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. L'Uvaggio di Giacomo i Colombi Calif Arneis (13.0%) 2000: Pale gold color; rather floral/hazelnutty rather stoney/earthy slight metallic classic Arneis nose; tart stoney/earthy/steely/earthy some floral/spicy flavor; med.long tart/stoney/earthy light floral/hazelnutty finish; nicely done wine w/ classic Arneis varietal character.
2. Quinta da Sonora Calif Verdelho (13.4%) 2000: Pale yellow color; fragrant/perfumed/ perfumed talc/honeysuckle spicy/aromatic nose; tart very spicy honeysuckle/floral lovely flavor; very long/lingering tart very floral/perfumed/honeysuckle finish; loaded w/ floral/fruit almost like a lean/tight Roussanne or an Oregon PinotGris; a real value at $12.00 
3. L'Uvaggio di Giacomo il Gufo Calif Barbera (14.6%) 2000: Med.dark color; rather earthy/ dusty bit spicy/sausage/Barbera rather Lodi-like nose; soft/flat rather earthy/mushroomy light spicy/Barbera some unclean flavor; med.short soft/flat earthy/Lodi finish w/ little tannins; tastes of the Lodi terroir; rather low in acid for Barbera; underwhelming at $16.50 
4. R Barbera SpinettaFamily Vineyard/Amador County JeffRunquist/Vintner (13.2%) 1999: Med.dark color; strong toasty/coconutty/oaked briary/sausage/spicy/Barbera nose; tart bit unclean/wet dog fur spicy/Barbera/sausage strong toasty/coconut/oak flavor; med.long  tart/lean/hard rather spicy/Barbera very toasted coconut/oak finish w/ some tannins; very ripe & loaded w/ oak but interesting Barbera.
5. Gallo of Sonoma Alexander Valley Barbera Barrelli Creek Vineyard (13.5%) 1999: Very dark color; attractive spicy/Barbera/sausage some light/oaked clean/pleasant nose; tart elegant spicy/Barbera/sausage light/oaked flavor; med.short tart spicy/sausage light oak finish w/ light tannins; a nice wine but a bit too polished & seamless and lacking in fruit and rusticity for me.
6. Bogle Shenandoah Valley Zin (14.9%) 1998: Med.light color; bit alcoholic very ripe/overripe Amador Zin/briary/blackberry bit raisened nose; very soft bit thin some hot/alcoholic/ volatile/fumey very ripe to overripe Amador/briary/blackberry/Zin flavor; med.short overripe/briary/blackberry bit thin finish w/ light tannins; tastes like an Amador Zin made by a Delta producer; bit too overripe for me.
7. Six Hands Calif Petite Sirah (13.2%) 1999: Dark color; attractive/fragrant/peppery/spicy some toasty/Fr.oak slight earthy/spicy rather fragrant nose; soft rather spicy/licorice/ peppery some toasty/Fr.oak fairly tannic rather balanced flavor; med.long minty/spicy/ peppery/PS bit dusty rather tannic finish; needs 2-5 yrs; an unusual rendition of Calif PS; not underacid and a bit on the rough/rustic side but quite balanced; a very good value at  $12.00 
8. Rosenblum Cellars Dry Creek Valley Petite Sirah Rockpile Road Vineyard (14.5%) 2000: Black color; beautiful/fragrant spicy very lush peppery/blackberry/black cherry/chocolaty rather vanilla/toasty/oak very fragrant nose; big/rich lush tannic very chocolaty/blackberry rather pungent/toasty/vanilla/Bourbon/oaked very spicy/lush flavor; very long quite hard/tannic very spicy/blackberry/peppery/chocolaty/PS vanilla/oaked finish w/ ample tannins; needs 3-6 yrs; classic Rosenblum lushness w/ lots of bright fruit for a PS.
9. Ridge Calif Zin Sonoma Station (75% Zin, 16% PS, 9% Carignane; 14.7%) 2000: Med.dark color;   attractive vanilla/oaked spicy/raspberry very spicy/fragrant slight stemmy/appley nose; soft vanilla/oaked/buttery lush raspberry/spicy flavor; med. vanilla/oaked/buttery simple/raspberry/spicy finish w/ little tannins; just a very nice drinking Zin, nothing more; I would guess this will start to put on weight over the next yr.
