rheinpfalz R; as lovely example of
a mature Calif R as you can find; beautiful wine.
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3. Bedrock Compagni-Portis Vnyd Heirloom SonomaVlly WW (14.4%; Plntd: 1954; Pharmed: Phil Coturri;
Aged: SS & neutral Fr.oak for 5 mo) 2010
: Med.light gold color; very strong lychee/GWT quite fragrant
some earthy/stony slight mango more subtle/spicy lovely nose; softer richer/lush light earthy strong
lychee/GWT/spicy slight mango bit complex flavor; very long some lychee/GWT/spicy/floral slight stony/
earthy lightly tart fairly rich/lush bit complex finish; a bit more subtle/complex than the '15;
a beautiful GWT that would go mano a mano w/ the best from Trentino/AltoAdige.
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4. Bedrock Compagni-Portis Vnyd Heirloom SonomaVlly WW (14.2%; Tended: Phil Coturri) 2015: Light gold color;
very strong lychee/GWT/floral/spicy slight earthy slight pineapple/mango almost Malvasia d'Istriana-like
more complex nose; lightly tart/tangy quite lychee/GWT/spicy rather floral/mango/pineapple slight earthy/
metallic some complex flavor; very long/lingering very strong lychee/GWT/spicy rather floral/mango/pineapple
slight earthy/stony fairly tart finish; a more subtle GWT/lychee and stronger R/pineapple/near tutti-fruti
character; a lovely expression of GWT/R.
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5. Carlisle Compagni-Portis/SonomaVlly/SonomaCnty WW (13.7%; Plntd: 1954; GWT/TrousseauGris/Riesling; 200 cs)
2014
: Med.yellow color; lovely very perfumed/fragrant very strong lychee/GWT/spicy/hair oil/floral/peach blossom
slight stony/metallic complex nose; totally dry fairly tart/tangy somewhat rich/lush intense lychee/GWT/spicy/
bit hair oil slight stony/earthy bit complex flavor; very long/lingering very strong lychee/GWT/spicy/nutmeg
fairly tart quite dry rather rich/lush slight earthy/stony bit complex finish; not at all Z-H GWT and as good
as any from AltoAdige; a terrific Calif GWT.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Furmint: MikeCollins, planted Furmint at LL a fair number of yrs ago because he loved the sweet Tokaji's of
Hungary, and planned to make a dessert wine. Alas, botrytis on LimerickLane is not very consistent to do it
reliably. So mostly he made dry Furmint. They tended to emphasize the stony/mineral qualities of the grape
and seemed on the hard/austere side...which is not altogether bad.
When I heard that Jake was buying LL, I let him know, in no uncertain terms, that there would be hell to
pay if he pulled out that small block Furmint. Unlike my kids, he listened to me and got into the dry Furmint
business. And a dandy one it is. Haven't had this '14 in several yrs, but it has evolved into a beautifully
fragrant Furmint, yet still retaining a bit of that stony/mineral character. This is the wine I took to
Austria to share w/ HeidiSchrock in the Burgenland/Rust. One of my favorite Furmint producers. She liked it
quite a bit and kept the remains in the btl to share w/ her sons.
Jake has a dessert Furmint in the works he tells me; but I've not tasted it yet.
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2. Whites: Bedrock/Carlisle/LimerickLane are recognized widely for what the do with Zinfandel. In point of fact,
their whites are every bit the equal to their Zins. Alas, the Furmint is the only LL white.
All three of these C-P whites were outstanding, as good as any GWT made in Calif, wonderfully perfumed,
well away from DollyParton/cheap hair oil/in your face territory. They can go up against the best of the GWT
from Trentino/Sudtirol.
Tom

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