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 Zinfandels (mostly)
Tasted Some (mostly) New Zins this week:
Luna Vnyds Napa Valley Sangiovese (14.1%) '97: Med.color; slight oaked bit appley/cherry/ Sangiovese some spicy/earthy nose; tart/lean light cherry/spicy/bright light oaked flavor; med.long spicy/cherry/Sangiovese bit sour/earthy finish w/ light tannins; a pleasant bright zippy Sangiovese.
L'Escrime Napa Valley Sangiovese (14.2%) '96: Med.color; slightly reduced/pungent rather black cherry/Sangiovese/perfumed talc some dusty/earthy bit oaked some bretty fairly complex nose; soft some black cherry/Sangiovese bit bretty/horsecollar/leathery light oaked/pungent/dusty Italiante flavor; med.long rather black cherry/Sangiovese/dusty some bretty/leathery bit pungent/oaked finish w/ light tannins; not as tart & lean as most Calif Sangiovese; rather interesting somewhat Italian-like character.
Dehlinger Russian River Valley Pinot Noir Gold Ridge Vnyd (14.2%) '97: Med.color; fragrant/dusty/ meaty/spicy sausage some bright cherry/Pinot some oaked/pencilly nose; soft cherry some buttery very spicy/aromatic some toasty/pencilly/oaked/meaty bit Burgundian flavor; med.long bit gamey/meaty some bright cherry/Pinot some pencilly/toasty/oaked finish w/ some tannins; a rather unusual some Burgundian very interesting rather atypical for Dehlinger Pinot; needs several yrs.
Hartley Ostini Hitching Post Santa Maria Valley Bien Nacido Vineyard Pinot Noir (13%) '97: Med.light color; slight volatile fragrant/black cherry/Pinot rather toasty/tobaccoy/oaked/smokey complex nose; tart bit volatile strong black cherry/Pinot/spicy/dusty rather toasty/oaked smokey/chalky/earthy flavor; long some black cherry/BN Pinot/spicy/gamey rather toasty/smokey/oaked finish w/ light tannins; classic BienNacido black cherry character; needs yr or two; not as oaked as previous ones.
Sierra Vista El Dorado Cabernet Sauvignon (13.5%) '96: Very dark color; strong pungent/ toasty/oaked light herbal/Cab/blackcurranty/mushroomy slight bretty nose; rather tannic spicy/dusty/mushroomy rather blackcurranty/black cherry/ripe fruit rather pungent/ toasty/oaked flavor; long dusty/earthy blackcurranty/black cherry smokey/pungent/ oaked/toasty finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-5 yrs; seems the best Sierra Vista Cab yet; very good price.
Dehlinger Bordeaux Blend Russian River Valley (50%CS, 50% Merlot; 14.5%) '96: Dark color; rather simple/up-front/blackcurranty bit toasty/oaked becoming rather complex/fragrant/ very spicy nose; soft some herbal/blackcurranty bit chocolaty/ripe some Bordeaux/herbal toasty/oaked flavor; very long complex some herbal/Bordeaux/earthy rather toasty/oaked/ pungent finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-5 yrs; very interesting Cab.
Rosenblum Cellars Contra Costa Cnty Zin (13.6%) '97: Med.light color; fragrant/plummy/black cherry bit earthy/CCCnty/dusty fairly lush nose; soft bit pungent/licorice/plummy/ stewed tomatoes earthy bit diffuse/simple flavors; med.long lush plummy/licorice/cherry some earthy finish w/ light tannins; pleasant lush ContraCosta Zin but a bit on the light & simple side.
Rosenblum Cellars Contra Costa Cnty Reserve Zin PatoVnyd (14.9%) '97: Med.light color; deeper more pungent/licorice/plummy/black cherry some oaked classic Rosenblum/lush nose; soft Rosenblum/lush plummy/black cherry/licorice light toasty/oaked flavor; med.long some rich/lush/plummy/licorice/black cherry light oaked finish w/ light tannins; good tasty ContraCosta Zin but bit lacking in structure.
Limerick Lane Russian River Valley Zin Collins Vnyd (14.2%) '97: Med.dark color; strong blackberry/boysenberry some dusty/old vine bit stemmy bit oaked nose; fairly rich black- berry/boysenberry some buttery/oaked bit stemmy/hard flavor; med.long bit stemmy/hard fairly rich boysenberry/blackberry some dusty/old vines finish w/ light tannins; very good blackberry fruit but somewhat lacking in structure.
Forchini Zin Old Vine Clone Dry Creek Vlly Papa Nonno (15.3%) '97: Med.color; deep dusty/ smokey some raspberry/blackberry oaked bit simple nose; tart fragrant very spicy/zippy/ raspberry light oaked flavor; med.long bright/raspberry/aromatic classic DryCreek Zin finish w/ light tannins; a bright likable Zin at a fair price. $17.00
Sierra Vista El Dorado Zin Old Vine (14.2%) '96: Dark color; slight volatile rather earthy/dusty some oaked fairly complex slight blackberry/spicy nose; tart rather earthy/ dusty bit hot/dried out some oaked/pungent/pencilly light blackberry/spicy flavor; med.long earthy/dusty light blackberry/spicy rather earthy/dusty fairly complex finish w/ some astringent tannins; interesting El Dorado Zin but a bit dried-out on the palate.
