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 a few (mostly) New Zins this week:
Chameleon Amador County Barbera (14.1%) '96: Med.color; bit alcoholic very ripe slight volatile rather spicy/Barbera some pencilly/oaked nose; bit hot/alcoholic tart/spicy/spicy sausage/Barbera rather pencilly/oaked flavor; med.long cherry/spicy/Barbera bit hot/volatile finish w/ light tannins; a bit hot/volatile but nice Barbera character.
Mentivina Shenandoah Valley Calif Barbera (12.5%) '82: Med.dark color; aged/ cigar box/licorice/pencilly bit tired nose; dried out/oaked/licorice/ pencilly tart flavor; med.long dried out tart pencilly/charred/oak dusty/ smokey finish w/ fair tannins; rather dried out & not much but charred oak left.
Mother Zinfandel Old Vines Primitivo del Tarantino (13.5%; 70 yr old vines) Borgo al Castello '96: Med.dark color; some alcoholic bit stinky/goat pen strange metallic/diesel fuel/ships engine room nose; tart metallic acidified/ (citric?) rather bretty/goat pen unclean flavor; med.long metallic/acid unclean/goat pen finish w/ some tannins; a thoroughly unpleasant Italian/ hot climate wine w/ no Zinfandel character that I can see.
Scherrer Vineyard Alexander Valley The Shale Terrace Zinfandel (14.5%) '96: Dark color; beautiful complex/dusty old vine/blackberry/licorice very spicy some vanilla oaked nose; rich bit lean beautiful lush blackberry/Zinfandel dusty/complex/old vine very spicy/aromatic vanilla/pencilly/oaked flavor; very long complex/ dusty/old vines very spicy/aromatic finish w/ light tannins; a very spicy racy Zinfandel more like Dry Creek than AlexVlly.
Bayliss & Fortune Mendocino County Zinfandel (14.5%) '97: Med.dark color; some minty/ menthol spicy/earthy/black cherry/tomatoey bit sharp some vanilla/oaked nose; tart bright cherry/tomatoey spicy vanilla/oaked bit dusty soft/ripe flavor; very long lush cherry/black cherry/cherry cola strong vanilla/oaked ripe/earthy finish w/ light tannins; good Mendocino character & some Aussie style to it (winemaker is David O'Leary of Mildara Blass wines); a good drinking Zinfandel at a good price.
Seghesio Alexander Valley Zinfandel San Lorenzo (14.3%) '96: Dark color; strong licorice/dusty old vine/blackberry fragrant spicy dill/Am.oaked nose; soft Am.oaked/dill spicy some blackberry dusty/old vines rather old style Seghesio bit tanky flavor; med.long old style/Am.oaked/bit tanky tobaccoy some blackberry/Zinfandel bit dusty/old vines finish w/ light tannins; more old-style Seghesio Zinfandel than more recent ones; bit disappointing.
Rosenblum Cellars Napa Valley Reserve Zinfandel George Hendry Vnyd (14.9%) '96: Med.color bright lush forward raspberry/Zinberry spicy/Zinfandel nose; tart bit lean bright spicy Zinberry/raspberry bit simple flavor; med.long bit tart/lean forward bright/raspberry/Zinberry light oak finish w/ light tannins; nice straight forward bit simple Zinberry/raspberry Zinfandel.
Rosenblum Cellars Napa Valley Reserve Zinfandel George Hendry Vnyd (14.9%) '95: Med.dark color; deeper blackberry/licorice bit dusty mtn/Zinfandel bit oaked nose; soft lush ripe pungent/licorice/blackberry spicy/dusty some oaked flavor; long lush blackberry/ripe/Zinfandel pungent/dusty some oaked finish w/ some tannins; really drinking nicely & will age another yr or two.
Folie a Deux Amador County Old Vine Zinfandel (13.5%; 76 yr old D'Agostini Vnyd) '96: Med.dark color; strong blackberry/Amador briary licorice bit alcoholic nose; tart briary/licorice/blackberry spicy some Am.oaked flavor; med.long milky/ Am.oaked blackberry/Amador briary bit hot/alcoholic finish w/ light tannins; not as lush & rich as his Renwood Zins but much better than the '95.
Coturri Sonoma Mountain Estate Zinfandel (14.2%) '96: Dark color; intense milky/Am.oak/ milk of magnesia/charred oak bit unclean/bretty very intense blackberry/dusty old vines weird nose; tart very milky/Am.oaked/charred/burnt/milk of magnesia intensy blackberry bit stemmy rather dusty/old vine flavor; long intense blackberry/dusty/Zinfandel intense milky/Am.oaked/charred/toasty finish w/ ample tannins; lots of things going on in this wine but pretty eccentric; may age into something interesting but a gamble.
Joseph Swan Sonoma County Zinfandel 30 yr Anniversary (14.1%) '96: Very dark color; strong blackberry/brambly pencilly/Fr.oaked strong minty/menthol complex some dusty nose; rich very strong minty/menthol dusty/old vines ripe black- berry pencilly/oaked flavor; very long rather pencilly/oaked minty/menthol strong blackberry/dusty finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; not as big & powerful as the Frati & more oak than Swan usually shows but a very well-made interesting Zinfandel.
