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 a few new Calif Reds this week:
Kent Rasmussen Carneros Pinot Noir '93: Bright black cherry Pinot light smokey/earthy slicht minty nose; tarter leaner more bright cherry Pinot fruit light smokey oaked flavor; long bright minty/smokey ripe cherry finish w/ light tannins; very nicely done fragrant cherry Pinot; more Oregon than Charneros in character.
Kent Rasumssen Carneros Pinot Noir '94: Deeper black cherry fragrant smokey oaked toasty nose; soft rich lush spicy black cherry more smokey/toasty oaked flavor; long deep black cherry smokey/toasty finish w/ light tannins; bit more of the Carneros earthiness; very well-made wine.
Ernest & Julio Gallo Sonoma Dry CreekValley Zinfandel (Chiotti Vnyd; 14.4% alc) '95: Rich Zinberry/raspberry bit earthy/funky slight horsecollar/bretty fairly complex nose; tart bit horsecollar/bretty spicy/minty/earthy blackberry flavor; long blackberry/appley bit earthy/dusty slight earthy/bretty finish w/ light tannins; much better than the Frei Vnyd Zins; interesting wine at a fair price.
Hanna Winery Alexander Valley Zinfandel Pourroy Vineyard (13.5%) '95: Big ripe lush black- berry spicy boysenberry bit oaked nose; soft fat very lush ripe blackberry/ boysenberry very buttery/oaked flavor; long very lush blackberry/buttery oaked finish w/ light tannins; a very lush buttery Zin; delicious now but not the structure to age long.
Edmeades Mendocino Zinfandel Zeni Vineyard (14.1%) '94: Attractive spicy raspberry/ blackberry bit Mendocino earthy/dusty oaked nose; tart bit dusty/spicy black- berry fruity some minty oaked flavor; long dusty/old vines bit earthy deeper blackberry finish w/ light tannins; nicely made Zin but overpriced.
Edmeades Mendocino Zin Ciapusci Vineyard (14.4%) '94: Brighter more raspberry fruity bit dusty/oaked nose; tart spicy bit dusty brighter raspberry light oaked flavor; tart bright raspberry/appley light dusty/earthy finish w/ light tannins; bit simpler & more bright Zinberry fruit than Zeni. Again overpriced at $20.
Sobon Estate Shenandoah Valley Zinfandel Rocky Top (13.8%) '94: Deep dusty old vines some blackberry/ briary rather Am. oaked nose; rich dusty old vines briary blackberry very Am.oaked bit tight flavor; very long Am.oaked very peppery spicy dusty/old vines blackberry finish w/ some tannins; needs a yr or two; very spicy/peppery w/ lots of Am.oak; more like Lubenko than Cougar Hill. A steal at $11.60
Greenwood Ridge Sonoma County Scherrer Vineyard Zinfandel (14.5%) '95: Rich very lush blackberry some dusty/old vines very fragrant/aromatic nose; soft lush ripe blackberry/Zinberry buttery/oaked spicy flavor; long very lush blackberry/ Zinberry very buttery oaked finish w/ light tannins; rather Nalle-like in style; much like the Hanna but more rich & interesting.
Ramsay Napa Valley Zinfandel (Kent's cannonical 13%!!) '94: Strong oaked very spicy blackberry fragrant bit dusty/licorice nose; tart hard rich raspberry/black- berry very spicy rather taosty/oaked flavor; very long raspberry/blackberry very spicy dusty extracted some toasty/pencilly oaked finish w/ fair tannins; needs 2-5 yrs; a big ripe ageable oaked Napa very spicy Zin. Fairly priced at $15.
Coturri Sonoma Valley Zinfandel Chauvet Vineyard (14.5%) '95: Very ripe/plummy some late harvest/chocolaty smokey/charred Milk of Magnesia bit unclean nose; soft very ripe off-dry Milk of Magnesia smokey/charred oak intense blackberry/ boysenberry bit fecal/unclean flavor; very long overripe very smokey/charred almost Cote-Rotie intense blackberry finish w/ some tannins; pretty wierd stuff but I liked it a lot; rather off-scale. A steal @ $12.60
Kent Rasmussen Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon '93: Very dark color; intense pungent licorice chocolaty very ripe some oaked/blackcurranty nose; intense chocolaty/licorice oaked some very ripe/blackcurranty flavor; long intense licorice/chocolaty oaked blackcurranty extracted tannic finish; needs 5-15 yrs; a pretty big ripe extracted Cab; worth every bit of $22.50.
Rosenblum Cellars Holbrook Mitchell Trio RTW (58% CS; RTW) '94: Very dark color; lush fragrant classic Rosenblum blackcurranty pencilly Fr.oaked some minty/menthol Napa Cab nose; rich ripe lush blackcurranty Cab minty/menthol spicy oaked/perfumed talc milky oaked flavor; very long tannic ripe black- curranty minty/menthol oaked finish w/ fair tannins; needs 4-10 yrs; very well-made Napa Cab very much in the Rosenblum style.
Coturri Albarello Sonoma Valley RW (mixed old vines red; 14.5%) '95: Black color; very overripe late harvesty dusty old vines earthy/plummy very funky rather Languedoc-like nose; off-dry very overripe late harvesty pungent very smokey/charred oaked smokey hot dog Rhone-like flavor; very long very overripe pungent/smokey charred dusty old vines finish w/ some tannins; needs 3-6 yrs; more wierd bizarre stuff but very very interesting. A steal @ $11.60
Ramsay North Coast Alicante Bouschet '94: Black color; bit closed rather licorice/earthy/dusty pungent some oaked nose; hard tannic bit blackberry licorice pungent bitey tannic flavor; very long tannic blackberry toasty pungent smokey spicy finish w/ fair tannins; needs some age; pretty interesting rather heavy-weigt wine w/ lots of fruit for Alicante; far better than the Ridge & Topolous Alicantes.

