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The Tom Hill Archives

The Los Olivos Wine & Spirits Emporium presents the musings and reflections of Tom Hill. We think it's great that Tom, who has sampled so many wines, has shared his tasting notes with us. We do have, or have had for sale a few of the wines Tom writes about, and we include a link to our stock page whenever it is a producer we carry (but since the stock page is kept up-to-date and the wines are sold, don't expect any but the newest of wines to show up in our stock!). Mostly though, since we specialize in County of Santa Barbara Wine and Central Coast Wine, we don't carry a lot of the wines Tom writes about. But we think it is important that you be able to have an idea what they're like in case you are planning to buy some somewhere, or have them in your own collection. Enjoy.

Here are Tom's notes from April 10, 2002:

French Rhones (mostly)

Tasted last night some French Rhones:                
  1. Vacheron-Ponizon le Clos du Caillou Vielles Vignes Cote du Rhone (13.5%) 1999: Med.color; slight bretty/earthy some strawberry/Grenache pleasant nose; soft slight metallic some bretty/earthy fairly attractive strawberry/Grenache/fruity flavor; med. fruity/Grenache slight earthy/dusty finish w/ little tannins; pleasant Cote du Rhone but just that; better than 2000, not up to past vintages.
  2. Domaines Bour Domaine de Grangeneuve Coteaux-du-Tricastin Cuvee Vielles Vignes  (Syrah/ Grenache planted in 1964; 13.5%) 1999: Med.dark color; deep blackberry/strawberry rather spicy clean nose; fairly spicy/candied very strawberry/Grenache almost sweetish flavor; med.long deeper spicy Grenache/candied sweetish flavor w/ light tannins in the med.short finish; pleasant simple little Cote du Rhone.
  3. Domaine de Grangeneuve Coteaux-du-Tricastin GrandCuvee Elevee en Futs de Chene (Syrah/ Grenache planted in 1964; 13%) 1998: Med.dark color; attractive spicy/blackberry/Syrah bit roasted/ Rhonish slight oaked nose; soft light/oak slight roasted/pungent Grenache/strawberry some spicy flavor; med.long bit oaked bit roasted pleasant Grenache/strawberry finish w/ light tannins; somewhat better Cote du Rhone.
  4. Domaine de Grangeneuve Coteaux-du-Tricastin Cuvee de la Truffiere (Syrah planted in 1964;  2000 cs; 13%) 1998: Dark color; deeper blackberry/Syrah some smokey/roasted bit licorice some toasty/oak nose; bigger/richer some blackberry/Syrah light roasted/toasty pungent flavor; med.long bit tannic light blackberry/Syrah slight toasty/oak finish; best of the three but underwhelming.
  5. Michele Aubery-Laurent Les Hauts de Gramenon Vinsobres Cote du Rhone-Villages  (13.5%) 2000: Med.color; badly corked/musty slight strawberry/Grenache nose; sweetish grapey/Grenache rather musty/corked flavor; too corked to tell anything.
  6. Philippe et Michele Laurent Le Gramenon Cote du Rhone  (13%) 2000: Med.light color; light strawberry/Grenache simple nose; rather grapey/whole-berry fermentation/carbonic maceration nose; soft grapey/whole- berry/fruity somewhat Beaujolais-like slight earthy flavor; med.short grapey/whole-berry finish w/ little tannins; tastes like Beaujolais from the Rhone; uninspiring.
  7. Mas Grand Plagniol Costieres de Nimes (Syrah; 13.5%) Cyril Mares 1999: Very dark color; deep blackberry/Syrah/plummy bit dusty/pungent spicy nose; soft very ripe/Syrah/blackberry/plummy bit bretty/horsecollar flavor; long very spicy plummy/Syrah/blackberry finish w/ light tannins; much more like an EastSide Paso Syrah than a Rhone; nice wine but just that; fair price. $14.00
  8. Domaine St.Anne Cote du Rhone-Villages (13%) 1999: Med.color; slight corked/musty little fruit supressed nose; weak bit tart/metallic some musty/corked flavor; nothing here folks.
  9. Domaine Richaud Cairanne Cote du Rhone-V (13%) 2000: Dark color; very CdP-like meaty loads of black fruit some roasted/earthy/gamey nose; soft off-dry very ripe/jammy/plummy very fruity/strawberry/berry/ grapey spicy flavor; med.long grapey/plummy/ripe light roasted/gamey finish w/ light tannins; lots of very ripe/grapey some Rhonish character; fairly priced at $17.00 .
  10. Frederic & Francois Alary Domaines de l'Oratoire St.Martin  Cairanne Cote du Rhone-V (13.5%) 1999: Very dark color; rich deep intense blackberry/Syrah rather minty/menthol/oak rather Oz-like ripe nose; soft rich blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah some menthol clean/ripe flavor; very long soft/fat intense  blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah/grapey/lush finish w/ light tannins; big rich lush/grapey rather Oz/Calif-style w/ little Rhone character; nice wine at $18.00 