Joseph Swan Russian River Valley Zinfandel Zeigler Vnyd (14.1%) '96: Med.dark color; attractive blackberry very spicy some oaked some dusty nose; fairly rich blackberry/dusty/Zinfandel some Am.oaked pretty spicy flavor; med.long rich black- berry some Am.oaked spicy/dusty finish w/ some tannins; needs yr or two; well-made interesting RRV Zinfandel.
Ravenswood Sonoma Valley Zinfandel Cooke Vnyd (14.8%) '96: Very dark color; intense lush blackberry/boysenberry pencilly/Fr.oaked dusty/old vines nose; soft rich blackberry/boysenberry dusty/old vines bit minty/menthol very spicy/ripe flavor; med.long strong blackberry/boysenberry spicy/dusty some pencilly/oak finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; not as big & extracted as I expected; very much like the WoodRd/Belloni in character.
Ravenswood Sonoma Valley Zinfandel Old Hill Vineyard Limited Edition (14.8%) '96: Dark color more complex minty/menthol/Fr.oaked/pencilly strong blackberry/boysenberry rather dusty bit stemmy nose; intense lean/hard menthol/minty/pencilly/oak strong blackberry/boysenberry flavor; long lean/hard strong minty/menthol ripe blackberry/boysenberry dusty/old vine spicy/dusty finish w/ fair tannins; not as big & lush & extracted as previous yrs; bit on the lean & hard side; needs 2-5 yrs.
Del Dotto Napa Valley Giovanni's Tuscan Reserve (100% Sangiovese; 13.5%) '95: Very dark color; beautiful black cherry/fragrant/cherry some stemmy Fr.oak blackberry very ripe nose; tart bit bretty/horsecollar extracted strong black cherry/blackberry/cherry cola/boysenberry vanilla/Fr.oaked bit yeasty/ fresh bread flavor; very long extracted intense black cherry/cola/blackberry strong vanilla/Fr.oaked/pencilly finish w/ ample tannins; needs 3-7 yrs; a huge extracted Sangiovese; very Calif in style but that underlying hardness typical of Sangiovese.
Whitehall Lane Knight's Valley Reserve Merlot (14%) '86: Dark color; aged rather cigar box/tobaccoy bit musty/licorice nose; soft somewhat dried-out tobaccoy/toasty old Zinfandel-like bit menthol little ruit flavor; med.long oaked/tobaccoy/cigar box old Zinfandel cedary dried-out finish w/ some tannins; a survivor but just that.
Marques de Vargas Rioja (13.5%) '94: Dark color; pungent/smokey/licorice bit bretty/aged nose; soft Am.oaked rather aged earthy/dusty flavor; med.long bretty/horsecollar/oaked/woody pungent/earthy finish w/ some tannins; lots of oak & a bit dried out.
Ridge Calif Alicante Pagani Vineyard (14.6%) '93: Black color; beautiful black cherry/blackberry aromatic very milky/Am.oaked rather pungent/dusty/wet forest licorice PineSol complex nose; huge rich extracted/tannic low fruit very dusty/old vines strong Am.oaked/milky mouthfilling pungent/licorice flavor; very long rough/rustic/tannic pungent/very dusty/old vine licorice extracted Am.oaked/milky finish w/ ample tannins; not aging very fast at all; a huge extracted pungent wine; may be a killer some day.

And the usual inanities from the bloody pulpit:
The Scherrer Shale Terrace Zinfandel, Fred's first production of this wine from a special block in his vnyd, is a beautiful complex Zinfandel. More in the DryCreek style than Alexander Valley; not as big & ripe & lush as his (spectacular) regular Zinfandel but probably a bit more ageable. Fred Scherrer is making some of the best Zins made in Calif these days.
The Ravenswood single-vnyd Zins '96: Still haven't tried the Beaterra yet, but I thought Ravenswood did a very good job w/ their '96's. I liked the Old Hill and the Cooke quite a bit but found them a bit leaner & harder than the '95 versions. OTOH, Joel did a really first-rate job w/ both the Monte Rosso and the Dickerson, thought they were stronger efforts than the '95 versions.
The Del Dotto Sangiovese: A superb wine very much in a Cabernet style. Loads of rich ripe fruit, a healthy dose of Fr. oak, but still that underlying hardness & backbone of Sangiovese. With this DelDotto, the Venge, and the Luna; it looks like Calif is definitely on the right track to making world- class Sangiovese.... not Italian but still world-class wine.
The Ridge Alicante: Paul Draper easily does better w/ Alicante than anyone else in the world. He is probably one of the world's experts in tannin management in wines and Alicante is one variety that certainly tests his mettle. Many of the Calif Alicantes are very coarse & crude, very rough & tannic; sorta mastadon-like wines that clump across the palate in combat boots. Clearly a variety useful for blending purposes and a variety that can benifit from creative blending. This '93 is a huge extracted tannic wine that will probably age into something very interesting. The '96 version is much more forward & drinkable but still quite an interesting wine. It's a variety that seems to need a bit more in aromatics; like Zinfandel or Syrah or Sangiovese. The Ridge's are in a class by themselves. The only other impressive one is the David Coffaro, & his has a healthy dose of Zinfandel in it.