Carlisle Radiant Ridge Vineyard Mourvedre 2018
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Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Very dark vibrant purple-garnet. A good-size pour is nearly opaque. A knockout nose of black fruits, cinnamon bark, pepper, and earth. This is Mourvèdre at its most wild and untamed best! On the palate, medium full-bodied with flavors of black cherry, earth, tree bark, and whole-cluster spice. Finishes long and lip-smackingly tannic.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Mourvedre Radiant Ridge Vineyard is the first iteration of 100% Mourvedre from this site; usually, it is co-fermented with Syrah, but this vintage, the ripening curves of the two grapes were too different, so they were picked and fermented separately. It was made using 20% whole cluster and aged in 14% new French oak. Purple-black in color, it is scented of wild berries and dark cherries, aniseed, thyme and lilac. The palate is powerful and minerally, with great freshness and a floral perfume to elevate the long finish. It's a very classy rendition of this "wild" variety, and I'd love to see it with some bottle age! 309 cases were made.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Lots of spice, violets, and peppery herbs emerge from the 2018 Mourvèdre Radiant Ridge Vineyard, which has loads of blueberry and plum fruits, ripe tannins, an expansive, layered mouthfeel, and outstanding length. It's a beautiful, fruit-forward, yet balanced and structured Mourvèdre to drink over the coming decade.
Other Vintages
2019- Vinous
Carlisle is a small “Mom n’ Pop” Sonoma County winery specializing in the production of old-vine, vineyard designated Zinfandels and red Rhône varieties (Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, and Petite Sirah). They also produce three delicious white wines, two of which are blends from historic, old-vine vineyards plus Sonoma County's first ever Grüner Veltliner.
While Carlisle likes their wines to be bold and intensely flavored, each reflecting its vintage and vineyard, they also strive to create wines of balance, complexity, and nuance.
The goal is always the same - grow and source the finest fruit, do as little as possible to it, and bottle outstanding, pleasurable wine at the fairest price possible.
Full of ripe fruit, and robust, earthy goodness, Mourvèdre is actually of Spanish provenance, where it still goes by the name Monastrell or Mataro. It is better associated however, with the Red Blends of the Rhône, namely Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Mourvèdre shines on its own in Bandol and is popular both as a single varietal wine in blends in the New World regions of Australia, California and Washington. Somm Secret—While Mourvèdre has been in California for many years, it didn’t gain momentum until the 1980s when a group of California winemakers inspired by the wines of the Rhône Valley finally began to renew a focus on it.
With boundaries overlapping the Sonoma Coast AVA and Sonoma Mountain AVA, Bennett Valley benefits from the cooling effects of the nearby Pacific Ocean just like its neighbors. Top grapes planted include Barbera, Pinot noir and Chardonnay, as well as Bordeaux and Rhone varieties.