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.

 

A Few New Zinfandels
Tasted a few new Zins last night:
Eric Ross Sonoma County Zinfandel (13.3% alc) '94: Rather hot/volatile/fumey some blackberry nose; very sour/earthy/dusty/fumey/dishwater rather hot/ volatile flavor; med.long acidic/sour dusty/earthy finish w/ some tannins; fairly intense Zin but too volatile & green & sour.
Ridge California Zinfandel Sonoma Station (14.4%) '95: Attractive raspberry spicy some oaked/peppery nose; soft supple spicy/peppery raspberry bit dusty light oak flavor; med. spicy/raspberry oaked peppery finish w/ light tannins; a nicely done good drinking interesting Zin; too pricey at $ $16.50.
Ridge California Lytton Springs (14.3%) '95: Aromatic bit fumey/spicy/peppery fragrant raspberry light oaked nose; light spicy/raspberry/bit dusty/ light oaked/complex flavor; med.long spicy/raspberry licorice/peppery oaked finish w/ light tannins; a very nice balanced attractive drinkable Zin; too pricey at $23.
Ridge California Zinfandel Paso Robles Dusi Ranch (14.7%) '95: Strong blackberry jammy Paso Zin slight milky/oaked very ripe nose; soft ripe blackberry/ jammy light oaked/spicy flavor; med.long ripe jammy/blackberry bit dusty finish w/ light tannins; lots of ripe Paso.jammy character. Too pricey at $20.50.
Edizione Pennino Napa Valley Zinfandel (14%) '94: Interesting dusty/spicy/ light raspberry some pencily/oaked nose; tart/tight spicy/raspberry some menthol/oaked flavor; med.long spicy/raspberry fairly menthol/oaked bit lean/hard finish; a rather tight & closed Zin that seems to be improving.
Fife Napa Valley Old Vines Zinfandel (TW) '95: Attractive very lush bright raspberry light toasty/smokey oaked nose; soft quite spicy lush raspberry smooth pencily Fr.oaked flavor; med.long smooth lush bright spicy raspberry pencilly/oaked finish w/ light tannins; a soft smooth supple lush Zin. Good price @ $13.00.
Biale Sonoma Valley Monte Rosso Vineyard Zinfandel (15.0%, 250cs) '95: Strong spicy/ raspberry bright fragrant oaked bit fumey/alcoholic nose; tart hard rich raspberry/dusty some buttery/oaked flavor; med.long some tannic/hard bright raspberry light Fr.oaked/buttery finish; needs several yrs; the biggest & hardest & simplest of the Biales w/ lots of ripe raspberry fruit; too pricey @ $26.
Biale Napa Valley Two Vineyards (Aldo & Old Crane Ranch) Zinfandel (14.6%, 750 cs): Deeper more dusty/old vines more ripe/jammy/raspberry/strawberry nose; soft very ripe/jammy/ raspberry/strawberry very spicy some dusty flavor; long very ripe jammy/strawberry/raspberry pencilly/oaked finish w/ light tannins; very nice very ripe interesting Zin; too pricey @ $26.
Biale Napa Valley Old Crane Ranch Zinfandel (14.2%, 750 cs) '95: Attractive raspberry/spicy light toasty/oaked nose; soft lush fat very buttery raspberry spicy flavor; med.long soft lush buttery/oaked lush raspberry finish w/ light tannins; lots of lush raspberry fruit w/ slight dusty/ old vines character; too pricey @ $26.
Biale Napa Valley Falleri Vineyard Zinfandel (16.2%, 50 cs) '95: Rather dusty/old vines raw meat very ripe/jammy/raspberry very spicy/oaked nose; very dusty/old vines lush jammy/blackberry/raspberry pencilly/oaked flavor; very long very spicy/raspberry/blackberry/jammy dusty/old vines pencilly/ oaked finish w/ some tannins; most interesting & intense of the Biales; needs a yr or two. Too pricey @ $28.
Grgich Hills Sonoma County Zinfandel (13.7%) '94: Strong pungent/toasty/oaked smokey/coffee some blackberry/dusty nose; soft ripe bit tannic pungent/ coffee/oaked/toasty some blackberry flavor; long toasty/pungent/coffee blackberry some tannic finish; at last a wine w/ some structure to it; needs several yrs; too pricey @ $22.50.
Limmerick Lane Russian River Valley Sonoma County Collins Vineyard Zinfandel (14.2%) '95: At last.... a man's Zin!! Deep rich very lush licorice/blackberry/ boysenberry/black cherry cough syrup dusty nose; soft rich lush boysenberry/ blackberry dusty/old vines ripe flavor; very long big ripe intense boysenberry/blackberry black cherry cxough syrup finish w/ some tan tannins; needs several yrs; a big ripe lush blackberry Zin.
Biale Napa Valley Late Picked Zinfandel (17.5%, 350 cs) '95: Intense very y late hrvsty blackberry/fruity bit stemmy/Kansas feed store nose; sweeet very intense blackberry/raspberry jammy late hrvsty jammy bit raisened flavor; med. long ripe jammy raspberry bit hot/alcoholic late hrvsty finish w/ light tannins; pretty ripe but good late hrvst Zin. too pricey @ $32.
Kunde Robusta Dry Late Harvest Zinfandel (16.1%) '95: strong jammy/blackberry very ripe some dusty bit fumey nose; soft bit hot very ripe dusty/ blackberry lush flavor; med.short dusty off-dry bit harsh jammy/ blackberry finish w/ some tannins; a bit unbalanced & hot & harsh.
J. Fritz Dry Creek Valley Late Harvest Zinfandel (16%) '95: Strong raspberry/ fruity simple grapey nose; sweet very raspberry/fruity simple flavor; long spicy raspberry/juicy/fruity finish w/ light tannins; bit on the light & simple side. Too pricey @ $15/hlf.
Renwood Amador Ice Amador County Zinfandel ("From the Vine to the Freezer") (8.2%, 252 cs) '94: Salmon/rust brown color; bit volatile very fragrant aromatic very grapey more Riesling-like very perfumey/complex nose; very sweet very grapey lush spicy very fruity tart complex flavor; very long very sweet cranberry/grapey/fruity finish; no Zin character at all; very intense complex wine more like a German Riesling than anything. Fairly priced at $19/hlf.

Musings.

The Ridges seemed to be a real watershed in style from the previous few yrs. They seemed much lighter & less extracted & I was prepared not to like them when I saw the colors. But the are very tasty, very balanced, very well-made Zins. But more in a Nalle style than the Ridge style of yore. Despite their lack of extract & tannins, the side bar notes by Paul Draper predicts a much longer life for these wines than I would have given them. And he's usually pretty right on those estimates I've found.
The Biales are awfully nicely made Zins; not quite as extracted as I would like & not very long lived; but good drinking. And too pricey for what they are.
And..... och... the prices on these wines. Some real sticker shock on these '95 Zins. Which is why I'm buying more Syrah these days.
TomHill (pining for the days of Ridge Geyserville at $4.99)