Saucelito Canyon Arroyo Grande Vlly Zin (13.5%) '97: Dark color; rather pungent/licorice strong blackberry/jammy/chocolaty some toasty/oaked milk of magnesia bit overripe nose; soft big rich lush blackberry/jammy dusty some overripe very spicy bit oaked/tannic flavor; long blackberry/jammy/very ripe/chocolaty bit dusty/toasty/oaked finish w/ light tannins; a good blackberry/jammy Zin at great price.
D-Cubed Napa Valley Zin (14.8%) '97: Med.dark color; attractive dusty/raspberry/blackberry some buttery/Am.oaked fairly attractive nose; soft bit stemmy/earthy attractive raspberry/blackberry bit buttery/oaked flavor; med.long pleasant raspberry/blackberry buttery/oaked bit buttered popcorn finish w/ light tannins; a pleasant straight-forward Napa Zin.
Howell Mtn Vnyds Howell Mtn Old Vine Zin Beatty Ranch/Black Sears Vnyd (15.5%) '97: Dark color; strong stinky/burnt rubber/skunky/reduced some earthy/dusty light blackberry fruit nose; tart earthy bit skunky/reduced/burnt rubber big/earthy/pretty extracted light blackberry flavor; med.long hard/dusty/earthy rather reduced/skunky light blackberry finish w/ fair tannins; rather on the reduced side but a lot of flavor and structure in this wine; needs some age; fairly typical big/hard HowellMtn Zin.
Crane Canyon Cellars Russian River Valley Zin (14.1%) '97: Med.color; very lush blackberry/ cranberry dusty/old vines very spicy/aromatic/perfumed complex flavor; bit tart ripe/lush/ blackberry/cranberry/boysenberry/Dr.Pepper very spicy/complex flavor; very long very spicy Dr.Pepper/blackberry/boysenberry/cranberry some dusty/old vines finish w/ light tannins; a really great-drinking well-made Zin.

And a bit of a bloody pulpit:
The '96 Rosenblum Contra Costa Zins were, I thought, across the board, some of the best ContraCosta Zins ever made. Kent didn't seem to do as well w/ the '97 vintage. They seem somewhat lighter & less structured than his '96 versions.
The early Limerick Lane Zins were terrific; loads of rich intense blackberryZin dusty/ old vines fruit. The '95 was a lesser Zin and the '96 was a major let-down. This '97 seems a big step in the right direction from the last 2 vintages, but not what they were in the early '90's though.
And almost the same story on the SaucelitoCanyon Zins. Loved the ones from the early '90's but the '96 was a letdown. This '97 is sort of a return to form, but not up to those from the early '90's.
I don't know if my palate is changing or what but the trend in Zins these days, especially w/ the '97's I've tasted, seems to be big soft fleshy sort of Zins and not the tannins & structure & acidity that I recall in those from the early '90's. I don't know if they're pushing the yields up because of the overheated Zin market or if it's a stylistic change in the winemaking. But I don't find the current Zins nearly as serious a wine as most of the new Calif/Rhones/Syrahs.
The L'Escrime (French for the sport of fencing) was a special wine for me. As soon as it walked in the door at Margaux's Enoteca, she was on the phone to me to give me a head's up on the wine, being as fencing is another of my passions. I bought several extra bottles as gifts for some of my fencing compadres who also drink wine, and plan to get more as first-place prizes at the New Mexico Open this Fall (assuming some whiz-bang kid, of which there are plenty around, doesn't take first place!!). The mind-behind L'Escrime is Diane Harder, a fencing Mom down in the LA (that's Los Angeles, not LosAlamos) area, who used to be the SouthernCal rep for Ridge Vnyds. The L'Escrime venture is her idea of a means to support her two son's fencing careers, which, with all the travel, is not cheap. Her youngest son, Sean, took the Silver in the Under-10 Foil competition on the PacificCoast circuit this Spring. Quite an accomplishment in that the Pacific Coast is the toughest youth venue for fencing outside the New York area. The wine: Sangiovese is, someday, going to make as great a wine as Cabernet or Syrah in Calif. It's a variety that appears to have multitudinous clones and that each clone strongly reflects the terrior in which it's grown. Most of the Calif Sangiovese has an attractive cherry/Sangiovese nose but often is tart/thin/narrow/lean/hard on the palate. It strikes me as a variety that would strongly benefit from a judicious blending that preserves that lovely Sangiovese but gives it more flesh & lushness on the palate. Alas, too many people want Calif Sangiovese to taste more like Chianti Classico or SuperTuscan Red. I'm not sure that's the best model for California Sangiovese. The problem, IMHO, is that most people taste Calif Sangiovese with preconceptions as to what it SHOULD taste like (usually on the Tuscan model), rather than what that terrior and that winemaker can attain w/ that wine. If Calif Sangiovese tastes more like Calif Zin (well.... the ultimate accolade for ANY wine!!) than Chianti, than so be it. The L'Escrime is a pretty interesting version of Calif Sangiovese. It seems to have been in older oak for longer than most versions. The slight brett/horsecollar gave it a bit of an Italiante character, and it had a softness & roundness on the palate than most versions, w/o that searing/hurty character that most Italian Sangiovese have, sorta like sticking your tongue between the jaws of a vice & torquing that sucker down. Alas, only small amounts available in California markets. There will be a '97 CabFranc released soon under the Repost (a basic fencing defensive/offensive action that I would be most happy to demonstrate sometime after a marathon Zin tasting whilst swinging from the chandelier in my Zorro costume!) label. Stay tuned.