  11. Cuilleron-Gaillard-Villard Cairanne La Perdenaille (14%) 1999: Dark color; strong new Fr.oak/toasty  spicy strong berry/fruit Calif/international nose; tart strong new Fr.oak/toasty pungent some blak cherry/blackberry no Rhone flavor; med. bit hot/alcoholic some blackberry/black cherry strong Fr.oaked/toasty finish w/ light tannins; plenty of new oak in a modern winemaking style but no Rhone character and not enough fruit for the oak. Disappointing. $22.00 
  12. Corbieres du Boncaillou Corbieres (50% Carignane, 25% Grenache, 25% Syrah; 12.5%) 1999: Med.color; rather earthy/black cherry very spicy dusty/old vines slight herbal very spicy/exotic perfumed nose; bit thin/lean/hard very spicy/exotic dusty/old vines very cherry/black cherry perfumey flavor; very long/lingering exotic very spicy cherry/bright/black cherry finish w/ some tannins; a bit hard/ lean on the palate but a very exotic spiciness to this wine. Lovely rendition of Carignan. $33.00 
  13. Domaine de Fauterie Cornas (13.5%) Sylvain Bernard 1999: Med.dark color; very green olive/Syrah very cracked black pepper toasty/roasted/smokey complex Rhonish nose; rather thin/lean very green olive/ Syrah slight roasted/coffee/pungent flavor; med. thin/lean very green olive some roasted/coffee finish w/ light tannins; a beautiful Northern Rhone nose but a bit too thin/lean on the palate; many disliked the strong green olive character. Disappointing.
  14. Eric & Joel Durand Cornas (13.5%) 1998: Very dark color; some bretty/unclean very blackberry/Syrah somewhat gamey/meaty light roasted nose; soft ripe/blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah very Calif-style slight mocha/roasted flavor; soft/fat med.long very ripe/blackberry/boysenberry lush slight roasted/ mocha finish w/ light tannins; soft ripe Calif-style Syrah. Not worth price $35.00 
  15. Cuilleron-Gaillard-Villard Crozes-Hermitage Les Palignons (12.5%) 1999: Very dark color; very strong mocha/coffee very toasty/Fr.oak/pungent bit roasted/mocha/chocolaty very ripe nose; soft/round/lush berry/Syrah loads of toasty/new/Fr.oak slight roasted/NorthernRhone flavor; med.short very toasty/ new/Fr.oak slight roasted light blackberry/Syrah finish; loads of new Fr.oak in a modern/Calif winemaking style; little NorthernRhone character. Disappointing.
  16. Dry Creek Vineyard Dry Creek Valley Old Vines Zinfandel (14.5%) 1992:Med.light color; rather old/tired old  Bordeauxsome tobaccoy/complex nose; off-dry/sweetish tobaccoy very ripe slight raspberry bit tired flavor; med. tobaccoy/cedary/old Bordeaux rather ripe bit raspberry finish w/ light tannins;  getting a bit gray around the edges & seems old before its time. John's mystery wine.
  17. Jacob Franklin Napa Valley Petite Sirah Hayne Vineyard (8 brls; 15.6%) 2000: Black color; very intense Fr.oak/ toasty very intense coffee/mocha exotic some licorice/black cherry/boysenberry cough syrup very spicy/peppery perfumey nose; very soft/fat/flabby intense mocha/coffee/toasty/Fr.oak some blackberry/peppery flavor; very long very soft/flabby some black cherry/peppery loads of smokey/ mocha/coffee/Fr,oak finish w/ some tannins; a PS loaded w/ new Fr.oak exotic character but very much lacking tannins & structure for aging. Not worth the  $65.00.
And the usual stuff from the bloody pulpit:
  1. The focus on this tasting was mostly on lesser Rhones. And lesser, indeed, they were. A pretty uninspiring set of Rhones. At any price. I can think of dozens of Calif wines in the $12-$18 price range I'd rather drink than these.
  2. Cuilleron-gaillard-Villard wines: This Gang of Three has a reputation for making great Condrieu and Cote-Rotie. I was expecting these to be excellent wines from good grapes of a lesser region. Instead, they tasted of international/modern winemaking methods applied to very lesser grapes. The wines were disappointing. The reasonable prices shoulda been the tip-off.
  3. JacobFranklin PS: This very limited PS is made by Ray Coursen Elyse Winery fame. The '98 was a terrific PS, one of the better Napa Valley versions I've had. The '99 was also pretty good. But this 2000 version is much too soft & flabby on the palate for my tastes. Jacob is Ray & Nancy's young son; whilst Elyse is their daughter.
TomHill

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