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.

 New California Reds
Tasted last night a few new California red wines:
Deux Chapeaux Bourgogne Rose '95: Made by Comte Lafon; med.salmon/pink color; fragrant cherrp/PN spicy cinammon nose; tart steely appley/cherry PN/apple pie spicy flavor; very long lingering buttery spicy cherry/apple pie light tobaccoy finish; a very nicely done rose, and dry; pricey @ $19.50
Zabaco Sonoma County Zinfandel (14.2% alc) '94: The new Gallo product; med.color; pleasant earthy/plummy/light raspberry nose; tart light earthy/plummy bit sour some buttery light raspberry flavor; med.short sour earthy light raspberry finish w/ little tannins; pleasant enough but a bit muddled and dull; not worth $11.
Ravenswoood Alexander Valley Zinfandel (13.8%) '94: Med.dark color; dusty/earthy Am.oaked funky licorice low fruit nose; sour dusty earthy Am.oaked light licorice/blackberry flavor; med. rough dusty earthy low fruit finish w/ some tannins; a rather rouygh & rustic Zin w/ too little fruit; has Vinted&Bttld on the label so purchased wine, tastes much like the Sausal Zins; not worth the $14.
Clos du Bois Sonoma County Zinfandel (14.2%) '94: Med.light color; pleasant earthy light raspberry Zin nose; soft light raspberry light oaked buttery flavor; very long very buttery light raspberry finish w/ light tannins; great wine to go with butterd popcorn; rather pleasant simple Zin.
Steele Mendocino Du Pratt Vineyard Zinfandel (13%) '94: Dark color; smokey toasty fragrant Fr.oaked pungent light blackberry nose; rich dusty old vines very toasty Fr.oaked smokey licorice pungent flavor; long dusty old vines pungent smokey Fr.oaked light blackberry Zin finish; interesting wine but the Mendocino Zin character is obliterated; the wine shouts more Jed Steele Pinot than Zin; overpriced at $20.50.
Williams-Selyem Mendocino Zinfandel (13.7%) '94: Med.dark color; intense black cherry smokey Fr.oak blackberry nose; big ripe blackberry spicy black cherry cola toasty Fr.oak soft flavor; long ripe blackberry/black cherry cola some dusty old vines toasty oaked finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; tastes much like their Pinots; pretty pricey @ $33.
Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Grenache Stolpman Family Vineyard (14.5%) '95: Fragrant floral dusty ripe strawberry/Grenache very spicy cinammon light oaked nose; tart very spicy cinammon strawberry Grenache flavor; long bright strawberry Grenache tart tannic finish; rather tart & lean but loads of bright Grenache fruit; a pretty serious red, needs 2-5 yrs. Fairly priced @ $18.
Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Matilija Cuvee (72%Mourvedre, 14% Syrah, 14% CabFranc) (13.4%) '95: Classic Mourvedre plummy licorice very spicy light oaked nose; soft rich plummy licorice very spicy/cloves some dusty/earthy/ almost plastic/ BacoNoir flavor; long plummy licorice spicy/cloves light oaked finish w/ som tannins; needs several yrs; pretty good ChatNeufPape red.
Columbia Crest Columbia Valley Syrah Reserve (85% Syrah, 15% Grenache) (13.0%) '94: Black color; intense black cherry Syrah licorice pungent toasty oaked smokey nose; tart/sour intense black cherry cola/Dr.Pepper Syrah some toasty smokey pungent oaked flavor; very long licorice intense black cherry cola blackberry toasty pungent bit herbal finish w/ fair tannins; a killer Syrah w/ some WashState herbal character and some Cote-Rotie character; great buy @ $14.
Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Syrah (13.9%) '95: Very dark color; deep dusty earthy very Rhone-like nose; tart earthy dusty Rhonish blackberry hard flavor; very long dusty pungent earthy blackberry/Syrah finish w/ fair tannins; needs some 4-8 yrs; much like the Alban Reva Syarh '94 but a bit more fruit; a terrific Rhone-like Syrah; fairly priced @ $18.
L'Ecosse Napa Valley Cabernet Franc (Cuvee hommage de Jeanne d'Arc) '95: Dark color; intense herbal CabFranc dusty smokey rather Loire-like nose; rich tannic very dusty earthy herbal CabFranc light toasty oaked flavor; long intense dusty earthy herbal pungent some toasty/oaked finish w/ fair tannins; needs 2-5 yrs; loaded w/ herbal CabFranc character; a terrific red that should age very well like many Loire CabFrancs.
Rosenthal The Malibu Estate Newton Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon (13.8%) '94: Very dark color; very intense fragrant rather herbal/blackcurranty smokey slight volatile nose; soft rather herbal dusty oaked light blackcurranty Cab flavor; long herbal/blackcurranty Cab/stewed tomatoes dusty bit hot finish w/ some tannins; a rather interesting herbal oaked Cab.
Ravenswood Rancho Salina Vineyards Sonoma Valley Red Wine (67% CS, 22% Merlot, 11% CabFranc) '94: Very dark color; rather volatile fumey ripe blackcurranty Cab smokey oaked nose; soft very ripe dusty blackcurranty/herbal slight volatile/hot fairly smokey oaked flavor; med.long ripe blackcurranty Cab minty smokey oaked dusty finish; needs 2-6 yrs but the volatility is a problem. Not worth $29.00
Philip Togni Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon '94: Black color; very intense mtn Cab/black- curranty pungent licorice dusty smokey pungent barky nose; hard tannic huge pungent licorice dusty charred Fr.oak blackcurranty bit burnt rubber flavor; long hard tannic barky dusty low fruit pungent charred oak finish; nees 5-15 yrs; not the lush ripe fruit of the '93; a classic Togni extracted mountain Cab. Pricey & a gamble @ $46.

Musings.

Mendocino Zins.... still a disappointment. The W-S '94 was probably the best Mendocino Zin I've had in some time, since Jed Steele's days at Edmeades and Milano in its early heydays. It doesn't have the overripe/raisened/ late harvesty character that their Sonoma/Martinelli Vnyd Zins used to show. The Steele was a disappointment; DuPratt are great grapes & Jed should ease up a bit on the oak.
The Columbia Crest Syrah was a killer Syrah; one of the more Rhone-like Syrahs yet from the west Coast. The Columbia Syrahs of David Lake and Red Willow Vnyd have always been excellent. Joel Butler of Prima was recently up there and very impressed w/ the Syrahs, maybe even to the extent that he thinks Wash more suited to Syrah than Cab!! An area to watch for Syrahs. I've been cut-off from the Columbia Syrahs down here in NM so haven't tried any of the Columbia ones since the '90. Pity!
The Jaffurs wines were all three pretty exciting; the Matilija Cuvee being one of the best Rhonish/ChatNeufPape blends I've yet had from Calif The quality of the Rhone wines caming out of this area by Andrew Murray, Qupe, Sunstone, Alban, Bedford-Thompson, Zaca Mesa is very very impressive.







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