December 22, 2020 - Nose of sweet fruit with pomegranate and red licorice. Some sweet smoke as well. Bitter sweet red fruit on the palate. Medium bodied and elegant. This wine is aging well and shows no signs of peaking. An excellent wine from a great vineyard and winemaker.
June 28, 2020 - Talk about fruit, there is tons of it in this wine. Tannins show after 2 hrs and they are soft and subtle but stick to your tongue for awhile. A little too much fruit for my palate but it was enjoyable and was cool to see how alive this wine was at this age. Still a few years to go on it but in a good place now.
April 30, 2020 - Opened for dinner and a Zoom event with Mike Officer later tonight. Popped and poured, and drinking wonderfully right out of the gate. What strikes me is that there is a nice amount of acidity that makes the wine seem fresh. The tannin has faded, but the fruit hasn't. There is a dark note. Maybe some char and bitter dark chocolate. Really delicious. I see that I purchased this in the summer release of 2008. Makes me think about all that has happened in my life since then.
A few hours later just a little tannin starts to show. We enjoyed this bottle. I think Mike’s drinking window is conservative. I don’t see any reason to continue holding but it is in no danger of falling of a cliff either.
April 4, 2020 - Consumed about an hour and a half after opening the bottle and for the next few hours. Started off at a bit above 60 degrees.
Look: deep purple; tons of medium speed legs
Nose: deep raspberry and blackberry, bramble, earth
Palate: blackberry, very dark chocolate, eucalyptus; medium length finish of leather; full- body with a pretty smooth mouthfeel; light+ fairly supple tannins; light+ acid; just a little rough around the edge with a hint of warmth/heat on the finish
On day two, the wine was worse as it was showing more heat and seeming to deteriorate.
Overall thoughts: This is a great wine with some nice deep fruit and earth flavor and fuller body with a solid mouthfeel, but it didn't possess the power and luxuriousness of a 2006 Saxum Broken Stones we tasted with it or the finesse of a 2010 Torrin Banshee that was also tasted alongside it. I'm not sure if there's any upside to holding this any longer.
November 27, 2019 - Caught this in a great place tonight but yet owners shouldn’t be in rush to drink. I’d guess it’s got another 5 years ahead of it.
Beautiful luscious rich classic Cali Syrah. Lingering finish, clean clean. No heat. Really showed it’s pedigree.
January 24, 2019 - Absolutely agree with Mike D. First tasted from the barrel in 2008 (excellent then) and for some reason opened one on a weekday. Delicious syrah with fennel, olive and savory Mediterranean notes along with dark berry flavors. Ripe and rich with very supple tannins. Showing a little bottle age but plenty of life left. Outstanding effort from a great site. This does show the aging potential of the Carlisle Syrahs.
November 29, 2018 - 14.9% abv. Deep garnet, expressive aromatics. Black cherry, black olive, spice box and sage. Deep, long and rich. Very vibrant, great now, but no hurry to drink up.
July 6, 2018 - PnP at a dinner party. No detailed notes. Took 15 minutes to open up, but it was great and extremely well received by knowledgeable wine people.
December 19, 2017 - Brought to Benjamin Prime in NY and didn't take detailed notes but this was stellar.
May 29, 2017 - This wine seemed like it still had plenty to go. Not tired whatsoever. Drinking well!