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. Zinfandel & a Few Dessert Wines
   Tasted a few new Zins last week:
   Philip Staley Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel Somers Vineyard '94 (alc:13.7%): Forward lush very spicy raspberry/Zinberry some oaked/perfumed talc nose; tart lean spicy raspberry bit tannic oaked fragrant flavor; long fragrant spicy raspberry lean bit tannic finish; a nicely done bright zippy Zin.
   Murphey-Goode Sonoma Zinfandel '94 (14.5%): Deep licorice pencilly chocolaty blackberry/boysenberry lush nose; soft lush blackberry very Am.oaked/dill flavor; very long very soft lush blackberry very Am.oaked finish w/ light tannins; best M-G Zin yet; loads of lush fruit but that typical Alex.Vlly Zin soft underbelly; bit lacking in structure for aging.
   Peirano Estate Lodi Zinfandel '94 (14.5%): Classic Lodi earthy dusty ponderous some blackberry nose; soft flat fat dusty/earthy mushroomy light blackberry flavor; med.short tea-like earthy mushroomy dusty finish w/ little tannins; a bit dull & clumsey; a wine that galumps across the palate in combat boots.
   Gary Farrell Russian River Valley Zinfandel Collins Vineyard '94 (TW): Beautiful fragrant pencilly Fr. oaked bright raspberry nose; tart very spicy raspberry pencilly Fr.oaked flavor; long pencilly Fr.oaked raspberry spicy finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; a nicely crafted Zin but a bit on the light side; tastes like Zin made by a Pinot producer. Not worth the $19.
   Joseph Swan Russian River Valley Zinfandel Zeigler Vineyard '94 (14.6%): Deep dusty old vines ripe intense black cherry/boysenberrry fragrant nose; soft ripe deep black cherry boysenberry rather Eschen-like/Cheracol some pencilly oaked flavor; very long some tannic intense black cherry cola/Cheracol/blackberry some pencilly oaked finish; needs several yrs.
   Joseph Swan Sonoma Valley Zinfandel Stellwagen Vineyard '94 (14.9%): Dep plummy black- berry some Am.oaked/menthol nose; soft very ripe licorice plummy blackberry slight overripe fairly oaked flavor; long rough tannic raspberry/blackberry old style Zin very ripe finish; needs several yrs; bit more rough & rustic than the Zeigler.
   Ridge California Zinfandel Alegria Vineyard Zinfandel '94 (14.9%; ATP release): Very strong spicy very Am.oaked dusty old vines complex fragrant raspberry some RRV earthy Zin nose; soft very spicy Am.oaked/milky earthy raspberry flavor; very long very spicy complex raspberry Am.oaked/milky finish w/ light tannins; a lovely fragrant complex Zin but not much structure for aging.
   Wellington Sonoma Valley Casa Santinamaria Zinfandel '94 (13.5%): Very ripe lush juicy blackberry fragrant light oaked nose; soft lush ripe juicy blackberry fragrant flavor; long very lush blackberry/juicy finish w/ light tannins; not much structure but soft lush & good drinking now. This supposedly just won the Zin category at the Orange County Fair. Good stuff, but not THAT good.
   St. Francis Sonoma County Old Vines Zinfandel '94 (14.5%): Intense overipe licorice chocolaty boysenberry very milky/Am.oakednose; rather hot/alcoholic very milky/Am.oaked lush very ripe chocolaty/licorice/boysenberry soft fat flavor; med.long very soft rather hot/alcoholic very Am.oaked/milky licorice lush blackberry finish w/ light tannins; pretty loaded up w/ Am.oaked & a bit overripe/alcoholic but good drinking.
   A. Rafanelli Dry Creek Valley Sonoma County Zinfandel '94 (14.2%): Very intense black- berry/boysenberry/licorice/chocolaty dusty old vines pungent nose; big rich mouthfilling briary dusty old vines blackberry/boysenberry some Am.oaked flavor; very long tannic dusty old vines blackberry/briary/boysenberry; needs 2-5 yrs; clasic big rich loads of blackberery fruit Rafanelli; the best Rafanelli since the '90 or '91.
   Turley Napa Valley Aida Vineyard Zinfandel '94 (14.1%): Strong fragrant raspberry some dusty old vines straightforward slight stemmy nose; tart hard tannic spicy raspberry bit lean & hard flavor; very long hard tannic rather lean/closed finish; needs several yrs; a bit lean & hard & less fruit than the others; good straightforward Zin.
   Turley Howell Mountain Black-Sears Vineyard Zinfandel '94 (15.4%): Very strong very peppery pencilly Fr.oaked complex some HM/earthy Zin nose; tart hard very black peppery hard HM dusty/earthy spicy/tomatoey dusty old vines flavor; very long hard tight pencilly Fr.oaked HM dusty/earthy very peppery old vines finish; big & hard & needs 2-6 yrs; an incredible peppery character. $26
   Turley Napa Valley Whitney Vineyard Zinfandel '94 (15.9%): Closed raw meat/spicy sausage earthy dusty light blackbery fruit nose; soft bit hot/alcoholic tannic hard low fruit some pencilly/Fr.oaked flavor; long some hot/alcoholic dusty light pencilly/Fr.oaked tannic finish; needs 2-6 yrs; not a lot a fruit but seems rather closed; should develop OK.
   Turley Napa Valley Moore Earthquake Vineyard Zinfandel '94 (16.1%): Deep blackberry earthy closed raw meat/sausage dusty old vines nose; soft rich blackberry lush very ripe fruit slight alcoholic some pencilly oaked flavor; long tannic very ripe raspberry/blackberry slight alcoholic light pencilly finish; very big & ripe; needs 2-5 yrs.
   Turley Napa Valley Hayne Vineyard Zinfandel '94 (17.2%): Very intense blackberry/ boysenberry/black cherry cola slight pencilly oaked nose; dep very intense blackberry/boysenberry fruit light pencilly/oaked bit alcoholic flavor; very long very intense blackberry/boysenberry fruit some alcoholic/pencilly finish w/ some tannins; an incredible rich Zin very much like the David Bruce Late Harvest Dry Zins of the '70 & '71 vintage. $29
   
