It is the time of the year where every wine blogger publishes their lists of Wines of the Year or Values of the Year, etc. Although I try to blog about all the wines I taste it is clear that Zinfandel is definitely a favorite grape of mine. With that in mind here are my top 10 Zinfandels of 2014.…
The 2009 Carlisle Zinfandel Montafi Vineyard was the winning bottle in the October installment of Pick My Next Bottle. Carlisle Winery & Vineyards was founded in 1998 by Mike and Kendall Officer. Their passion is clear: Small lots of Zinfandel and Syrah from exceptional, historic vineyards. Montafi Vineyard was planted in 1926. Located farther up the eastern bench of the…
The October Installment of Pick My Next Bottle focuses on 2009 Old Vine Zinfandel from three of the very best Zinfandel producers in the state of California. As i mentioned in the first installment, the purpose of this series is to provide insight into specific wines or producers you may currently have in your cellar. The winning bottle will be…
Carlisle Winery & Vineyards was founded in 1998 by Mike and Kendall Officer. Their passion is clear: Small lots of Zinfandel and Syrah from exceptional, historic vineyards. Carlisle vineyard was planted in 1927 by Alcide Pelletti on the eastern bench of the Laguna de Santa Rosa flood plain. Both sides of the Laguna were popular for settlement by Italians immigrants…
Carlisle Winery & Vineyards was founded in 1998 by Mike and Kendall Officer. Their passion is clear: Small lots of Zinfandel and Syrah from exceptional, historic vineyards. Sourced from Teldeschi Ranch, Mounts Ranch, Oddone Vineyard and Del Carlo Ranch. 86% Zinfandel, 8% Grenache and 6% Petite Sirah. Bright purple in color. 15.7% ABV. Brambly black fruits, plums, iron and pepper…
With the arrival late last week of the Carlisle mailer so began the semi annual struggle of deciding what wines to buy from one of my very favorite producers. It seems that the number of wines available grows with each release making the decision all the more problematic. This particular mailer included a dozen different wines. Pretty convenient if you…
Carlisle Winery & Vineyards was founded in 1998 by Mike and Kendall Officer. Their passion is clear: Small lots of Zinfandel and Syrah from exceptional, historic vineyards. Bright purple in color. 15.0% ABV. 100% Syrah from the Santa Lucia Highlands. Powerful nose of black fruits, smoke and flowers. Super fresh with fabulous acidity. Iron, game, blood, violets and white pepper…
Great Zinfandel is made in the vineyard. The quality of a bottle of Zinfandel is almost always correlated with the age of the vineyard from which it comes. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the state of California where most of the best Zinfandels come from vineyards that literally date back to the turn of the 20th century. The…
Carlisle Winery & Vineyards was founded in 1998 by Mike and Kendall Officer. Their passion is clear: Small lots of Zinfandel and Syrah from exceptional, historic vineyards. Montafi Ranch, formerly Tom Feeney Vineyard, was planted in 1926 and sits on the Santa Rosa city limits. The vineyard is mostly Zinfandel but does contain a healthy amount of Alicante Bouschet and…
Carlisle Winery & Vineyards was founded in 1998 by Mike and Kendall Officer. Their passion is clear: Small lots of Zinfandel and Syrah from exceptional, historic vineyards. The 2010 version of the Sonoma County is 85% Zinfandel sourced from Bismark Mountain, Tanya’s, Oddone and Lingenfelder Vineyards and 15% Petite Sirah from Rossi Ranch. Crimson in color. 15.9% ABV. Black fruits,…