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 (Mostly Zinfandel)
We tasted this week (4/22/98) some new Calif Reds, mostly Zins:
Ridge Calif Carignan Oat Valley Cooley Family Ranch (12.9%) '95: Med.dark color; dusty earthy bit cherry/black cherry some oaked/fragrant nose; tart bit horsecollar/bretty rather dusty/mushroomy light cherry fruit some oaked flavor; med. tart light cherry/dusty/earthy bit funky/horsecollar finish w/ light tannins; a pleasant Ridge red.
Ridge Calif Carignan Oat Valley Vineyard Cooley Family Ranch (13.1%) '96: Med.dark color; lots of bretty/horsecollar slight burnt rubber rather deep black cherry mose; softer rather horsecollar/bretty dusty low fruit bit black cherry flavor; med.long some unclean/bretty/ horsecollar low fruit finish w/ some tannins; softer & bigger than the '95; needs several yrs of age.
La Spinetta Ca'di Pian Barbera d'Asti (12%) Giuseppe Rivetti '96: Dark color; fragrant spicy fruity Barbera/cherry bit dusty nose; tart bright/cherry/spicy lean fragrant aromatic bit spritz/sharp flavor; med.long very tart very spicy bright cherry/Barbera finish w/ light tannins; a fine bright spicy Barbera.
Matteo Correggia Barbera d'Alba (12.5%) '96: Very dark color; dusty pungent smokey bit oaked fragrant spicy/Barbera nose; tart hard pungent/dusty/earthy/smokey big Barbera flavor; long hard tannic dusty/earthy very spicy/Barbera finish; needs 2-5 yrs of age.
Seghesio Calif Barbera (13.6%) Noble Vines '96: Very dark color; rather bretty/ horsecollar some oaked dusty/spicy spicy-sausage/Barbera nose; tart ripe black cherry very spicy/Italian sausage/Barbera lush floral rich fruit flavor; long tart fairly rich lush very spicy/Italian sausage/Barbera dusty finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; blows away the LaFamiglia (Mondavi) Barbera; a fine example of what a good wine Calif Barbera can be. Great price @ $14.25
Seghesio Alexander Valley Sangiovese (13.7%) Nonno's Clones '96: Med.color; fragrant spicy cherry/Sangiovese light oaked bit pungent nose; tart lean spicy/cherry/Sangiovese bit Zinberry/raspberry very spicy light oaked flavor; long tart spicy/cherry/Sang lean bit astringent finish; a fairly bright spicy Sangiovese. Good price @ $14.25
Seghesio Sonoma County Zinfandel Old Vine (14.2%) '96: Dark color; deep rich blackberry/ dusty/old vines raspberry perfumy/aromatic pencilly/oaked nose; rich lush very spicy/blackberry/raspberry pencilly/oaked almost Syrah/gamey flavor; soft long lush blackverry/licorice very spicy rather pencilly/oaked perfumed talc very aromatic finish w/ some tannins; needs a yr or two; easily the best Seghesio wine I've ever tasted. Fairly priced at $20.00
Ch.Montelena The Montelena Estate Saint Vincent Napa Valley RW (Zin,Primitivo, Sangiovese; 14.1%) '95: Very dark color; deep dusty smokey Fr.oaked bit stemmy rather complex nose; hard tannic lean dusty smokey Fr.oaked low fruit very claret- like flavor; long hard tannic Fr.oaked toasty/smokey complex perfumed low fruit finish; needs 4-8 yrs of age; Zin not obvious in this wine; very much like the Montelena Cab in style.
Saucelito Canyon Arroyo Grande Valley Zinfandel (15.0%) '96: Med.dark color; slightly volatile very aromatic very ripe blackberry/jammy dusty/old vines alcoholic nose; bit bretty/horsecollar rather hot/alcoholic very ripe blackberry/jammy licorice lilacs dusty/old vines bit herbal/near vegetal very dusty some walnutty flavor; very long very ripe blackberry/jammy rather hot/alcoholicbit herbal/walnutty/dusty finish w/ light tannins; an interesting Zin but the alcohol really stands out & lots of overripe character; not the richness & extract & lushness of previous SaucCnyn Zins.
Scherrer Alexander Valley Zin Old & Mature Vines (14.5%; U&U) '96: Med.dark color; deep rich ripe blackberry complex smokey/pungent dusty/old vines some toasty/oak nose; soft rich ripe lush big blackberry/spicy/complex dusty/old vines pungent/ toasty/oak flavor; very long blackberry/very spicy/complex dusty/old vines lush mouthfilling finish w/ some tannins; needs yr or two; a killer Zin w/ lots of classic old vines character. Fairly priced at $23.00
Martinelli Russian River Valley JackAss Vineyard (15.8%) Zin '96: Med.dark color; very strong menthol/petrol Burgundian/oaked charred/toasty some blackberry/spicy very eccentric nose; tart hard astringent very charred/Burgundian/toasty/oaked/smokey espresso some blackberry/raspberry flavor; very long hard tannic loads of toasty/ charred/oak espresso smokey some blackberry finish; very weird/eccentric Zin w/ not much fruit; needs much age & may be a good one.