10. Ridge Calif Zin LyttonStation (84% Zin, 7% PS, 6% Grenache, 3% Carignane; 14.4%) 1999: Med.color; strong chocolaty more blackberry/Zin/black cherry very perfumed light Am.oaked more interesting nose; tart bit lean spicy/black cherry/blackberry/raspberry some milky/Am.oak flavor; med.short bit lean spicy/black cherry/blackberry oaked finish w/ light tannins; much better than a yr ago, put on some weight.
11. Ridge Calif Zin Paso Robles (100% Zin; 14.5%) 2000: Med.color; fairly deep/blackberry/ PR/jammy/boysenberry spicy/chocolaty lighter nose; lighter spicy/raspberry/blackberry/jammy light vanilla/oak flavor; med. light bright/blackberry/jammy light vanilla/Am.oak finish w/ light tannins; lighter than the Dusi but nice-drinking PR Zin.
12. Ridge Calif Zin DusiRanch (100% Zin; 14.6%; 42 brls) 2000: Dark color; much deeper/ blackberry/boysenberry/PR/jammy peppery slight Am.oaked/vanilla nose; rich big ripe blackberry/boysenberry/jammy/chocolaty light oak flavor; long blackberry/boysenberry/ jammy/peppery/spicy bit dusty/old vines Am.oak finish w/ some tannins; needs a few yrs; much deeper & bigger than the regular Paso Robles but very much the same flavor profile.
13. Ridge Calif Zin Lytton Springs (80% Zin, 20% PS; 14.8%) 2000: Dark color; slight volatile/ fragrant/perfumed blackberry/Zinberry rather ripe more high notes nose; light tart/ simple blackberry/Zinberry/spicy bright fruit slight hot/volatile flavor; med. bright/ blackberry/Zinberry/raspberry light vanilla/oak finish w/ light tannins; a nice-drinking pleasant Zin that may evolve some; not up to the '99 at the same point in time.
14. Ridge Calif Zin Lytton Springs (70% Zin, 17% PS, 10% Carignane, 3% Mataro; 14.5%) 1999: Some darker color; slight reduced/funky pungent/toasty/oak blackberry/boysenberry quite spicy lovely/complex nose; soft fairly rich/pungent/toasty/oak big blackberry/ boysenberry flavor; very long/lingering blackberry/boysenberry/very spicy/dusty rather pungent/toasty/oak some complex finish w/ some tannins; needs a yr or two yet; still my favorite LSZin of the '90's.
15. Rosenblum Cellars Sonoma Valley Zin Monte Rosso Vineyard (16.8%; 8% PS, 7% Unidentified) 2000: Med.dark color; rather volatile/EA/perfumey very ripe/raspberry/jammy bit overripe/ raisened nose; rather hot/volatile raspberry/perfumy loads of raspberry/ripe/fruit flavor; long rather hot/fumey loads of ripe/overripe/raspberry/fruit finish w/ light tannins; a bit on the overripe volatile side & lacks structure & tannins.
16. Cline Calif Zin (14.0%) 2000: Med.lighht color; very earthy/Lodi/mushroomy/plummy  rather charred/oak/pungent/burnt nose; very soft very earthy/plummy/mushroomy some Lodi/Zin/fruit almost vegetal flavor; med.short burnt/charred/oak dusty/earthy finish w/ little tannins; not up to the previous few vintages for their Calif Zin; seems to have mostly Lodi Zin therein.
17. Marchesi di Barola Riserva Barolo (13.5%) 1978: Med.light color; rather dried rose petal/Nebbiolo/lilacs/cherry bit pungent/charred complex nose; hard/tannic lilacs/floral/ dried rose petal some spicy/dusty complex flavor; long light floral rather hard/tannic finish; a lovely old Barolo complexity but a bit dried out & hard/tannic on the palate. Howard&Rhoda's mystery wine.

1. Arneis: One of the world's minor white varietals that I see no signs is destinied for greatness. Most widly grown in the Italian Piemonte, where I find the wines display a very strong earthy/stoney character on the nose and the palate. IlPodere (Jim Clendennan) once made one I liked a lot w/ a strong perfumed/floral character that suggests other varieties were blended in, but he dropped the wine. Seghesio also makes one that I find a bit dull and a bit too oaked. This Giacomo struck me as the purest expression yet of Arneis. Nice wine, but just that.
