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.

 

California Reds
Tasted last week a few New Calif Reds:

Steele Clear Lake Catfish Vineyard Zinfandel (13%) '95: Med.dark color; attractive rasp- berry some pencilly/oaked fragrant bit licorice nose; tart lean light licorice pencilly/oaked light raspberry/smokey flavor; light raspberry toasty/pencilly oaked bit chalky finish w/ light tannins; attractive fragrant nose but rather lean & narrow on the palate. Overpriced at $21.70
Beaulieu Vineyards Napa Valley Zinfandel (14.5%) '95: Med.color; deep rich raspberry/ blackberry ripe lush nose; soft very lush ripe blackberry/raspberry very spicy flavor; long bit pungent lush blackberry/raspberry rich ripe finish w/ light tannins; a soft ripe lush Zin for current drinking.
Kenwood Sonoma Valley Jack London Vineyard Zinfandel (TW) '95: Med.light color; strong Am.oaked pleasant raspberry slight dusty nose; tart lean bit thin/astringent light raspberry flavor; bit spritz thin lean Am.oaked light raspberry finish w/ some tannins; rather lean & mean Zin.
Fritz Winery Dry CreekValley Old Vine Zinfandel (14.2%) '95: Med.light color; dusty/ pungent light blackberry/oaked nose; soft rather dusty pungent smokey light raspberry bit astringent/tannic/lean flavor; med.long astringent/lean dusty some raspberry toasty/pungent oaked finish w/ hard tannins; not that much fruit & rather lean & hard on the palate. Overpriced at $19.00
Zebra Napa Valley Zinfandel (15%) '95: Dark color; strong Am.oaked some earthy/black- berry dusty nose; very sour/hurty pungent/blackberry licorice flavor; med. short very sour/hard lean slight blackberry finish w/ fair tannins; pleasant nose but a very hard sourness on the palate.
David Coffaro Dry CreekValley Carignane (14.6%;Unfined/Unfltrd) '96: Dark color; very fragrant pencilly oaked licorice very cherry/spicy/aromatic nose; very spicy/racey pencilly/oaked lush bit earthy aromatic/berry/cherry flavors; long lush very spicy/cherry/berry aromatic bit earthy/dusty finish w/ some tannins; one of the best Carignans I've ever had; lots of fruit & aromatics not often found in Carignane. 75% Carignane, 15% CS, 10% PS; a steal at the futures price of $10.00
David Coffaro Estate Cuvee Dry CreekValley RW (13.7%; U/U) '96: Med.dark color; very fragrant very spicy smokey pencilly/oaked some blackcurranty/Cab very aromatic nose; rich spicy bit blackcurranty complex pencilly/oaked bit pungent/licorice flavor; very long tart bit blackcurranty complex pencilly/ oaked very spicy/aromatic finish w/ lighht tannins; a very lovely very well- made wine w/ lots going on in it. 35% CS, 26% Zin, 26% Carignan, 13% PS.
David Coffaro Dry CreekValley Zinfandel (14.5%; U/U) '96: Med.dark color; strong raspberry/Zinberry/cherry pencilly/oaked some pungent/licorice very aromatic nose; tart rich very spicy raspberry/Zinberry very bright bit smokey/licorice pencilly/oaked complex flavor; very long bright raspberry/Zinberry very aromatic pencilly/oaked/cedary very spicy finish w/ light tannins; an absolutely beautiful example of DryCreek Zin; lovely lovely. 75% Zin, 10% CS; 9% PS, 6% Carignane.
David Coffaro Dry CreekValley Petite Sirah (13.8%; U/U) '96: Med.dark color; fragrant/spicy/aromatic pencilly/oaked bit perrery/PS bit blackberry nose; soft very spicy/aromatic berry/bit peppery/earthy perfumed flavor; long soft very aromatic some berry/peppery very spicy finish w/ light tannins; very atypical of the clunky/gorilla style of PS; lots of fruits & aromatics for PS; 75% PS, 15% Carignane, 8% CS, 2% Zin.
David Coffaro Dry CreekVlly CS (14.1%; U/U) '96: Very dark color; very strong aromatic spicy/blackcurranty Cab/ oaked lush DCV Cab/peppery nose; rich blackcurranty Cab dusty/toasty/oaked some tannic flavor; long rich ripe blackcurranty bit tart tannic very aromatic/pencilly oaked bit hot finish w/ fair tannins; needs several yrs; the biggest & most tannic of the Coffaros; 83% CS, 11% CabFranc, 6% Merlot.
Ridge Santa Cruz Moutains Cabernet (12.8%) '94: Very dark color; strong earthy/ SCM-dusty some herbal/Cab roasted/oaked nose; tart hard licorice pungent smokey SCM-dusty some charred/minty-menthol oaked fairly extracted flavor; long minty/menthol pungent/smokey/roasted dusty-SCM Cab finish w/ fair tannins; needs 4-8 yrs; lots of dusty SCM Cab character; lots of jr. Monte Bello character; very fair price for $22.00
Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet (12.7%) '95: Very dark color; strong pungent/ licorice smokey SCM-dusty bit herbal nose; softer more blackcurranty/fruity spicy oaked some dusty flavor; very long blackcurranty/licorice some buttery/ oaked dusty/pungent finish w/ light tannins; bit more forward & fruity & less SCM dusty & bit simpler & less MonteBello like than the '94.
Ravenswood Sonoma County CS (14.1%) '95: Very dark color; very fragrant/oaked slight blackcurranty/dusty rather simple nose; soft bit sour forward ripe blackcurranty oaked some spicy flavor; med.long spicy blackcurranty/oaked finish w/ some tannins; pleasant nice Cab but just that. $19.50
Joseph Swan RRV Zinfandel Frati Ranch (15.6%) '95: Black color; very intense blackberry/licorice/chocolaty pungent very ripe smokey very dusty/old vines complex nose; very intense blackberry/licorice/extracted dusty/old vines extracted very ripe complex flavor; very long extracted blackberry/cassis licorice pungent dusty/old vines very complex bit hot/alcoholic finish w/ ample tannins; a big ripe extracted old vine Zin pushed right up to the edge but not over; this is a classic old Swan style Zin right out of the early '70's; magnificant stuff.

