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. California Reds, (mostly) Zinfandel
   Tasted some new (mostly) California reds, mostly '94 Zins, last night:
   California Shenandoah Vineyard Amador County Sangiovese '94: Lush licorice pungent spicy some menthol oaked complex light cherry nose; tart fragrant pungent licorice smokey menthol oaked briary flavor; long tart pungent licorice smokey menthol some tannic finish, needs several yrs. Very atypical of Sangiovese except for the tartness but a really interesting pungent kind of wine.
   Adelaida San Luis Obispo County Sangiovese (13.9% alc) '93: Rather dusty earthy bit soapy some jammy grapey strange nose; tart very chalky some earthy dusty low fruit flavor; med.long tart very chalky rather dusty earthy bit herbal finish w/ some tannins; an altogether very peculiar wine much like some of the early Ridge PasoRobles Zins w/ the chalky character. Not worth the $23.
   Rabbit Ridge California Barbera Grande Riserva (13.0%) '90: Very oaked some smokey/spicy sausage nose; soft little fruit very strong dill/Am.oaked spicy cherry flavor; med.long cherry tart edgy very strongly Am.oaked finish w/ little tanins; not much fruit & pretty heavily oaked.
   California Shenandoah Vineyards Amador County Zingiovese (Zin/Sangiovese/Syrah blend; 13.5%) '94: Fragrant pungent licorice slight horsecollar/brett nose; soft pungent bit oaked/horsecollar/brett light licorice/spicy flavor; long licorice pungent bit unclean/brett finish w/ light tannins; sort of a junior version of #1 w/ a bit of brett.
   Steele Clear Lake Catfish Vnyd Zin (13%) '94: Fragrant spicy lush raspberry rather oaked/pencilly nose; tart very oaked bright spicy raspberry lean taut flavor; med.long tannic chalky dusty light raspberry earthy very oaked finish Lots of spicy raspberry fruit but rather hard & austere & lean in the mouth. Not worth the $12.50.
   Elyse Napa Valley Coeur du Val Zinfandel (12.9%) '94: Lush fragrant blackberry boysenberry dusty old vines aromatic nose; soft rich very lush blackberry boysenberry ripe dusty flavor; long dusty old vines lush soft ripe blackberry finish w/ light tannins; a very nicely done lush old vines Zin; great value at $12.
   Sierra Vista ElDorado Zinfandel (13.5%) '89: Med.color w/ slight browning; med. strong fragrant very pencilly/cedary light old Zin/tobaccoy nose; soft light cedary/tobaccoy/pencilly some dusty/earthy flavor; med.long pencilly dusty tobacoy earthy finish w/ light tannins; an interesting mature old Zin wine getting on in its yrs.
   Sierra Vista ElDorado Zinfandel (13.8%) '94: Deep earthy/mushroomy dusty bit ripe blackberry Am.oaked nose; soft dusty earthy truffly some blackberry rather oaked flavor; long light blackberry dusty earthy mushroomy finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs. Typical ElDorado Zin w/ lots of that earthy/ dusty character; great value at $9.
   Whitethorn Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel (14.2%) '93: Strong raspberry blackberry some lush ripe rather oaked nose; tart raspberry spicy rather oaked flavor; med. long tart bit hot spicy raspberry finish w/ some tannins; a rather straight- forward bit simple Zin.
   Scherrer Vineyard Alexander Valley Old & Mature Vines Zinfandel (13.9%) '94: Deep lush smokey very spicy some blackberry vanilla bit dusty nose; soft fat dusty light blackberry pencilly oaked flavor; med.long soft pencilly oaked light blackberry spicy finish w/ light tannins; has the typical Alex Vlly softness and fatness to it.
   Nalle Dry Creek Valley Sonoma Zinfandel (13.5%; "Everything I learned about Zin, I learned in Zindergarten":Doug Nalle) '94: Lush very aromatic fragrant spicy Zinberry pencilly Fr. oak classic Nalle nose; tart rich very spicy ripe bright vibrant Zinberry pencilly oaked flavor; very long zippy vibrant very spicy Zinberry pencily Fr.oaked finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-6 yrs; a clasic vibrant Zinberry Nale Zin but more structure & tannins than any since the '87; incredible balance & everything just the right proportions.
   D-Cubed Napa Valley Howell Mountain Zinfindel (14.3%) '94: Deep earthy HM/dusty toasty Fr.oaked peppery complex nose; rich hard earthy dusty old vines peppery Rhone-like dusty blackberry flavor; long peppery dusty old vines smokey pungent toasty hard finish w/ fair tannins; needs 2-5 yrs; a typical dusty/earthy HowellMtn Zin much like the old Ridge HM Zins. $15.00
   Elyse Napa Valley Howell Moutain Zinfandel (12.9%) '94: Strong earthy dusty ripe black- berry boysenberry Dr.Pepper/black cherry nose; rich very spicy blackberry Dr.Pepper/cola dusty old vines flavor; very long very spicy deep dusty blackberry/Dr.Pepper/cola finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; a rich ripe blackberry Zin w/ some HM dustiness. Great value at $14.
   Elyse Napa Valley Nero Misto (44% PS, 30% Zin, 26% "lesser known black grapes" 12.9% alc) '94: Deep ripe lush grapey/blackberry very spicy some licorice nose; soft fragrant spicy peppery dusty old vines ripe blackberry/cola flavor; long soft lush grapey/blackberry dusty finish w/ light tannins; more forward & drinkable than previous N-Ms; very well-made interesting red wine w/ some Ridge Geyserville character; a steal at $12.
   California Shenandoah Vineyards Amador County Cabernet/Shiraz (50%-50%) '93: Strong dusty coffee pungent Amador briary/blackberry smokey nose; hard tannic pungent peppery dusty chalky rough flavor; long tannic rough pungent dusty/chalky smokey peppery finish; needs 2-6 yrs; a rather interesting very unusual rough wine.
   
   Musings.
   Easily the highlight of the tasting was the Nalle '94. Not a particularly intense or big wine and not one that usually stands out in a crowd; it just has this look of polished craftmansip to it, like a fine piece of woodworking or well-written FORTRAN code! It has the wonderful Zinberry fragrance to it that is uniquely Nalle. Usually drinkable from the git-go, the tremendous balance his Zins have allows them to age quite well,thank you. The '94 seems to have more structure and tannins than any I can recall since the '87. A really good value at $14 or $15, jump all over this one when it appears near you.
2. The '94 Elyses were also pretty impressive. This is one example were the '94's seem markedly better than the '93's. They seem much riper than the 12.9% alc that's listed on the label.
3. The Scherrer '94 was a bit on the disappointing side. Based on their terrific '92 & '93 Zins, I was expecting a pretty big rich & ripe Zin; but it seemed rather light on the palate. Actually preferred the Greenwod Ridge made from Scherrer grapes to the Scherrer itself. Once again, it is NOT a given that a good Zin producer automatically produced a superior wine in the '94 vintage.
4. Just found out that the Tria Napa Vlly Zin '94 has been released. This was, along with the Biale's, my favorite Zin at the ZAP tasting in January. Jump on this one if you see it. He also has a Dry Creek Vlly Zin that I don't think is yet released.
   
   
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