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. New California Reds
   Tasted a few new Calif Reds last night:
   Sierra Vista El Dorado Syrah '94: Light fragrant cherry/Syrah earthy/mush- roomy nose; tart bit thin metallic some dusty/earthy/mushroomy light cherry Syrah light oaked flavor; med.short tight lean hard bit metallic low fruit finish; a rather lean hard edgy wine.
   Sierra Vista El dorado Syrah Red Rock Vineyard '94: Dark color; deep dusty earthy Rhone-like smokey raw meat blackberry Syrah nose; tart rich deep dusty/ earthy smokey Syrah/blueberry flavor; long rich dusty/earthy mushroomy blueberry/Syrah light oaked fairly tannic finish, needs 3-6 yrs; will be a good one.
   Alban Vineyards Edna Valley Alban Estate Syrah/Reva (13% alc) '94: Dark color; big dusty/earthy/smoked blackberry Syrah very Rhone-like nose; very dusty/earthy smokey pungent some oaked slight bretty some blackberry Syrah flavor; very long tart hard tannic dusty/earthy some roasted blackberry/Syrah finish; needs 4-10 yrs; very very Rhone-like, Cornas comes to mind.
   Philip Staley Allegre Russian River Valley Rhone Style Grenache (13.9%) '94: Light color; fragrant Grenache/strawberry very spicy nose; light spicy very berry/ strawberry/Grenache tart flavor; med. very spicy strawberry/Grenache finish; lighter style but what a delightful Beaujolais-style wine.
   Yalumba Barossa Bush Vine Grenache (13.0%) '94: Deep smokey dusty rather blackberry/oaked nose; soft spicy lush dusty some strawberry/Grenache bit blackberry flavor; med.long soft lush deep blackberry/strawberry/Grenache dusty some oaked finish; needs yr or two; most people disliked this wine but I thought it a big interesting Rhone-like wine; a serious Grenache.
   Alban Vineyards Edna Valley Alban Estate Vineyard Grenache (13.0%) '93: Med.color; strong cinammon/spicy/cloves/oaked deep berry nose; hard lean cinammon/spicy rather oaked light strawberry flavor; very spicy lean/tart/hard cinammon& cloves spicy tannic finish; a big hard lean serious Grenache; most people did not like this but I thought it a big serious Grenache w/ potential; rather pricey @ $26.00
   Alban Vineyards Edna Valley Alban Estate Vineyard Grenache (13.0%) '94: Dark color; deep aromatic very spicy smokey blackberry lush fruit bit less oaked nose; big rich spicy strawberry/ blackberry/Grenache cinammon some oaked flavor; very long lush blackberry/strawberry very spicy/ cinammon/oaked finish; needs 3-6 yrs; a more typical Calif Syrah than his Reva Syrah above; again a lot of people didn't like this wine; pricey at $28.00.
   Edizione Pennino Napa Valley Zinfandel (14%) '94: Med.dark color; spicy raspberry some minty/menthol/oaked slight volatile/aromatic nose; tart pleasant spicy raspberry light menthol/oaked flavor; med. long spicy/raspberry/Zinberry light menthol/oaked finish w/ light tannins; a pleasant enough light/rasp- berry Zin but disappointing for VinoPennino & overpriced @ $20.00.
   Ravenswood Beaterra Vineyard Sonoma County Zinfandel (14.8%) '94: Dark color; deep dusty/ old vines woodsy/mushroomy some blackberry Zin light oaked nose; soft fairly light (for Ravenswood) very spicy/dusty old vines blackberry oaked flavor; long dusty old vines soft spicy/blackberry finish w/ modest tannins; a fairly big dusty/old vines Zin a bit like the WoodRd/Belloni but a bit more drinkable & immediate; could use a yr or two; obscenely priced @ $30.50..
   De Loach Sonoma County Russian River Valley Estate Zinfandel (16.0%) '95: Dark color; deep pungent licorice/blackberry dusty/old vines bit metallic/oaked nose; soft rich pungent licorice blackberry dusty chocolaty oaked flavor; very long deep lush rich blackberry pungent dusty old vines oaked finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; probably the best DeLoach "regular" Zin ever made & just as good as the single-vnyd ones; great price @ $13.50.
