by Tom Hill

A self-admitted wine geek, Tom lives in Northern New Mexico and works as a computational physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory doing numerical neutron transport & large scale code development. He has been tasting wines since 1971, participates locally with a couple of large tasting groups in his area, and is practically a fixture at most California wine festivals, such as the Hospice du Rhône, Rhône Rangers, and ZAP. Other interests: Tom is heavily into competitive sport fencing (foil & epee), biking, cooking, basketball, skiing, backpacking, mountain climbing.

 
1. Rosenblum Cellars Russian River Valley Reserve Chardonnay Lone Oak Vineyard; (14.2%; 70% French, 30% American oak) 1999: Light gold color; bright spicy/cinammon/toasty oak very  fragrant melony/tropical fruit/Chardonnay very spicy nose; soft/fat/rich very spicy/ tropical fruit/melony/Chardonnay very cinammon/cloves some buttery/toasty/oak flavor; med.long some toasty/butterscotchy/oak very spicy/cinammon/mtropical fruit/ripe Chardonnay finish; a very well-made Calif Chardonnay w/ lots of spicy character; good value  at $24.00.
2. Chalone Vineyard Chalone Chardonnay (#109168 of 256000; 14.2%; 887 French Oak barrels);  1998: Med.gold color; strong buttery/butterscotchy/toasty/oaked some melony/celery/ Monterey Chardonnay nose; soft/fat bit metallic/earthy very toasty/butterscotchy/oaked light celery/Chardonnay flavor; very long soft bit metallic/herbal/earthy lots of toasty/ caramel/oaked light celery/Monterey Chardonnay finish; lots of oak but a bit short on Chardonnay fruit; pricey at $33.00.
3. Schloss Saarsteiner Serriger Schloss Saarsteiner Riesling Kabinett; (8.0%;  A.P.Nr. 3 555 014-9-96) 1994: Med.gold color; beautiful floral/pineapply/R slight pungent/Mosel valve oil stoney/perfumed talc very lovely nose; very tart/crisp very spicy/floral/pineapply/R steely/slatey classic Mosel flavor; long very crisp/ tart/clean slatey/Mosel rather ripe/pineapply/floral/R finish; a lovely crisp clean-as-a-whistle Mosel; great value at $11.99.
4. Schloss Saarsteiner Serriger Schloss Saarsteiner Riesling Spatlese (8.0%; A.P.Nr. 3 555 014-10-96) 1994: Med.gold color; rather earthy/dusty low fruit nose  develops some ripe/floral/R/perfumed nose; soft some pepperminty/minty rather earthy/ dusty fat slight floral/R flavor; med.long pepperminty/minty rather earthy/dusty low fruit finish; a sort of porky/unclean Mosel lacking in fruit.
5. Leasingham Clare Valley Riesling Bin 7; Alc: 11.5%) 2000: Med.gold color; lovely/fragrant/ R/floral/pineapply some waxy/valve oil very aromatic nose; very acid/searing/bone- jarring metallic/floral/R/waxy flavor; very long searing/acid some waxy/floral/R finish; a 10-20 yr wine; great value at $13.99. 
6. Il Podere Dell'Olivos Central Coast Tocai Friulano (12.5%; "Gradual Improvement Thru Enhanced Perception") 1996: Med.gold color; strong earthy/grapey/cheap grape rather interesting/floral/perfumed nose; very soft/flabby very glycerined cheap/ grapey earthy flavor; very long fat/glycerined earthy/grapey finish; lots of cheap grape almost labursco character; weird wine.
7. Il Podere Dell'Olivos Central Coast Arneis (12.5%) 1996: Med.gold color; rather grapey/ anise ripe fruit earthy slight oxidized nose; soft earthy/dusty/stoney slight metallic some oxidized flavor; med.long sour soft light earthy/stoney slight oxidized finish; bit oxidized and little fruit.
