I don't drink a lot of Ridge, but when I do I expect a full expression of the fruit, but with restraint. This was as candied as any wine I've had in 10 years. Not like they decided to pick a little later than I'd have liked, but like someone stirred two packets of white sugar into my glass when I wasn't looking. I was flabbergasted by this wine. Out of respect, I'm not going to score it as it would just be an inappropriate outlier. This wine is to me undrinkable at half the price.
Might've been my last bottle. Think I've had about six -- this was the best of them though. Still had plenty of spritz at first, and tasted kinda reduced, but after an hour this became a pleasant meatiness I thought, and sufficient dark red raspberry fruit. More balanced than previous bottles. This was heavy for a PN in my house, but not heavy. Made me regret the five or six I'd opened a couple years ago.
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First Carlisle I've popped in a year, and first zinfandel in longer than that, having all but written off zin. This was profound for the price, berries and spice with more acidity and juiciness than I expected. Really fun wine. Power-packed but complex. After a little bit of air, for me, it got softer and maybe richer and maybe more expressive in some ways but pop and pour and the first 45 min following was quickly delightful -- moved to post to CT. Stunning value. Glad I've got more, and the other half of this bottle to check out tomorrow.
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10/17/2016 12:21:00 PM - Re:Corbin
Unfortunately, my case of Corbin is long gone. If you follow my notes, you see that the wine started to fade some time ago. So, except for sentimentsl value, you are not missing out.
By the way, eric discourages commerce, so if there was any other Bordeaux you were interested in acquiring, we would have to correspond privately.
2013 Ridge Zinfandel Pagani Ranch
10/6/2016 - brianmcbrearty wrote:
I don't drink a lot of Ridge, but when I do I expect a full expression of the fruit, but with restraint. This was as candied as any wine I've had in 10 years. Not like they decided to pick a little later than I'd have liked, but like someone stirred two packets of white sugar into my glass when I wasn't looking. I was flabbergasted by this wine. Out of respect, I'm not going to score it as it would just be an inappropriate outlier. This wine is to me undrinkable at half the price.
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2011 Copain Pinot Noir Copain Estate
9/28/2015 - brianmcbrearty wrote: 90 Points
Might've been my last bottle. Think I've had about six -- this was the best of them though.
Still had plenty of spritz at first, and tasted kinda reduced, but after an hour this became a pleasant meatiness I thought, and sufficient dark red raspberry fruit. More balanced than previous bottles. This was heavy for a PN in my house, but not heavy.
Made me regret the five or six I'd opened a couple years ago.
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2010 Carlisle Zinfandel Sonoma County
6/19/2012 - brianmcbrearty wrote: 91 Points
First Carlisle I've popped in a year, and first zinfandel in longer than that, having all but written off zin. This was profound for the price, berries and spice with more acidity and juiciness than I expected. Really fun wine. Power-packed but complex. After a little bit of air, for me, it got softer and maybe richer and maybe more expressive in some ways but pop and pour and the first 45 min following was quickly delightful -- moved to post to CT. Stunning value. Glad I've got more, and the other half of this bottle to check out tomorrow.
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