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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.
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Four Picpouls -
September 17, 2013 |
I tried over the period of several weeks four Picpouls:
- Domaine Delsol Picpoul de Pinet Vd'OC: Coteaux du Languedoc (12.5%; www.FoncalieuVignobles.com) Foncalieu/Arzens 2012: Pale yellow color; rather floral/aromatic rather stony/metallic/mineral quite perfumed attractive nose; bit tart rather mineral/metallic/stony/river rocks slight floral/grapefruity flavor; med. short somewhat tart rather stony/mineral/earthy finish; an altogether pleasant if quotidian Picpoul. $21.00
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- Forlorn-Hope Picpoul HaugVnyd/Rutherford/NapaVlly (17 cs; 12.48%) 2012: Med. gold color w/ slight clouding; rather aromatic/perfumed talc somewhat stony/mineral/earthy light floral/aromatic interesting nose that's atypical of most Picpouls; lean/tart/hard rather earthy/stony/mineral light perfumed talc/floral/perrfumed fairly hard/austere flavor; med.long light perfumed talc/floral fairly tart/hard/lean/
earthy/austere finish; speaks of a Languedoc white but doesn't have the bright/zippy character of Pinet
Picpouls; quite an interesting rendition of Picpoul. $25.00
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- TablasCreekVnyd PicpoulBlanc PasoRobles (14.5%; www.TablasCreek.com; EB) 2012: Med. yellow
color; very strong perfumed/aromatic/floral/GB-like/Viog-like slight stony/mineral/wet rocks very
fragrant nose; tart bright/zippy quite floral/perfumed/carnations/honeysuckle/GB-like/peach blossom
light stony/mineral flavor; very long/lingering perfumed/honeysuckle/peach blossom/GB-like light
stony/mineral finish; much more perfumed/aromatic character than the '11; a lovely bright/zippy/
vibrant Picpoul.
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- TablasCreekVnyd PicpoulBlanc PasoRobles (14.5%; EB) 2011: Med.yellow color; rather perfumed/
aromatic/floral strong stony/mineral/wet river rocks nose; tart bit softer/lusher bright/floral/peach
blossom strong stony/mineral lovely flavor; very long perfumed/floral/peach blossom rather stony/mineral/
earthy finish; less perfumed/aromatic less GB/Viog-like and much more of the stony/mineral side I expect
in Picpoul.
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1. The first wine, a new one for me, I tried back in Maine last week. The last three, I tried out
in Paso a month ago afore NEB4. I was pretty sure the TablasCreek folks had not tried (nor heard of)
MattRorick's Forlorn-Hope Picpoul, so I took a btl out there for them to try. We (DarrenDelmore/
MarketingGuy, JasonHaas, and myself) tried them in the tasting room there one afternoon. The '12
was a tank sample and going to be bttld in a few weeks.
The two Tablas Picpouls were pretty much charactteristic of the TC whites; w/ lots of perfume and
fragrance and only hints of the stony/mineral/austere character Picpoul can often show. As expected,
the Forlorn-Hope was a more atypical rendition of Picpoul, a "vin de meditazione", a more rustic
version of Picpoul.
TomHill
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[Additional Wine Reviews from Tom Hill] |
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Updated 5.28.13
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