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.

 

Old Pinots
Tasted this week some Pinots out of the Archives:
Joseph Swan Sonoma Estate Pinot Noir '75: Med.dark color; fragrant/pencilly bit Burgundian smokey/dusty slight floral/violets/old Pinot some complex nose; tart pencily/ smokey complex light floral/faded rose petals/violets/old Pinot slight old Burgundy slight tannic/dried out flavor; long bit Burgundian pencilly/smokey/dusty/complex finish; a bit drying out but very much alive wine; some old Pinot/old Burgundy character; very interesting wine. $8.00
Joseph Swan Sonoma Estate Pinot Noir '76: Med.color; lovely/complex/smokey/mushroomy slight volatile spicy lighter/elegant nose; bit sour toasty/pencilly/mushroomy slight musty/oxidized/funky flavor; med.long bit sour/wet dog fur/oxidized toasty/smokey pungent/mushroomy slight musty finish; a bit more funky and strange but pretty interesting old Pinot; most really disliked this wine but I liked some of the things in it despite its slightly musty/funky character. $7.00
Carneros Creek Wnry Napa Vlly/Carneros District (Estate + Truchard grapes; 12.8%) Pinot Noir '76: Med.color; pungent/smokey/earthy/Carneros Pinot Noir slight clunky/medicinal/adhesive tape some fragrant/old Pinot nose; tart pungent/smokey/toasty/bit mushroomy/earthy/ Carneros Pinot Noir bit fragrant flavor; med.long toasty/smokey/charred light fragrant/old Pinot some mushroomy/earthy finish w/ light tannins; fairly classic Carneros Pinot Noir character and still very much alive; very interesting old Pinot but not a lot of fragrance. $9.00
Carneros Creek Wnry Napa Vlly/CarnerosDistrict (Estate + Truchard; 12.7%) Pinot Noir '77: Med. light color; beautiful/complex toasty/coffee/toasted coconut floral/violets some Burgundian nose; tart bit thin/dried out coffee/toasty/pungent rather Burgundian some floral/violets/fragrant flavor; long/tart some Burgundian rather smokey/toasty/ pungent coffee/spicy finish w/ some tannins; lots of old Burgundy character and more fragrance than most Craneros Pinots; drying out a bit but still very much an alive wine. $14.00
Santa Cruz Mtn Vnyds Santa Cruz Mtn Estate/Jarvis Vnyd Pinot Noir (13.5%) '81: Med.color; rather burnt/charred/Bourbon-like/toasty/pungent/smokey/complex low-fruit nose; soft pungent/ charred/toasty/smokey earthy/dusty light floral/violets flavor; med.long rather smokey/charred/toasty/pungent/BarBQSauce light floral/violets finish w/ light tannins; drying a bit & loaded w/ toasty/pungent oak but a rather interesting/ complex SCM wine. $13.00
Santa Cruz Mtn Vnyds SCM Estate/Jarvis Vnyd Pinot Noir (12.5%) '89: Med.dark color; some bretty slight rotted grapes/musty bit cherry/Pinot Noir rather charred/toasty/funky/smokey nose; bit thin some charred/toasty/smokey/pungent/pencilly light cherry/fragrant flavor; med. short bit thin/sour rather pungent/toasty/pencilly slight charry/Burgundian finish; a bit on the funky side & a bit dried out but rather interesting old Pinot. $18.00
Congress Springs Santa Clara Cnty San Ysidro Vnyd (12.5%) Pinot Noir '88: Light some browning color; bit raisened/stewed tomatos some herbal/toasty/oaked rather complex nose; pungent/pruney/raisened/stewed tomatoes rather sour dried out oaked/toasty flavor; med.short rather pruney/stewed tomaots/raisened bit herbal/dried out rather toasty/ oaked finish; little Pinot character and lots of overripe character; drink now or toss. $11.00
Bethel Heights Oregon/Willamette Vlly Estate (12.5%) Pinot Noir '88: Light color; beautiful cherry/black cherry/CherringHerring/fragrant very spicy nose; tart very spicy very bright/cherry/fragrant bit lean/hard light oaked flavor; long very spicy/cherry finish w/ light tannins; a bit hard & lean but loads of bright cherry/spicy character. $14.50
Kent Rasmussen Carneros Pinot Noir (12.5%) '90: Med.dark color; strong black cherry/toasty/ charred/oaked bit earthy/pungent complex nose; tart smokey/toasty/oaked rather strong black cherry/mushroomy/earthy flavor; long/smooth rather black cherry/smokey/ pencolly/minty/menthol/oaked complex finish w/ light tannins; a lovely still young Pinot w/ lots of black cherry character. $20.00
Kent Rasmussen Carneros (13%) Pinot Noir '94: Med.light color; bit reduced some minty/toasty oaked/pungent/mushroomy/earthy/Carneros Pinot Noir nose; soft pungent/smokey/toasty/oaked mushroomy/black cherry some minty/menthol flavor; long fairly lush black cherry/ mushroomy toasty/minty/menthol finish w/ some tannins; still needs several yrs; more Carneros in character. $23.00
Chimere Edna Vlly Pinot Noir (U&U; 13%) '93: Med.color; intense barnyardy/bretty bit fecal rather herbal near vegetal dirty diaper pail rather toasty/pungent/oaked nose; tart smokey/charred/oaked rather herbal/vegetal/diaper pail metallic flavor; (unfortunately) long herbal/vegetal very toasty/charred/oaked rather earthy/fecal metallic finish; rather unpleasant Pinot w/ runaway brett. $17.00
Pepperwood Springs Anderson Vlly Estate Pinot Noir (13.2%) '94: Med.light color; lovely very fragrant/bright/cherry/very spicy light toasty/oaked very Oregonian nose; soft bright cherry very fragrant very spicy light smokey/pencilly/oaked flavor; med.long very bright cherry very spicy light toasty/pencilly oaked finish w/ light tannins; a really lovely bright cherry/spicy Oregon-style Pinot. $20.00
Dehlinger Russian River Vlly Pinot Noir (13.4%) '89: Med.light some browning color; unpleasant oxidized very old rather musty no fruit nose; tired/oxidized rather musty flavor; lots of tired/oxidized/musty/rotted character; hard to believe this wine is that dead already. $16.50
Beaux Freres Willamette Vlly Pinot Noir (U&U; 13.0%) '93: Med.dark color; beautiful/complex smokey/Burgundian/pencilly some black cherry/fragrant nose; tart very spicy/black cherry/cherry/OregonPN spicy/toasty/pencilly flavor; very long very spicy/black cherry/ cherry some gamey/sauvage pencilly/toasty finish w/ some tannins; still needs another 2-5 yrs; a beautiful Oregonian very Burgindian Pinot Noir. $32.00
Domaine Gros Freres Vosne-Romanee '88: Med.light color; fragrant spicy/Burgundian bit menthol/pencilly nose; tart ripe cherry/spicy bit thin/lean some pencilly/oak flavor; med.long light lean light cherry/earthy finish w/ light tannins; a nice drinking fully mature attractive RedBurg. $Larry's mystery wine
Gainey Vnyd Santa Ynez Vlly Lmtd Slctn Pinot Noir '94: Med.dark color; beautiful fragrant black cherry/spicy bit volatile almost Zin-like some pencilly/toasty oaked nose; tart rather rich/extracted black cherry very spicy almost Zin-like toasty/Burgundian flavor; very long very spicy/black cherry bit herbal/SB Pinot Noir some toasty/pencilly/oak fairly extracted finish w/ some tannins; still needs several yrs; a pretty big/rich SB Pinot Noir; terrific Pinot. $Howard&Rhoda's mystery wine
Chateau de Beaucastel CdP; '89: Rather dark color; smokey/pungent/toasty/licorice deep earthy some bretty/horsecollar nose; soft rich slight funky/bretty/horsecollar gamey/licorice slight toasty/pungent dusty/earthy flavor; long soft dusty/earthy/ licorice bit bretty/funky finish w/ light tannins; lots of gamey rich character; near ready or hold 2-5 yrs. $Steve's mystery wine

