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.

 

Mostly Coffaro And Jaffurs
Tasted last night (mostly) the new David Coffaro and Jaffurs releases:
Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Viognier (13.9%) '97: Med.gold color; lovely fragrant pear/Viognier spicy slight minerally/stoney nose; rich lush spicy/pear/Viognier bit lean/tart slight stoney/minerally light oaked flavor; med.long tart rich pear/Viognier/spicy light minerally finish; a lovely fragrant Calif Viognier w/ nice minerally character & much more structure than most; lots of richness and texture but a nice underlying acidity; very much not in the DollyParton style; very well made.
Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Roussanne Stolpman Vnyd (13.7%) '97: Med.gold color; fragrant lush grapey/Roussanne rather Tokay/PG some smokey/pungent slightly reduced/H2S nose; rich lush grapey/floral/Roussanne bit meaty/pungent/smokey/ stoney slight metallic flavor; med.long pungent/smokey rich floral/grapey/ Roussanne finish; very interesting smokey/pungent character much like Alsace Tokay/PinotGris.
Coffaro Dry Creek Valley Zin (75% Zin, 11% Carignane, 8% PS, 6% CS; 875 cs; 14.9%) '97: Med.dark color; bright lovely raspberry/Zinberry/lush very spicy light pencilly/Fr.oak nose; tart bright raspberry/Zinberry/very spicy light licorice pungent light pencilly/Fr.oak flavor; med.long tart bright/Zinberry/raspberry dusty/pungent/licorice pencilly/Fr.oak finish w/ light tannins; a very lovely- drinking bright classic DryCreek Zin.
Coffaro Dry Creek Valley Red Wine Estate Cuvee (34% CS, 31% Zin, 24% Carignane, 11% PS; 705 cs; 14.3%) '97: Med.dark color; lush spicy blackcurranty/Cab/Zinberry deeper pencilly/Fr.oaked nose; tart deep spicy blackcurranty/Cab/blackberry rather peppery pencilly/Fr.oaked flavor; long deep peppery/blackcurranty/ blackberry light pencilly/Fr.oaked dusty finish w/ light tannins; needs yr or two; a very interesting peppery/spicy red.
Coffaro Dry Creek Valley Carignane (76% Carignane, 20% CS, 4% PS; 250 cs; 14.4%) '97: Med.dark color; very spicy/peppery/dusty some earthy/black cherry rather pencilly/Fr.oak nose; tart some menthol/pencilly/oaked peppery/spicy/dusty/ black cherry/bing cherry flavor; med.long dusty/spicy/peppery/bing cherry pencilly/Fr.oak finish w/ some tannins; needs yr or two; one of the best Carignanes I've had from Calif.
Coffaro Aca Modot Dry Creek Valley RW (70% CS, 30% CabFranc; 75 cs; 13.8%) '97: Very dark color; deep blackcurranty/Cab/spicy/peppery strong pencilly/pungent/ Fr.oak licorice/toasty nose; tart rich blackcurranty/Cab/dusty toasty/pungent bit smokey Fr.oaked rather dusty/earthy flavor; very long menthol/toasty/ pencilly/Fr.oaked dusty/ripe/blackcurranty finish w/ fair tannins; needs 3-7 yrs; a pretty serious Cab w/ lots of depth.
Coffaro Dry Creek Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (80% CS, 20% Carignane; 225 cs; 13.5%) '97: Dark color; deep blackcurranty/herbal menthol/toasty/oaked some sour milk/pungent nose; soft rich lush ripe/blackcurranty/Cab menthol/toasty/Fr.oaked dusty flavor; long soft ripe/ blackcurranty/ Cab/dusty/ herbal toasty/menthol finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs.
Coffaro Dry Creek Valley Petite Sirah (75% PS, 11% CS, 8% Carignane, 6% Zin; 250 cs; 14.1%) '97: Med.dark color; fragrant/lush/blackberry/peppery/very spicy some pencilly/Fr.oaked nose; tart spicy/dusty/peppery/blackberry/chalky/pungent rather pencilly/Fr.oaked flavor; med.long tart/spicy/raspberry/blackberry/ peppery/dusty pencilly/Fr.oak finish w/ some tannins; needs 1-4 yrs; lots of bright fruit compared to most PSs.