   And a few dessert wines:
   Bonny Doon Muscat Vin de Glaciere Calif Muscat '95 (12.0%; 19.3% r.s.): Intense grapey/Muscatty flowery bit subdued nose; very sweet Muscatty/ flowery pineapply/canned pineapply juice bit chalky flavor; med.long muscatty/pineapply finish; a weaker effort than previous ones.
   Bonny Doon Framboise Raspberry Wine with Grape Neutral Spirits NV (17.0%): Beautiful intense blackberry bit earthy nose; sweet rather hot/alcoholic intense framboise flavor; very long intense framboise/blackberry very alcoholic finish; a great intense framboise dessert.
   Ratafia New Mexico Wine NV (13%): Med.gold color; light slight floral/grapey rather alcoholic nose; sweet alcoholic brandy Kansas feed store medicinal chalky herbal flavor; short alcoholic coarse hot Kansas feed store chalky finish; pretty strange stuff even for NM.
   Musings.
   The Turleys...........ahhh yes the Turleys. Because of all the pre-release hype and the absolutely frenzied marketplace for these wine, I was fully prepared to not like them. Couldn't do it..... they ARE good. They are a much different style than most other Calif Zins; much harder & tannic than most of them. They are not the most attractive Zins of the '94 vintage I've had, but, with some age, I'm fairly confident they will be better than most. What's most remarkable about these Zins is their high alcohol levels; yet they don't have that pruney/raisened/overripe character that most at this level would show. Just incredible well-made & balanced wines. What's interesting to me is all, I mean all, the wine writers 20 yrs ago would be dumping all over these wine for their alcohol levels... labeling them as "monster" Zins. Wonder if the winemaking has improved that much in 20 yrs, are we got a better, more perceptice quality of wine writers these days?? My strong preference was for the Black-Sears Vnyd one. Wouldnya know.... that's the one that's the scarcest. And the Hayne is pretty incredible stuff, much like the '70-'71 David Bruces that aged quite well (but are now pretty dead).
   The two Joseph Swan Zins were quite good; demonstrating the continual improvements Rod Bergland has been showing with his wines. The Zeigler & Stellwagens have been rather underexciting in the past; tending to be pretty overripe/raisened/pruney. These two are the really first great efforts he's shown with these two vnyds. Hope I can the Frati Vnyd one; that's always his best by far.
   This is the first new Zin tasting I've had that I didn't feel a bit let down by the '94 vintage. The Swans, the Murphey-Goode, the Wellington, and the Turleys I guess; all seemed much stronger efforts than their previous vintage or two.
   
   
   
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