And the usual prattle from the bloody pulpit:
Like most tasting of older (some would say decrepit) wines, this was more an intellectual experience than a sensual experience. Peoples opinions varied all over the map on whether they liked the wines are not. The opinions expressed above are, of course, the definitive ones!!
The Swans: Joe Swan released his first Estate Pinot in '73 (of which I still have a btl). His first Pinots were made much like his Zins; big brooding extracted oaked wines. But red Burgundy was his passion and his model, not Zinfandel. In the late '70's, he started using more whole-berry fermentation in the Pinots to get more of the elegance & finesse that makes Pinot so great. I told Joe he was getting old & senile and was gutting the wines (then... I was a big fan of the big extracted oaky Zins) with that. He shook his head and assured me that I should stick with him and trust him. Well.... old Joe knew more about making Pinot than I gave him credit for. Those later Pinots of his really evolved into some very lovely very Burgundian- style of Pinots. Hmmmmm. maybe there's something to be said for elegance and balance in winemaking after all??? But what would I know!!
The CarnerosCreeks: I've followed the CarnerosCreek wines from the very start; the '73 Napa Gamay I believe it was. There were some absolutely stunning Zins made there in the mid-'70's from Eschen and Esola grapes up in Amador. They still get Cabernet from (the late) Ernie Esola's vnyd. But Pinot was and always will be Frank Mahoney's passion. Frank is a very sharp but quiet and low-key guy. I don't think he really gets the credit he deserves for the enormous strides Pinots have made over the yrs in Calif. He was a pioneer in promoting Pinot in the Carneros; he encouraged Tony Truchard to plant grapes on his property just to the North of CarnerosCreek. In the '70's, Frank planted all sorts of Pinot clones on his property, vinified them all separately, and, working w/ UC/Davis, did much of the seminal work in sorting out the mess of all the Pinot clones in Calif. I've always liked the CarnerosCreek Pinots and don't think they get the recognition they deserve. I think they are pretty characteristic of what typifies the Carneros Pinots, that deep dark brooding earthy sort of style of Pinot, as contrasted w/ the more fragrant/perfumey ones you get from AndersonVlly or Santa Barbara. And, over the yrs, Frank has made some very very good Chards and Cabernets. Truly, a wnry that has a special place in my heart.
SantaCruzMtnVnyds: I've followed Ken Burnap's wines from the very start. Big brooding strapping SantaCruzMtn kind of wines. Much like the man himself. The early ones were often quite reduced in character (the "Burnap stench" I used to call it) and very fecal/stinky/sewer gas in character. But they had it all in the mouth; big extracted full of flavor. And, despite the stench, they usually lost that character and developed into absolutely marvelous wines. The one thing I've learned from Ken's wines is even when the nose is quite reduced, if the flavor is there, be patient and let the wine come around. I still have some of his Cabs & Duriffs from the early '80's that were sooooo stinky they didn't sell, and they were marked down to $5.49/btl. Wonderful wines now they be.
Rasmussen Pinots: I've followed Kent Rasmussen's wines from the very start. They have been some of my favorite Carneros Pinots; fairly big oaked Pinots w/ more black cherry fragrance than most. His Chards have also been some of the best from the Carneros. He also plays around w/ some unusual varietals (Early Burgundy, Dolcetto, Pinotage, etc) and makes an interesting lineup of wines. One of my favorite winemakers with whom I've been a bit lax in keeping up with.