My Carlisle stash arrived last Fri, so I pobega'd:
1. Carlisle TheDerivative WW (Vines planted: 1886-1920; 66% Semillon from MonteRosso planted in 1886/24% Muscadelle from Pagani planted in 1920/10% ChasselasBlanc from 118 old vines interplanted at SaitoneRanch; 240 cs; 13.7%) 2011: Light gold color; slight herbal/green olive/waxy bit perfumed/floral (Muscadelle?)/spicy/slight peppery somewhat mineral/chalky/perfumed talc very interesting/attractive nose; rather tart/mineral/stoney/perfumed talc some melony/waxy/green olive some floral/carnations/alpine flowers/perfumed some tangy/citric/juicy flavor; very long figgy/melony/ripe/lush some mineral/stony/perfumed talc spicy/white pepper intriguing/beguiling lovely finish; a wine I kept going back to again & again & finding different things therein; a fascinating wine that I have trouble categorizing. $33.50
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Mike characterizes this wine as a modern-day Hock. Probably most of today's wine drinkers have never heard of a Calif Hock. It's a genre that seems to have totally vanished from existence. In fact, a Google of "Calif hock wine" turns up mostly ads for Calif Hock bottles. I seem to recall a ChristianBros Hock and an Almaden Hock at one time way back when. Hock is a British term for a Rheingau wine. Most of the Hocks in Calif came from Burger (Monbadon), GreenHungarian, GreyRiesling (TrosseauGris) and other grapes of that ilk. I would have to say this Derivative is way better than any of the Calif Hock's that I can recall.
It did remind me a bit of the Martini Semillon's that I'd had in the past, but those were much coarser and didn't have the aromatics this Derivative has. ChasselasBlanc is the grape used in the Swiss Fendant, but this didn't remind me of any Fendants I've had. If anything, this Derivative reminded me some of the AltoAdige whites, maybe a bit of Friuli.
So it's a tough wine to put in a neat/little box. But whatever it is, it's darned good. Maybe not a profound white, but something that's just darn good drinking...and sometimes that's all you want.
Tom