Arnoldo Caprai Sagrantino di Montefalco (13.5%) '94: Med.dark color; rather funky/bretty/horsey nose that clears some to earthy/dusty some blackberry/black cherry/bing cherry light fruit nose; soft bit funky/bretty rather dusty/earthy some black/bing/cherry rather rough/tannic flavor; long spicy/tannic/black cherry/bing cherry rather earthy/dusty finish w/ ample tannins; a rather rough/ rustic red w/ lots of terrior & not a lot of fruit; quite an interesting red.
Ridge Calif Mataro Evangelo Vnyd (13.6%) '92: Very dark color; very pungent/ reduced/stinky/H2S/fecal/sewer gas some licorice/blackberry nose; soft fat rich earthy/dusty light blackberry/licorice/Bar-B-Q sauce/spicy bit rough/tannic rather charred/bourbon/Am.oaked/vanilla flavor; long soft dusty/earthy pretty funky/reduced some tannic finish; pretty weird phase for this wine much like a Languedoc red; interesting if you can take the diaper pail nose.
Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Cuvee (58% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 17% CabFranc; 13.9%) '97: Med.color; bit reduced/pungent rather fragrant/earthy some strawberry/ Grenache/black cherry bit smokey/oaked nose; tart racy/spicy strawberry/ Grenache/smokey/oaked/pungent balanced/smooth flavor; long tart spicy/Grenache/ strawberry earthy/dusty pungent/oaked smooth finish w/ light tannins; more of an earthy/Rhone-like Grenache character rather than that effusively fruity Calif Grenache character; very interesting drinkable red.
Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Mourvedre Stolpman Vnyd (13.8%) '97: Dark color; intense plummy/licorice/pungent smokey some toasty/oaked nose; soft rich ripe/ licorice/plummy/Mourvedre dusty/pungent toasty/Fr.oaked rather spicy/cloves flavor; long ripe plummy/licorice pungent/spicy some taosty/Fr.oak finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-5 yrs yet.
Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Syrah (Thompson, Stolpman, Glenrose, French Camp, & Bien Nacido vnyds; + some Viognier; 14.0%) '97: Very dark color; intense pungent blackberry/Syrah rather gamey/meaty smokey toasty/Fr.oaked nose; rich mouthfilling toasty/Fr.oaked ripe/blackberry/Syrah/gamey some roasted/dusty/ earthy/smokey flavor; very long rich toasty/Fr.oak ripe/blackberry/Syrah smokey/roasted pungent finish w/ light tannins; drinkable & will hold for 2-4 yrs; a wonderful very tasty Syrah.
Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Syrah Thompson Vnyd (14.3%) '97: Black color; very intense gamey/blackberry/Syrah smokey/pungent/toasty/Fr.oak roasted/dusty nose; big rich intense licorice/gamey/blackberry/Syrah toasty/smokey/pungent/Fr.oaked rather roasted huge mouthfilling flavor; very long intense pungent/gamey/ripe/ blackberry/Syrah/licorice toasty/Fr.oaked/smokey some roasted/espresso finish w/ ample tannins; needs 2-6 yrs; lots like the Qupe Hillside w/o the herbal overtones; absolutely killer Syrah.
Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Syrah Bien Nacido Vnyd (14.0%) '97: Black color; very intense gamey/blackberry/Syrah/pungent/meaty smokey/toasty/Fr.oaked complex/ roasted/espresso/Cote-Rotie-like bit reduced nose; big huge intense ripe/gamey/ meaty/blackberry/Syrah rather espresso/roasted-C-R-like toasty/Fr.oak complex flavor; very long lingering meaty/gamey/blackberry/Syrah complex/espresso/ roasted/licorice pungent/smokey/toasty/Fr.oak finish w/ ample tannins; needs 4-10 yrs; another killer Syrah w/ lots of Northern Rhone character.