8. Cline Los Carneros Marsanne (13.5%; 853 cs) 1996: Med.gold color; lovely/fragrant/ perfumed/hazelnutty floral/complex aromatic nose; tart very spicy hazelnutty/ pumpkin seed/roasted squash complex very spicy aromatic flavor; very long complex hazelnutty/pumpkin seed complex/perfumed finish; a lovely interesting complex  mature Marsanne; one of the best I've had.
9. Rosenblum Cellars Santa Barbara Cnty Viognier Rodney's Vineyard (14.2%) 1999: Med.light gold color; very minerally/pungent fragrant pear/Viognier bit smokey/oaked complex almost Condrieu-like nose; soft/metallic/minerally spicy/floral/pear light toasty/oak flavor; very long minerally/metallic very spicy light toasty/oak finish; a very unusual Calif Viognier w/ lots of aromatics; great value at $16.00.
10. Terre Rouge Shenandoah Valley Viognier (14.5%) 1999: Med.gold color; classic Viognier/ floral/pear/peachy/pineapply beautifully fragrant nose; soft/fat/very lush loads of  pear/peach/Viognier perfumey flavor; very long/lingering loads of Viognier/peach/pear very floral/aromatic finish; a terrific/lush fruit-bomb of a Viognier; maybe the best Amador Viognier yet. Reasonably priced at $26.00.
11. Steele Clear Lake Viognier Dorn Vineyard (13%) 1997: Med.gold color; slight oxidized stoney very toasty/pencilly/oaked little Viognier nose; soft light pear/Viognier slight  oxidized some pencilly/oaked flavor; med.short bit oxidized weak pear/Viognier finish; bit too oxidized & too oaked; past its prime.
12. Hawley Dry Creek Valley Viognier (86% DryCreekValley, 14% SierraFoothills; 13.9%) 1999: Med. light gold color; bit SO2/reduced pungent/smokey some oaked light pear/Viognier nose that clears to a bright pear/peachy/classic Viognier nose; soft/lush/ripe pear/Viognier/ peachy rather attractive/spicy flavor; long light pencilly/oaked lovely Viognier/pear/ peachy finish; a very attractive classic Viognier at a very good price. $17.00
13. Tablas Creek Vineyard Blanc (14.1%; 32% Marsanne, 30% Viognier, 28% Roussanne, 7% GrenacheBlanc, 3% Rolle) 1999: Med.gold color; fragrant appley/stoney/earthy very CdP-like light fruit nose; soft earthy/stoney bit pungent/smokey light floral/fruit flavor; long stoney/earthy/austere light/floral finish; lots of that clunky CdP blanc character; will probably develop into a pretty terrific wine.
14. Sine Qua Non Backwards & Forwards Calif WTW Alban Vineyard EdnaValley (60% Chardonnay, 20% Roussanne,  20% Viognier) 1995: Med.dark gold color; somewhat oxidized/earthy very charred/burnt/ pungent/toasty/Fr.oak bit earthy light/melony/Chardonnay fruit; rich/mouthfilling very strong charred/burnt/toasty/Fr.oak tart pungent/smokey flavor; very long/lingering intense toasty/burnt/charred some oxidized little fruit finish; pretty much all about charred oak and hard to find any fruit; will be very interesting to see what this wine evolves into; a very strange & weird wine; the oxidized character puzzles me; it reminds me a lot of Joe Swan's first Chardonnay ('75?) that he aged in used Bourbon barrels (trying to save a  little money) that he scraped out himself; it had a distinct oxidized character but lots of richness and developed into a pretty interesting & good wine with 10 yrs or so of age; Joe hated the stuff, but I liked it in aperverse kind of way.
15. Topanga Vineyards TV French Camp Vineyard Paso Robles Syrah RTW 1997: Dark color; rather funky/earthy/ bretty slight blackberry/Syrah bit plastic/hybridy nose; very tart hard tannic very funky/ bretty/earthy some old oak little fruit flavor; med.long earthy/mushroomy rather bretty/ funky rather hard/tannic finish; lacks fruit; shows all the worst things that come out of FrenchCamp Syrah grapes.

