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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.

Some More New Calif Wines - June 27, 2012

We tried last night (6/27/12) Some More New Calif Wines:

  1. ChronicCllrs SofaKingSuite PasoRobles (100% Riesling; 12.5%) 2011: Med.light gold color; attractive ripe/pineapple/ mango/Riesling bit floral slight mineral/valve oil lovely nose; fairly tart off-dry (1.5%-2%?) ripe/pineapple/ mango/R light mineral/earthy/valve oil lovely flavor; very long ripe/mango/pineapple/R bit mineral/valve oil finish; a really lovely rendition of Riesling more like an Austrian one w/o the steely edge of many of the German ones; very attractive price. $16.00
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  2. ChronicCllrs StoneFox PasoRobles (29% Marsanne/28% Roussanne/26% Viognier/17% GrenacheBlanc; 13.5%; www.ChronicCellars.com) Josh/Jake Beckett 2011: Pale yellow color; slight menthol/minty/spearmint fragrant apple/ floral/honeysuckle slight earthy/mineral attractive nose; soft quite spicy/minty/floral/honeysuckle bit earthy/ spearmint flavor; long quite spicy/spearmint/JuicyFruit gum floral/honeysuckle finish; a bit soft/underacid but quite a lovely/spicy Rhone blend at a great price. $22.00
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  3. UrbanLegend Teroldego HollandLandingVnyd/Clarksburg (14.2%; www.ULCellars.com) Growers: Duke, Mike, Steve Heringer; Winemakers: Steve&Marilee Shaffer/Oakland 2009: Very dark color; rather fumey/alcoholic somewhat high VA/EA very ripe plummy/grapey bit licorice/chocolaty rather earthy/loamy nose; soft strong plummy/grapey/ chocolate/very ripe/lush bit fumey/alcoholic some tannic flavor; soft rather earthy/loamy strong plummy/grapey/ chocolaty bit hard/tannic some hot/fumey finish; speaks more of Clarksburg/Delta soil than of Teroldego. $32.00
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  4. IlGioielloWnry Montepulciano (14.6%; www.MorseWines.com) 2008: Dark color; light earthy/grapey/herbal/rosemary light pencilly/oak slight spicy nose; soft rather spicy/earthy/herbal/rosemary light pencilly/oak bit rough/rustic flavor; med. earthy/herbal grapey/spicy bit tannic/rough finish; pleasant enough wine bu undistinguished. $25.00
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  5. AmadorFoothill Zin EsolaVnyd/ShenandoahVlly/Calif (14.4%; 67 yr old vines; www.AmadorFoothill.com) 2008: Med.dark color; attractive very spicy/raspberry/Zin some dusty/old vines bit pencilly/coffee/vanilla/Am.oak slight mineral/stony nose; tart bit lean very spicy/raspberry/Zin/cherry light vanilla/oak balanced/restrained flavor; med.long spicy/raspberry/Zin/cherry bit dusty/old vines balanced/restrained/understated finish w/ light tannins; an attractive/pretty Zin that doesn't show that briary/blackberry Amador Zin character. $26.00
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  6. Easton Zin "E" Rice-MacDonaldVnyd/Fiddletown (Planted in 2000; www.EastonWines.com; 14.5%) 2009: Dark color; quite spicy blackberry/briary/brambly/Zin perfumed attractive nose; soft very spicy/blackberry/briary/brambly/Zin light toasty/oak balanced flavor w/ modest tannins; fairly long bit tannic strong briary/blackberry/bramble/Zin light pencilly/oak finish; very balanced & nice structure; should age well for 5-8 yrs; lots of Amador briary character w/o pushing the ripeness boundary. $22.00
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  7. ChronicCllrs PurpleParadise PasoRobles (70% Zin/30% PS; 14.3%) 2010: Very dark color; intense plummy/blackberry/ boysenberry/bit jammy some vanilla/Am.oak ripe classic PasoZin nose; soft intense ripe/jammy/blackberry/boysenberry/ PRZin some vanilla/Am.oak slight alcoholic flavor; long ripe jammy/boysenberry/blackberry/Zin light vanilla/oak finish; seems to be some soft tannins in there but overwhelmed (for now) by the intense fruit; a classic ripe Paso Zin w/o being over the top and out of balance or overripe; terrific Zin for the price. $22.00
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  8. ChronicCllrs DeadNuts PasoRobles (57% Zin/36% Tempranillo/4% PS/3% Syrah; 15%) 2010: Very dark color; bit dusty/earthy black cherries/spicy/boysenberry light vanilla/oak slight herbal very spicy/perfumed/interesting nose; tarter/leaner very spicy/cherry/black cherry/Zin/boysenberry not particularly jammy light vanilla/oak lovely flavor; very long bit more tannic/structured blackberry/black cherry/cherry/ light vanilla/oak slight earthy/dusty/herbal finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-5 yrs; less ripe/jammy and more structured; almost like a LaCrimma di Morra d'Alba or a Visciola; terrific wine for the price. $24.00
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  9. ChronicCllrs SofaKingBueno PasoRobles (71% Syrah/15% PS/10% Grenache/4% Mourv; 15.0%) 2010: Very dark color; very strong blackberry/licorice/Syrah/spicy light toasty/pungent/oak bit alcoholic nose; soft very rich/lush intense blackberry/licorice/boysenberry/Syrah classic WestSide PR Syrah flavor w/ modest tannins and slight alcoholic heat; very long/lingering soft/rich/lush intense blackberry/Syrah/licorice/boysenberry light toasty/oak slight earthy/peppery finish w/ modest tannins; not as structured but every bit the equal of a Saxum or Denner Syrah at a third the price; lovely Paso Syrah at a great price. $22.00
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  10. ChronicCllrs SuitePetite PasoRobles (67% PS/33% Syrah; 14.2%) 2010: Very dark/black color; strong chocolaty/licorice/ PS bit clunky/earthy some jammy/boysenberry/blackberry/PR jammy/plummy bit toasty/oak nose; soft/fat rather earthy/ plummy/blackberry slight peppery some toasty/oak rather tannic flavor; med.long soft/fat clunky/peppery/plummy/ blackberry/PS bit toasty/oak finish w/ ample tannins; plenty of tannnins but on the soft side; doesn't quite sing like the first three; the price is a bit perplexing. $35.00