   De Loach Russian River Valley Barbieri Ranch (15.0%) Zin '95: Dark color; bit more dusty/old vines more spicy bit tighter/leaner less lush than #10.the least of the single vnyd Zins.
   De Loach Russian River Valley Gambogi Ranch (15.0%) Zin '95: Very dark color; deep intense lush ripe blackberry Zin dusty/old vines very spicy bit late harvesty nose; tart very blackberry intense spicy cinammon&cloves very dusty/old vines ripe flavor; very long intense blackberry/boysenberry dusty/old vines oaked finish w/ fair tannins; needs 2-4 yrs; a killer Zin.
   De Loach Russian River Valley Saitone Ranch (16.5%) Zin '95: Much like the Barbieri w/ a that somewhat tighter/leaner component but much bigger & richer than the Barbieri; will be a killer w/ a few yrs age.
   De Loach Russian River Valley Papera Ranch (16.5%) Zin '95: Very dark color; intense pungent blackberry/boysenberry/smokey dusty/old vines oaked nose; tart big rich mouthfilling dusty/old vines blackberry/boysenberry oaked flavor; very long slightly overripe big blackberry/boysenberry finish w/ fair tannins; needs 3-6 yrs; this seemed the best of the single-vnyd Zins, w Gambogi close behind.
   De Loach Russian River Valley OFS (16.5%) Zin '95: Black color; very intense blackberry/ boysenberry dusty old vines clomplex rather oaked nose; huge mouthfilling blackberry/boysenberry dusty old vines flavor; very long huge ripe lush dusty/old vines blackberry/boysenberry some tannic finish; incredible stuff; a bit more oaked than the single vnyds.
   
   The DeLoach Zins...... wow!! Truly Out-f-standing Zins. Ol' Cecil has a history of muffing it on the odd yrs; '89 (but excusable, rainy yr), '91, '93 were all on the rather light & lean side. But not this time!! These are all absolutely killer Zins. The "regular" Zin is probably the best "regular" Zin Cecil has made, and I've followed them all from the very start in the '70's. What's really amazing about these wines is they all have fairly high alcohol levels.... but they don't taste overripe/raiseny/pruney at all and they are all dry (as best I can tell). Just incredible extracted but very balanced Zins. It will be interesting to see if they turn overripe & alcoholic as the age. The prices seem reasonable for their quality; especially the Papera which was mispriced by the distributor. These all are even better than his '94's; those Zins had a rather hard/acid/tart streak to them, which means they will be good agers. These '95's were a bit softer & lusher, but still had more acid than most Zins of that quality.
   The Alban wines: John Alban is really making superb Rhone wines, to my judgement. His early wines were on the hard & tannic & mean side, with a bit too much oak, but very interesting & showing lots of potential. His more recent ones have shown much more skillful winemaking & understanding of the grapes, plus greater maturity in the vnyds. The Reva/Syrah '94 is his best yet; but quite atypical of Calif Syrah in that it doesn't have that lush blackberry character. In fact, this is the most Rhone-like wine I've EVER had from Calif; not that smokey/roasted character of Northern Rhone/Cote- Rotie but more earthy/dusty Southern Rhone, much like great Cornas or Gigondas. Most of my people did not like the Grenaches, but I thought them to be the best Grenaches yet made in the USofA; big serious Rhone-like wines; not yet Ch. Rayas, but in the right direction. Most Calif Grenache tend to be softer, lighter, much more frivolous style of wines. Craig Williams at Joseph Phelps also has a '95 Grenache in barrel (probably all will go into LeMistral & Pastiche) that's pretty amazing. I've had some old WashState Grenache made by David Lake @ Columbia that was awfully good. Grenache is another variety that will someday make great wine in Calif.
   The Sierra Vistas: Again, John MacReady continues to make better & better Syrahs. The RedRockRidge is one of his best yet. That earthy/dusty/mushroomy quality that ElDorado reds tend to have makes for quite Rhone-like wines. Steve Edmunds of Edmunds St.John is another believer in ElDorado fruit.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
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