We tasted a few Dessert Wines last night (7/11/01) in a BD celebration:

1. Chateau la Variere Bonnezeaux "Les Melleresses" (13%) 1997: Dark gold color; intense perfumed talc/peachy/botrytis beautiful/lush complex nose; very sweet very intense peachy/botrytis/apricotty lush loads of CB fruit flavor; very long/lingering intense botrytis/peachy spicy complex finish; a great Loire CB loaded w/ botrytis character; good value at $24.99/hlf.
2. Domaine des Baumard Coteaux du Layon (Peacock label) 1989: Med.gold color; rather yeasty/fresh bread/earthy/dusty/perfumed talc little fruit or botrytis nose; slightly sweet earthy/dusty bit herbal/perfumed talc weak botrytis/grapey flavor; med.long quite earthy/dusty finish; lacking much in botrytis or fruit, disappointing. $19.49 
3. Mount Pleasant IceWine Augusta Missouri VidalBlanc LateHrvst (12.8%; SaH: 31 Brix;  RS: 8 Brix) 1991: Dark gold/brown color; rather volatile intense grapey rather peachy/ rotted apricots slight oxidized/caramel some plastic/hybridy complex nose; very sweet complex rotted apricots/peachy/very grapey slight metallic rather plastic/hybridy flavor; very long very sweet rotted apricots/peaches very grapey somewhat plastic/ hybridy finish; a very interesting dessert wine.

1. Mt.Pleasant: This comes from the country's first designated viticultural area in Missouri. I've had a few Ontario Eisweins and I would rank this right up there with some of those in quality. In a lot of wines from French hybrid grapes, I get a sort of plastic-like character, like new vinyl & the smell of its plasticizer, that was quite obvious in this wine. Nonetheless, I liked this wine quite a bit and was  surprised at how well it had aged.
2. Oz Riesling: Truly one of the world's most underrated wines. Despite Parker's assertions to the contrary; these are wines to lay away for some aging. They tend to have a rather bone-jarring acidity to them that makes them tough to drink when they're young; but also is what makes them such keepers. This Leasingham came w/ a screw-top, a move I heartily endorse. Great stuff.
3. Amador Viognier: One of the several problems of AmadorCnty has been their classification as sort of a johnny-one-note; good/unique Zinfandel but little else. They have long struggled to find a white variety that does well up there. Cary Gott struggled mightly to get quality in his SauvignonBlanc, but it always came out a bit bland in its character. A variety that had lots of aromatics is what was called for.  It seems pretty clear to me that Viognier is just the white varietal that is called for in Amador. This TerreRouge '99 is probably one of the best I've had yet. Scott Harvey had made some good ones at Renwood. Lee Sobon's Sobon Estate is very nice at a reasonable price, if somewhat on the lighter side. Let's hope they plant more Viognier up there. And Bill Easton (TerreRouge) has made very good Roussanne as well. Seems time for Amador to have their third Pheonix-like rising from the ashes, I would say.
4. Tablas Creek: This joint Perrin family (Ch.Beaucastel)/RobertHaas operation has always been one that sort of mystifies me. Generally, when folks make a commitment to such a venture; they go barreling ahead full-steam. This operation was one that was very slow to get up to speed. Their early focus seemed to be on the nursery side of the operation; bringing in (legally) the Rhone varieties and then propagating them there in Paso and making the cuttings available to other wineries. On the winemaking side, they seem very adamant about only making Rhone blends a la CdP. They have a whole handful of Rhone varieties there and one would think that they might be tempted to release a varietal if they found one wine that really stood out. Their first wines seem rather unimpressive and unfocused upon release. But those early wines of theirs have been starting to show some terrific character w/ bottle age. Who knows..... maybe these people really do know what they're doing!!!

TomHill