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.

 

Zinfandel
Tasted some new Zins this week:
Hidden Cellars Mendocino Heritage Sorcery Mendocino RW (75% Zin, 10% Syrah, 10% PS, 5% Carignane; Alc:15.0%) '95: Dusty tomatoey earthy meaty black- berry classic Mendocino Zin nose; soft lots of Am.oak dusty/meaty/ tomatoey buttery oaked flavor; med.long spicy complex dusty/tomatoey some blackberry Mendocino Zin finish w/ light tannins; a very nicely done interesting classic Mendocino Zin but a bit on light side; best Hidden Cllrs wine I've ever had.
La Crema Sonoma Coast Zinfandel (Reserve; 14.2%) '95: Attractive raspberry dusty bit pencilly oaked nose; soft lush raspberry spicy bit dusty/pencilly oaked flavor; long lingering buttery oaked spicy raspberry light dusty finish w/ light tannins; a well-made interesting medium weight Zin. Pricey at $16.00.
Richardson Sonoma Valley Zinfandel (13%) '95: Dusty rather unclean bretty Italian bit tired/aged light blackberry nose; sour rather unclean/bretty some pickle juice/dill slight oxidized some blackberry/earthy flavor; med.long bretty bit oxidized pickle juice/dill finish. Woof! Rather ineptly made Zin from a usually reliable producer. Overpriced at $12.00.
Villa Mt.Eden Sonoma Valley Zinfandel Grand Reserve MonteRosso Vineyard (15.6%) '95: Very strong fragrant cranberry/raspberry dusty light oaked nose; smooth ripe lush Am.oaked very spicy bright vibrant raspberry/cranberry lush textured flavor; long buttery/Am.oaked very spicy bright raspberry/Zinberry lush vibrant finish w/ light tannins; carries the alcohol well; a really lovely bright Zin in the Nalle style. Good value at $15.00.
Gallo Sonoma Dry CreekValley Zinfandel Chiotti Vineyard (14.4%) '95: Slight funky lush blackberry dusty smokey/pungent nose; soft pungent bit funky blackberry/ earthy slight horsecollar flavor; med.long pungent slight horsecollar/funky some dusty/blackberry finish w/ light tannins; surprisingly unclean for a Gallo but interesting character. Good value at $12.00.
Gary Farell Sonoma County Russian River Valley Zinfandel (TW) '95: Beautiful lush blackberry/ raspberry aromatic pencilly Fr.oaked nose; tart bright vibrant very spicy raspberry/cranberry pencilly oaked deep lush dusty flavor; very long lush very spicy bright raspberry/cranberry some dusty/old vines finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; best Farell Zin yet; made more like a Zin than Pinot like he's done in the past. Good value at $17.00.
August Briggs Napa Valley Zinfandel (13.5%) '95: Attractive peppery very spicy smokey oaked fragrant raspberry nose; light bit lean hot spicy raspberry bright flavor; long lean bright raspberry fragrant some buttery oaked finish w/ light tannins; a really lovely nose but not a lot of punch on the palate; a pleasant Zin but just that.
Howell Mountain Vineyards Howell Mountain Napa Valley Zinfandel Black-Sears Vineyard (15.5%) '95: Rather stinky pungent cracked black pepper dusty slight H2S/fecal nose; soft very black pepper dusty HM/earthy some blackberry flavor; very long hard licorice cracked black pepper dusty/HM/earthy light blackberry finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; lots of that rustic HM character & actually a rather interesting Zin.
Fife Mendocino Redwood Valley Zinfandel Red Head Vineyard (14.6%) '95: Dusty blackberry/ tomatoey Mendocino Zin some spicy/oaked nose; tart clean spicy bit lean simple raspberry dusty flavor; med.long lean dusty simple raspberry dusty finish w/ light tannins; bit simple & lean but nice Zin.
Wellington Vineyards Sonoma Valley Casa Santinamaria Vineyard Zinfandel (13.0%) '95: Deep dusty smokey funky complex dark blackberry/plummy nose; soft pungent smokey dusty blackberry/plummy complex pencilly/oaked flavor; soft lush ripe complex dusty blackberry/plummy peppery some toasty oaked finish w/ light tannins; this vnyd supposedly has lots of weird stuff (varieties) in it and the complexity/deep character much like Geyserville shows it; very interesting Zin at a great price.
Renwood Zinfandel Old Vine Amador County (14.7%) '95: Attractive herbal Amador blackberry some pencilly oaked slight wet-dog-fur nose; soft bit herbal dusty/Amador blackberry slight bretty/funky flavor; med.short soft light blackberry some herbal funky dusty finish w/ little tannins; a pleasant simple slightly strange Amador Zin. Too expensive at $17.00.
Renwood Jack Rabbit Flat Zinfandel Amador County Fox Creek Vineyard (15.8%) '95: Deep ripe blackberry Amador briary dusty bit subdued nose; tarter attractive ripe raspberry/blackberry clean spicy bit dusty Amador/briary flavor; long spicy blackberry/raspberry clean very spicy bright finish w/ light tannins; needs yr or two; a bright spicy Zin w/ only light Amador character; much like the early Montevinas Cary Gott made from these grapes.
Renwood Grand Mere Zinfandel Amador County (15.5%) '95: Slight volatile some wet dog furbit oxidized ripe blackberry Amador/Zin briary dusty nose; soft bit oxidized old style Amador Zin funky some blackberry flavor; med.long bit oxidized/tired/wet dog fur light blackberry finish w/ light tannins; a rather funky/old style Amador Zin that goes clunk.
Renwood Grand Pere Zinfandel Amador County (15.7%) '95: Very dark color; intense classic Amador blackberry briary dusty old vines cassis licorice very ripe nose; rich intense blackberry briary Amador dusty old vines lush very spicy flavor; very long lush very spicy dusty old vines briary Amador Zin complex finish w/ fair tannins; needs 2-6 yrs; a terrific GrandPere w/ more structure than previous ones.
St. Francis Sonoma County Zinfandel Old Vines (14.2%) '95: Black color; very intense dill/Am.oaked/milky lush blackberry fruit nose; soft very intense dill/milky/ Am.oaked ripe blackberry simple flavor; long intense milky/Am.oaked/dill rather blackberry finish w/ light tannins; this (and the Gundlach-Bundschu) that is loaded w/ Am.oak so that it has a spoiled milk character is not a style I like, but it does have its fans.
Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel '90: Rather funky/wet dog fur charred/aged low fruit nose; soft aged port-like bit oxidized/aged Zin/wet dog fur mushroomy complex flavor; med.long funky/dried out bit oxidized mushroomy complex finish w/ little tannins; a lot of old port character; seems much more aged and lacking fruit than I would have expected. Try again.

And from the bloody pulpit:
Two Mendocino Zins that, at last, showed lots of Mendocino character; a kind of dusty/spicy/earthy/tomatoey/tomatoe sauce character that I like. Lots of good vnyds up there but no really GREAT Zins from them since Jed Steele made some in the late '70's.
The Renwood Zins: The first Renwood wines really from Gordon Binz. And they're sort of a mixed bag. The Amador OldVines was pretty ordinary, not up to the '94; the GrandMere was a real clunker w/ lots of the Amateur Cnty character; the JackRabbit Flat was a very nicely done Zin. And the GrandPere was a killer, better than Scott Harvey's last two in that they had some structure to them. Gordon is a very competent winemaker so I expect to continue to see good wines from Renwood, perhaps not as big & ripe as Scott used to do.