2. Verdelho: This is, of course, a Portugese varietal. I don't recall that I've ever had it as  a single varietal from Portugal. It is also planted some in Australia, where I've had maybe 4-5 examples, none particularly memorable; nice, but just that. This Quinta da Sonora was easily the best I've ever had; quite a lovely perfumed white.
3. Save the Ridge & Rosenblum wines, the remaining wines all came from my recent foray thru Corti Bros. in Sacramento.
4. Barbera: Barbera is one of my favorite varieties, which I came to love (both Calif & Italian versions) from the early ones from Montevina. For long time, it was regarded in the Piemonte as the peasant's wine and made with a certain rough/rustic/tannic style. Much like Zin in Calif, it was only recently that Piemontese vintners have been giving the variety the respect it deserves and making GREAT wine from Barbera, and charging corresponding prices for it. Some of these have been terrific/world-class Barbera. But my favorite ones are still from Calif, where it seldom receives the respect it deserves. The old Barberas from Louie Martini were legendary. I was never that impressed  with them and thought they displayed the typical Martini winemaking style...age that sucker into senility in large redwood tanks!! Even my beloved Ridge made a few pretty decent Barberas. Easily the best I've had were those early Renwood's that Scott Harvey used to make from the Linsteadt  Vineyard. Stunning wines. The early Montevinas were also  exceptional. Although Jeff Meyers at Montevina is (embarrassingly) labeled "The Baron of Barbera", the current Montevina versions are a bit too ordinary and lacking extraction for my taste; nice drinking, but just that. The whole thing about Barbera is its acidity. It can often have, especially in the Piemonte, a bone-jarring, teeth-scouring acidity to it. They term it "solato" (sp?) because the acidity is so high it tastes salty. But I like high acid wines and those are often the ones that age well.
5. Gallo Barbera: I understand this to be a very small-production item from their Barrelli Creek vnyd and primarily given to a few distributors only as sort of a reward for their Gallo promotions. Corti Bros. is the only place I recall seeing the wine at retail, but they may have expanded production and that has changed, I don't know. A nicely done Barbera... just that, though.
6. SixHandsWinery: www.sixhandswinery.com is their WebSite. I'd never heard of this winery  until Darrell urged that I should try a btl. Although most preferred the Rosenblum, I thought  this PS was a real sleeper and much better than most gave it credit for. It's a big & rough PS, but has a certain balance and polish to it that I rather liked. I'll have to try more of their wines.
7. RockPileRoad  Vineyard: This area high above Lake Sonoma just received it AVA designation a few weeks ago. Young vnyds up there and pretty atypical of DryCreek Valley. Kent makes Zin and PS from this vnyd which are both pretty terrific wines. I can hardly wait 'till the Syrah up there is producing; it's gonna/gotta be great.
8. Putting On Weight: I've been noticing this in a number of the wines I follow....some even  from the very start. The Qupe Central Coast is, upon release in Sept, a pretty light/ simple unthrilling wine. But, over the next 6 months to a year, always seems to put on some weight and develops more intensity. This '99 LyttonStation was very light and underwhelming a yr ago, but has really put on some weight and is a very good restaurant wine now. I think it's something more than just bottle shock. Wisht I could understand this wine stuff better.
9. MonteRosso  Vineyard: This is, of course, the old Louis Martini vnyd located above the town of Sonoma. It is an impeccably-maintained highly-regarded vnyd that a number of primo Zin producers get grapes from. It's a very perplexing vnyd to me and I'm not convinced that MonteRosso is a GREAT Zin vnyd. Most of the Zins seem to have a lean/hard/acidic mean streak running thru them; much like Chet Eschen's Fiddletown vnyd. They never seem  to have a certain lushness that I would like in them. It almost seems like Kent's 2000 version was allowed to get very ripe, perhaps to tame that acidic/lean streak.  Instead, it comes out quite a bit on the overripe side. Just for once, I'd like to have a really GREAT MonteRosso Zin.