And the usual BloodyPulpit:

1. Teroldego: A so-called "cousin" to Syrah w/ Dureza as a common parent. It reaches it's heights in the Campo Rotaliano area of Trentino/AltoAdige, with the Foradori being my favorite. This UrbanLegend rendition lacks the minerality and high-toned perfumed character of the Trentino versions and speaks more of the fertile/loamy soils of Clarksburg. Not sure why you'd plant Teroldego in Clarksburg. It would seem that ElDorado, with its granitic soils would be a more obvious choice.
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2. Sof**kingSuite: PasoRobles is not an obvious place to grow Riesling. Unless it's grown out towards the coast (therefore, a SLOCnty designate, not PasoRobles) or, maybe, on YorkMtn, I would think anywhere else in the area would be too hot. This wine is one of the better examples of Calif Riesling I can recall. More along the lines of Austria, rather than Germany. Wherever they got these grapes; Jake & Josh did a mighty fine job w/ this wine.
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3. IlGioiello/Morse: This is a new wnry to me in AmadorCnty. It has a Fiddletown address but is rather off the beaten track and hard by the ElDorado county line. In fact, the wines spoke more to me of Eldorado than ShenandoahVlly/ Fiddletown. I tasted thru most of their lineup in the tasting room a few weeks ago. Thought the wines were pleasant enough, but just that. Not bad or anything, varietally correct, just sort of undistinguished.
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4. ChronicCellars: This is the wnry of Josh & Jake Beckett. The sons of DougBeckett, owner of PeachyCanyon. I had had the SofaKingBueno a year or so ago & liked it quite a bit. I recently ordered their complete lineup to see how the kids were doing. I was impressed...the boys be doing good....maybe even better than Dad (sorry, Leenda). These were the first whites of theirs I'd tried and I was fairly impressed.

Of the PurpleParadise and DeadNuts, I slightly preferred the latter as being a bit more complex/interesting and a bit more structured. The SKB was as good a WestSide Paso Syrah as I've seen...of Saxum or Denner level of quality. The SuitePetite pricing was a bit of a puzzle...not sure why it's significantly more expensive than the others.

And the ChronicCellars labels...they're about as wild as the come. "DeadNuts/PurpleParadise/ StoneFox"???? We kept turning those names over in our minds...certain there was some hidden/obscene message to them. Guess my crowd is too old and not with it enough to decipher those labels!!!

TomHill

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