Musings.

So... a bunch of Kent Rasmussen (Ramsay is his label for wines from purchased grapes ) wines. I have followed his wines from the very start & have always liked them a lot. His pride & joys are his Pinots & Chards. The Pinots have always been one of my favorites; more fragrant cherry fruit & less of the Carneros earthiness than many. The earlier ones seemed much more extracted and tannic; they seem to have become more balanced & Oregon in style. The early Pinots & Chards usually had the famed "Rasmussen stench"... but that stink used to drop out w/ age. The later ones like that stech... I miss it!! His other wines, made in small lots & at iregular intervals have always been very interesting. Some killer Zins & Petite Sirahs over the yrs. Not reviewed here are his really delicious Napa Vlly Sauvignon Blanc '95 ($14) and an absoluty lovely lush Late Hrvst Sauvignon Blanc '94 ($14/hlf), both very good values. And Kent himself...... Well, he wears these bib overalls, short, bushy beard... looks like a leprecaun. You can just picture him sitting under this little toadstool puffing away on this pipe w/ some of that "funny" tobacco in it!! And he now has a "real" winery over on the Silverado Trail that you can actually visit.
The Gallo Zin was unbeliveably unclean & bretty..... for a Gallo wine. The first Gallo I've had that didn't taste to manufactured or like Kendall- Jackson. But a very interesting Zin w/ some real flavor interest.
The two Edmeades Zins seem much improved over earlier versions. They even had some sediment in them, rare for a K-J wine!! Still not as rich & intense & extracted as when Jed Steele made some great Zins at Edmeades in the late '70's, but a step in the right direction. These (Zeni & Ciapusci) and DuPratt are GREAT vnyds; too bad they aren't making more dramatic wines such as they are capable of.
The Sobon Estate Rocky Top is another terrific Zin. Less blatant Amador in character than many; it continues Lee's trend for making some really superb Zins that he's been doing for the last 4-5 yrs. And reasonably priced.
TomHill (heretic drooling at the thought of ZAP in a few weeks!!)






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