And the usual pompous pontifications from the bloody pulpit:
The David Coffaros: Another stellar lineup from David. He sells on futures so don't think your neighborhood wine merchant is ripping you off at his $22-$24/btl price. The David Coffaro style comes thru load & clear on all these wines: lots of lush/plush fruit w/ a nice touch of Fr.oak, fairly forward and drinkable, not a lot of tannins for long aging but I see no reason these won't all be delicious wines 5 yrs down the road. These '97's seemed a bit more tart & acid than his previous ones; some tasters thought they were over- acidified but I though the tartness gave them more of a bright character. And the pencilly/oak seemed a bit more restrained than previous releases. And they all seemed a bit more strongly varietal, despite the rather creative blending David does with his wines. The Aca Modot: This is the name of an indigenous Indian tribe. The grapes come from the knoll in his Cabernet block where their village was located long ago. When we walked the vnyd last June, David poked around in the dirt & turned up pot shards & blackened rocks from their campfires. This Cab is probably the biggest & most serious wine David has yet made. And it's a good one; lots of strong Cabernet character w/ that classic Coffaro polish to it. All in all, another terrific release from David Coffaro. At the futures price, these are a great deal. He will be offering his '99 futures along about February. Check for this at www.coffaro.com around then.
This was my first exposure to Sagrantino grape. If you looked thru the funky/ unclean Italian winemaking, you could find some rather interesting black/bing cherry character in there. It reminded me some of Carignane w/ its rough/tannic backbone, some of WashState Lemberger w/o all the oak. It's a variety that they oughta be looking at in Calif. And they could, of course, make it better than them Italian folks.... just give it a strong shot of new French oak and there it is.... world-class Sagrantino!!! :-)
Jaffurs wines: I've followed Craig Jaffurs wines from the very start and always liked them a lot. They seemed to be a bit on the lean & hard side but had lots of wonderful fragance & perfume to them. This new release from Craig is.... in a word.... absolutely stunning!! These Syrahs are as fine a Syrahs that I have had all this year. These Syrahs put Craig Jaffurs definitely in the first tier of Calif Syrah producers... along w/ Bob Lindquist, John Alban, Steve Edmunds, Sean Thackery, Marco Capelli, Kevin Hamel, a few others, in my list. Ooops, how could I forget Adam Tolmach & Manfred Krankl. And John MacCready. These prices are pre-release prices. They will run some $4-$6 more on the shelf of your retailer when they it them soon. As was quite taken by the Mourvedre. I've become sorta accustomed to the ContraCosta Mourvedre w/ it's soft fat rather clunky/goofy character. This Mourvedre was far far better; good acidity, lots of interesting spicy character, more fruit than they tend to show.... a really fine interesting red. A variety I think will be making world-class wine in Calif afore long. And the Syrahs..... all three incredible. They have a lot of that intense blackberry/Syrah character that you find in the Qupe/Alban/Ojai Syrahs. Plus a lot of that pungent/toasty character you find in the EdmundsSt.Johns. But they also have some of that roasted/espresso coffee character that you find in Northern Rhone. These are, I feel, world class Syrahs. Craig showed both the Bien Nacido and Thompson Syrahs at the WineCask futures tasting last March. Everyone else was showing their '96's, mostly already bottled and finished wines. Craig's were barrel samples of his '97's, definitely very unfinished wines. I thought that took a lot of guts. Both wines were rather reduced & stinky, particularly the Thompson. People were coming away from Craig's table shaking their heads. But the wines were clearly packed w/ flavor and something special. And, just as Craig assured me at that tasting, they came out to be pretty special wines. Sometimes, you just gotta take that leap of faith. No regrets that I did on these. So, keep your eyes on Jaffurs wines; another great SantaBarbara producer. The entire line is worth checking out when they show up at your retailer. Has he gets more and better and more mature vnyds, I think Craig's wines will only be getting better. Now if we can just get him to work on his bowling skills!! :-) And for those of you w/ kids: Craig's wife is Lee Wardlaw, an author of children's books. These are very well-written, entertaining, well-illustrated books. Heck.... I even enjoy reading them... always a good sign in children's book. I recommend them highly.
TomHill (389-1)