Community Tasting Note

• Salute wrote: 86 points

  September 12, 2019 - I don't get all the hype. I purchased this with high hopes based on the RAVE reviews here....but was completely let down. Harsh, a bit bitter. Tart acidity...but really not overly acidic. I can see the wine working for some, but not for me.
  
  I'm glad I purchased only ONE bottle rather than the six I was contemplating. There are soooooo many zins out there that are much better.

  4 people found this helpful 2,509 views

5 Comments

• BigTex22 commented:

  9/18/19, 9:06 AM - Appreciate your candid feedback. Carlisle, Bedrock, and Ridge are widely considered the best zin producers worldwide. Maybe you had an off bottle? I wouldn’t throw the towel in on Mike Officer’s wines just yet.

• Mark1npt commented:

  9/18/19, 1:43 PM - Salute.....I don't know what's going on with some of these Carlisle wines but they are very off and very underwhelming it seems, for '16. I like Carlisle and I like Mike Officer the owner/winemaker and he has a very loyal following here on CT, who pledge their undying support to him and his wines, come hell or highwater. It's not a knock on Mike, but people need to be honest and give honest feedback. So thank you for that. I had a Papera recently that was literally like battery acid. I don't think it was intended to drink like that but it did. One guy told me to let them sit for 10 years! Sorry, but that's not why I buy zins, and I've not had to do it with any Carlisle wines before. Now, I'm afraid to open more of them or my Piner Olivet! I wonder if the wines were abused during shipping? Or if there was an oversite in the cellar that year?

• Salute commented:

  9/18/19, 1:57 PM - Thanks for the comments BigTex22 and Mark1npt.
  This is my first foray with Carlisle, and the wine shop where I bought this informed me of Mike Officer and the good work he does. However, they had this on discount....I was going to buy about 6 bottles but then thought I would try one beforehand. Glad I did.
  My wife and I LOVE zins - Ridge, Seghesio, and we are on the Turley mailing list (Turleys dominate my cellar).
  That being said, in the past I have had a few bottles of Turley that were way off.
  So, with that understanding, I will certainly re-visit Carlisle zins again in the future as this bottle could have been the exception rather than the rule.

• Mark1npt commented:

  9/18/19, 4:18 PM - Salute, I have probably had over a couple hundred different zins, if I've had one. I am also a Turley list guy with plenty in the cellar and yes, especially the '15s, many of them, have been un-Turley-like to me. Not very enjoyable at all, and I've documented that here. I don't think there is anything wrong with pointing out bottles that aren't up to your standards, expectations or price paid. Being on here allows us to help out, alert, direct others to the good and away from the not so good. The fact that your wine shop had this Carlisle on discount says quite a bit right there.

• michigan dogs commented:

  9/20/19, 9:01 AM - Salute, don't give up on Carlisle zins yet, they are my favorite, mostly because they are not the typical fruit bombs you get with zins. Having said that, I think you can and do get bottle variation without stating the obvious. Mike also makes syrah's that I love and I tend to buy more of his Syrahs than zins.

Add a Comment