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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 17, 1996:

Mostly New Mostly California Cabernet & Merlot

Tasted a few, mostly new, Calif Cabs last night: 
 
 
  1. Montevina Amador County Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon '77: deep black cherry cedary  tobaccoy slight herbal Cab nose; soft smooth round pungent licorice smokey cedary flavor; very long pungent licorice tobaccoy cedary finish w/ light tannins; drying out a bit in the finish but really lovely complex smooth round developed Cab.
  2. Carneros Creek Esola Vnyd Amador Cabernet Sauvignon (14.4% alc) '76: deep dusty black cherry briary youthful some Amador Zin-like licorice nose; bit hot lush black cherry very spicy briary sweetish light oaked flavor; long very spicy licorice black cherry bit hot finish w/ light tannins; loaded w/ spicy almost Zin-like character; still tastes rather young.
  3. Carneros Creek Amador Esola Vineyard Cabernet SauvignonCS (14.2%) NV ('90-'92-'93): rather black- curranty Cab dusty licorice bit closed nose; soft bit diffuse ripe spicy black cherry/blackcurranty dusty light oaked nose; med.long dusty black cherry light oaked finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; a nicely done fairly spicy Amador Cab.
  4. Carneros Creek Amador Esola Vineyard Cabernet SauvignonCS (14.6%) '91: deep pungent licorice dusty strong blackcherry blackcurranty very spicy light oaked nose; rich mouth- filling licorice dusty blackcherry bit earthy flavor; very long ripe black cherry dusty licorice finish w/ ample tannins; needs 3-8 yrs.
  5. Jade Mountain Napa Valley Merlot '93: fragrant pungent smokey ripe lush Merlot nose; very soft fat ripe jammy Marlot some toasty oaked flavor; long soft ripe Merlot/jammy finish w/ light tannins; nicely done but a bit soft and porky on the palate. Overpriced at $22.50
  6. La Merleausine Oregon Merlot '93: fragrant very spicy almost Pinot-like cinammon&cloves nose; tart very spicy cinammon&cloves dusty floral slight edgy flavor; long spicy flowery cinammon&cloves bit toasty oaked finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-5 yrs; a really interesting Merlot w/ lots of spicy/ floral character; good acidity & structure for aging. 
  7. Cinnabar Columbia Vlly Wash State Merlot '93: intense pungent earthy smokey very herbal coffee nose; soft cherry herbal coffee toasty oaked dusty flavor;   long herbal dusty coffee  spicy cherry earthy finish w/ light tannins; loaded w/ herbal Wash State Cab character; most people disliked this but I thought it to be good herbal Wash Cab.
  8. Santa Cruz Mountainn Vineyard Santa Cruz Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon '80: intense dusty SCM Cab earthy toasty/cedary oaked nose; hard tannic dusty SCM Cab earthy toasty oaked flavor; very long very dusty SCM Cab menthol toasty oaked earthy finish w/ fair tannins; still a very young wine; needs age.
  9. Douglass Hill Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon '92: This is wine that didn't make it into the Silver Oak AV Cab blend & sold to a negociant. strong fragrant spicy Am. oaked pencilly black cherry slight musty nose; soft fragrant black cherry strong Am. oaked bit light flavor; med.long very strong Am. oaked light black cherry finish w/ light tannins; the Silver Oak connection is obvious; very good Cab for the $13.
  10. Ravenswood Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon '93: very strong minty/menthol oaked black- curanty licorice toasty nose; rich minty/menthol tannic ripe blackcurranty Cab pungent tannic flavor; very long sweet minty/menthol oaked tannic ripe blackcurranty finish; needs 3-8 yrs; a big rich rough Cab very much in the Ravenswood style.
  11. Graceland Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon '93: If'n you rotate the bottle 90 deg counter- clockwise & hold it at arm's lenghth, you can see Elvis' face on the label, no joking!! strong fragrant blackcurranty licorics perfumed oaked nose; soft smooth buttery oaked light herbal/blackcurranty flavor; med.long soft oaked very buttery light blackcuranty finish w/ light tannins. Made by Phil Baxter of Phillipe-Lorraine; a pleasant $12 Cab for $21.
  12. Rafanelli Dry Creek Vlly Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon '92: intense rustic earthy dusty old  vines blackcurranty strong oaked nose; big rich dusty mouthfilling oaked ripe blackcurranty flavor; very long rough rustic dusty old vines big ripe blackcurranty toasty oaked finish w/ ample tannins; needs 2-8 yrs; classic rough & rustic big Rafanelli red.
  13. Viader Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon '92: intense pungent licorice blackcurranty toasty Fr. oak menthol dusty mtn Cab nose; rich mouthfilling tannic dusty mtn Cab ripe blackcurranty earthy toasty Fr. oak flavor; very long pungent licorice dusty blackcurranty Fr. oaked menthol finish; needs 5-15 yrs. A big ripe intense mtn-grown Cab. Will be a great one.
  14. Phillip Togni Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon '93: Wow!! Very intense pungent toasty charred oak roasted bit stinky intense blackcurranty licorice very dusty nose; huge rich mouthfilling highly extracted tannic toasty/charred oak intense dusty mtn Cab blackcurranty flavor; very long very intense toasty/roasted/charred Fr. oaked dusty mtn Cab blackcurranty/black cherry tannic finish; needs 10-20 yrs; a huge intense extracted mtn grown Cab. Ouch on the pricetag of $38.
 
  Musings. 
  1. 1. Carneros Creek bough the Esola Cab grapes, only a few tons worth, since 1974. Frank Mahoney usually blends a bit (5%-10%) into his regular Cab to give it a shot in the arm; and then bottles the rest & sells this small amount mostly direct from the winery. It has always been quite a good wine, usually more characteristic of Amador Zin than Cab, seldom much of the blackcurranty Cab character is obvious. It's a wine worth seeking out for a different Cab experience if you are up at the winery.
  2. 2. The SantaCruzMtn Cab was very impressive and quite a young wine. It shows a distinct familial resemblance to Monte Bello Cab in that it has the very dusty earthy characteristic of SCM Cab. Ken Burnap makes some pretty big & rustic & rough wines, including Chard & Pinot, but doesn't seem to get much recoginition any more. The Cab, when it was first released, had the classic "Burnap stench" to it, a somewhat stinky/H2S/sewer gas aroma (but absolutely packed w/ flavor) that many people couldn't see beyond. The wholesaler dumped the rest of the lot and it was retailing around $7. An absolute steal, should've bought even more than I did.
  3. 3. The Ravenswood Cab was impressive. Joel gets all the good press for his Zin and many people overlook the very impressive Cabs & Merlots that he also produces. This '93 Sonoma is a good one.
TomHill

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