And from the bloody pulpit:
The David Coffaros all had a very strong stylistic resemblance to each other. A bit of the Nalle style (to whom he sells Zin grapes) but a bit more richer and extracted, but certainly that same fragrant/aromatic component; almost the RedBurgs of Calif in style. Very beautiful very well-crafted wines. First tried his initial release ('93 vintage) at the insistence of Paul Root of Root&Eastwood, and fell in love with them. Though my group got some 9 cases worth, they were all kicking themselves for not buying more at that $10 price. Dave sells most of his wines thru his bit strange futures program of offering futures in the early spring afore the harvest, so it's a bit of a gamble. He'll be offering the '98 futures this coming March or April. With this vintage ('97), he'll be selling less grapes & making more wine himself, so in the future the availibility of his marvelous wines should not be so scarce.
The Swan Frati, as others have posted, was absolutely stunning; a huge ripe extracted Zin that carries its 15%+ alcohol very well. It is very much like some of the huge rich ripe Zins Joe himself made back in the early '70's. The last 3-4 yrs, Rod Bergland has really kicked up the quality of the wines he's been producing. His Pinots are equally wonderful, though not as big & extracted as his Zins. The Frati has always been my favorite of his Zins (Zeigler & Stellwagon being the other two). The Zeigler & the Stellwagon were often a bit on the overripe side, but the last two yrs they seemed to have been reigned in a bit on the alcohol and have been much more attractive (and available) wines. Definitely a winery I should be watching a bit more closely.
The Kenwood was a real disappointment. Their Jack London has always been my favorite. In the late '80's-early '90's this was such a nice rich lush blackberry Zin. As the Zin market heated up and they started making more single vnyd designate Zins, I've found their offerings much less attractive. The vnyd designate Zins all seem on the rather lean & hard & narrow part of the spectrum; don't show a whole lot of old-vine character; are are not sifficiently distinctive to justify separate vnyd designation. IMHO.
The Steele Zins.... continue to disappoint me. They are almost always very fragrant aromatic perfumed Zins w/ wonderful noses but just don't seem to deliver the goods on the palate. Up at Edmeades in the late '70's, Jed made some fabulous rich extracted Zins that easily went 10 yrs. I'd love to see him make some of that style of Zin again; he still has the vnyd sources (Pacini, DuPratt, Zeni vnyds). His wines are very nicely made aromatic Zins, but they speak a bit too much to me of French oak & not enough of their origins. IMHO
Tom Hill (preparing for killer Syrahs this week)