Wild Hog Vineyard Russian River Valley Occidental Vineyard (14.2%) Zin '96: Very dark color; very intense grapey/blackberry dusty/old vines complex rather roasted/Rhone/ espresso nose; soft bit off-dry very rich/grapey/intense blackberry/blueberry roasted/Rhone complex very dusty/old vines espresso finish; very long off-dry very intense blackberry/jammy/grapey/blueberry dusty complex roasted finish w/ fair tannins; needs some age but hope they sterile filtered this; very interesting complex Zin much like the Eric Ross or the (in)famous Sea Ridge. Great price $18.00
Hanna Alexander Valley Reserve Zin Pourroy Vineyard (13.5%) '96: Dark color; very intense blackberry/blueberry loads of fruit dusty/old vines bit gamey/Syrah nose; soft fat loads of fruit blackberry/licorice very ripe mouthfilling dusty/old vines flavor; very long very lush very ripe intense blackberry/blueberry dusty licorice bit milk of magnesia finish; loads & loads of blackberry fruit but typical AlexValley soft/fat structure. Stupid price of $35.00
Sierra Vista El Dorado Cabernet Sauvignon 5* Reserve (12.9%) '94: Black color; intense Fr.oaked pungent dusty smokey/charred mushroomy/herbal/Cabernet complex aromatic slight volatile nose; big rich mouthfilling dusty/mushroomy tannic charred/pungent/pencilly/oaked herbal/Cab rather Bordeaux/Wash flavor; very long tannic dusty/mushroomy pencilly/smokey/Fr.oaked some herbal/Cab intense finish; needs 4-10 yrs; very Bordeaux/WashState like; killer Cab; great price @ $22.00
Matanzas Creek Sonoma Valley (13%) Merlot '92: Black color; intense charred/pungent smokey oaked dusty rather gamey/Syrah nose; loads of vanilla/Fr.oaked charred/ smokey dusty complex toasty/pungent flavor; very long charred/toasty/pungent/oaked dusty finish w/ ample tannins; needs more age. Not like Merlot at all.
Tobin James James Gang Reserve Paso Robles Dessert Zin (16.1%) '96: Black color; intense blackberry/jammy essence-like bit herbal/vegetal/Kansas feed store bit alcoholic nose; sweet blackberry/jammy bit herbal/Kansas feed store lush bit hot flavor; long hot/alcoholic intense blackberry/jammy Kansas feed store/herbal finish w/ light tannins; interesting & a bit strange.

Pretty frazzled today so not much from the bloody pulpit:
The Seghesios...... a long old-time Sonoma winemaking family. I used to really dislike their wines.... old-Calif style of winemaking a la Foppiano/Martini/ Pedroncelli.... rather unclean/bretty... not much richness or extract... but they always were cheap!! I kept reading about how Seghesio Wnry was on a comeback trail and improving quality of their wines. Over the last 2-3 yrs, I've seen a rather slow but steady improvement, but their Zins (any of them) still did not inspire me to buy any. This new release of wines ARE a dramatic step up in quality; the OV Zin I will buy when it comes to NM. They have some great old vnyds up there.. it's going to be exciting to follow their continued improvements, especially w/ the Italian varietals.
The Sierra Vistas..... they last few yrs, John & Barbera MacCready have been quietly ratcheting up the quality of their wines. Their '95 5* Reserve Zin was (is) terrific. But this 5* Reserve Cab was a dynomite wine (and I don't much care for Cabs)... their best wine I can recall and,therefore, the best ElDorado wine I've ever had. A bit like SantaCruzMtn Cab, a bit like WashState Cab, a lot like Bordeaux Cab. NOT like Napa Cab!!
The Martinelli JackAss Vineyard Zin..... this was poured at ZAP in January & a lot of people did NOT like this wine at all. I liked it at ZAP and liked it even more here. But it is a very different/weird/eccentric Zin and has to be approached with an open mind. I think it's going to be quite a good wine down the road with some age.
WildHog Vineyard.... I've only had a few of their wines, but have been mightly impressed with the, Need to find out more about them.
In response to a recent newspaper article quoting me as glibly dismissing Merlot as "simple, fruity, and one-dimensional"; Howard Sherry brought the Matanzas Creek Merlot in a blatent attempt to humiliate & disgrace me afore my group as a mystery wine. Unfortunately, it's been done too many times before. I was totally clueless on this wine, convinced it was some sort of Syrah, probably French. Terrific Merlot, so Howard wins this round!!