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 this week some new (mostly) Zins (mostly):
Ridge California Carignan OatValleyVineyard (12.9%) '95: Med.dark color; dusty tomatoey some cherry/fragrant oaked/dusty nose; bit sour dusty/earthy light cherry/ fruity bit metallic/clunky flavor; med. some cherry/fragrant light earthy finish w/ light tannins.
Ridge California Carignan OatValleyVineyard (13.3%) '94: Med.color; deeper dusty perfumed talc slight cherry/fragrant oaked nose; soft spicy cherry some dusty/earthy oaked flavor; med. fragrant cherry/dusty finish w/ light tannin.
Ridge California Carignan Whitten Ranch/Geyserville (14.4%) '94: Med.dark color; attractive fragrant cherry/spicy bit earthy nose; tart lean bit astringent some earthy/cherry spicy metallic oaked flavor; med. tart lean light cherry spicy astringent finish; very nice nose but not as good on thg palate.
Ridge California Carignan Whitten Ranch (14.1%) '92: Dark color; lovely pungent/ smokey slight H2S/stinky some fragrant cherry nose; soft black cherry/pungent smokey bit sour licorice/cherry flavor; med.long astringent smokey pungent spicy oaked light cherry finish, needs 2-6 yrs age yet; pretty interesting.
Ridge California Carignan Sommer Ranch/AlexanderValley (13.8%) '93: Med.dark color; fragrant black cherry dusty spicy oaked nose; tart smokey oaked black cherry/ dusty sour flavor; med.long sour lean some cherry/black cherry spicy oaked finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs yet. $16.00
Rabbit Ridge Sonoma County Zinfandel (13.8%) '96: Med.dark color; pleasant raspberry spicy light oaked nose; tart light lively spicy raspberry some oaked flavor; med.short buttery raspberry/spicy finish w/ little tannins; a bit light & thin but a pleasant clean/raspberry Zin.
Franus Contra Costa PlanchonVineyard Zinfandel (13.8%) '95: Med.dark color; fragrant plummy/cherry/raspberry bit dusty/earthy light oaked nose; spicy bit sour dusty/plummy some raspberry/fragrant flavor; long plummy bit sour some bright raspberry/cherry spicy oaked finish w/ light tannins; a rather fragrant bright well-made CC Zin.
Edmunds St.John Amador County Zinfandel (13.3%) '95: Med. bit murky color; some toasty tobaccoy oaked light ripe blackberry nose; soft light simple raspberry/dusty light tobaccoy/smokey flavor; med.short light bit sour light raspberry/ tobaccoy/toasty finish w/ light tannins; neither much Amador character nor Steve Edmunds character; tastes like StoryVnyd grapes; unthrilling.
Sierra Vista El Dorado Zinfandel *Reserve (13.5%) '95: Very dark color; beautiful toasty/pencilly Fr.oaked ripe blackberry/dusty/truffly/mushroomy very spicy nose; big rich tannic tart blackberry dusty very pencilly/toasty oaked pungent mushroomy flavor; very long pungent toasty/pencilly Fr.oaked deep blackberry finish w/ fair tannins; a big rich rather oaked pungent Zin w/ lots of ElDorado character.
Marietta Alexander Valley Angeli Cuvee (Zin, PS, Carignane; 14.5%) '94: Very dark color; light blackberry/dusty bit volatile/fumey light oaked nose; tart spicy fruit light raspberry light oaked bit simple flavor; med. spicy low key raspberry/blackberry bit hot/volatile finish w/ light tannins; a bit on the light side for Marietta Angelo; a nice wine but just that & overpriced at $23.00.
Rosenblum Napa Valley Reserve Hendry Vineyard Zinfandel (14.9%) '95: last of the Rosenblum '95's; Med.dark color; very fragrant spicy aromatic pencilly/Fr. oaked spicy bright raspberry/licorice/cherry nose; tart buttery very spicy bright raspberry pencilly/Fr.oaked licorice flavor; very long lingering buttery pencilly/Fr.oaked bright aromatic raspberry/licorice finish w/ some tannins; not a blockbuster or intense Zin but very beautiful balance & very well made in a Nalle/Coffaro style.
Gary Farrell Sonoma County Russian River Valley Zinfandel (TW) '95: Dark color; rather dusty/mush- roomy/RRV bit licorice smokey/oaked bright raspberry Zin nose; tart bit pungent/mushroomy earthy/licorice toasty/pencilly light raspberry smokey flavor; long pencilly/Fr.oaked mushroomy/dusty bit pungent/smokey light raspberry finish; a nicely done Zin w/ lots of that RRV character; not as big & oaked & intense as previous ones.
Rabbit Ridge Russian River Zinfandel Hedin Vineyard (13.8%) '96: Med.dark color; slight stinky very pencilly/toasty Fr,oaked spicy/raspberry bit volatile/aromatic nose; rather tart hot/burning/volatile pencilly/oaked some raspberry/Zin flavor; med.long bit oxidized/hot/volatile some raspberry/Zin rather pencilly/oaked finish w/ little tannins; a bit thin & lacking fruit and bit too hot/volatile not an inspiring effort from RabbitRidge.
Rabbit Ridge Russian River Valley Zinfandel Estate Reserve Rabbit Ridge Ranch (13.8%) '96: Very dark color; deep complex blackberry/toasty pencilly/Fr.oaked smokey nose; strong very toasty/pencilly Fr.oaked ripe blackberry/pungent smokey flavor; very long taosty/pencilly oaked soft lush blackberry/raspberry finish w/ some tannins; a very nicely made complex Zin.
Hanna Alexander Valley Zinfandel Reserve Pourroy Vineyard (13.5%) '96: Med.dark color; very strong raspberry/blackberry very jammy lots of spicy/milky Am.oak nose; rich bit herbal/vegetal rather blackberry milky Am.oaked jammy flavor; long very jammy overripe bit herbal rather blackberry milky oaked finish w/ light tannins; typical soft/fat/bit flabby AlexVlly Zin lacking in structure; way overpriced at $27.00.

= And (of course) pontificating from the bloody pulpit:
It was most interesting to taste all of these Ridge Carignans together. My impression of Carignan has always been that it produces a rather dull/clunky unexciting kind of wine. These were interesting but really didn't jazz me much. Perhaps even such a talented winemaker as Paul Draper can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear?? Yet I have had some Ridge Carignans from the '70's that aged into very interesting wines. Perhaps these will too, but I don't view it as a very good gamble.
Edmunds St.John....sigh.... I've never had an EdStJ Zin that I really (or even halfway) liked. Many have been on the overripe/raisened side. This one was.... just there, not much excitement at all. How can such a brilliant winemaker as Steve Edmunds, who makes some absolutely stunning Syrahs/Pinot Grigio/Rhone stuff stumble soooo badly w/ a veriety like Zin??? Probably I would blame it on not-the-best of grapes. But I sure do like his other wines.
The SierraVista 5* Reserve was probably the best ElDorado Zin I've yet found. Lots of toasty Fr.oak (too much for some) but lots of blackberries but still showing lots of that ElDorado dusty/earthy/mushroomy character. Every so often John MacCready will slug one over the fence, and this is definitely one of them.