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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 January 3,2000:

French Rhones (Mostly)

Tasted last week some (mostly) French Rhones:
  1. Domaine des Aspes Viognier Vin de Pays d'Oc (13.6%) Vignobles Roger Pierrerue '98: Light gold color; bit earthy/steely/minerally slight floral/Riesling-like nose; soft very metallic light minerally/stoney rather thin/austere flavor; short metallic/lean/ austere/hard finish; pleasant enough nose but hurts on the palate.
  2. Chateau du Trignon CotesDuRhone Viognier (14%) '98: Med.light gold color; lovely perfumed/ pear/Viognier/spicy very attractive nose; tart bit minerally/fragrant/pear/Viognier light/ spicy flavor; med.long bit metallic/minerally attractive pear/Viognier finish; nicely done mainstream Viognier.
  3. Acacia Napa Valley/Carneros District Viognier (13.5%) '98: Med.gold color; bit toasty/oaked light fragrant/pear/Viognier slight earthy nose; tart/hard some toasty/oaked low key/ pear/pineapply/Viognier bit earthy flavor; med.long some toasty/oak light pineapply/pear/ Viognier slight bitter finish; more like an Alsatian Muscat than Viognier; nice touch of oak but not much fragrance. Overpriced at $30.00
  4. Guigal Condrieu (13.5%) '97: Med.gold color; lovely/fragrant/minerally/Viognier/Condrieu light/spicy/perfumed nose; spicy/fragrant/pear/peach/Viognier Condrieu-minerally light flavor; med.long minerally-Condrieu/spich/fragrant/peach/Viognier finish; very nice Condrieu character but a bit light & diffuse & tastes older than a '97; fair price. $25.00
  5. Domaine Gourt de Mautens Rasteau Cotes Du RhoneVillages (14%) Jerome Bressy '97: Med.dark color; rather earthy/SouthernRhone/dusty slight roasted some candied/strawberries/Grenache nose; bit thin lots of candied/Grenache/strawberry some earthy/dusty/toasted flavor; med.short bit thin candied/strawberry/Grenache finish w/ little tannins; a simple little CdR but not worth $16.00
  6. Rosenblum Cellars Solano Cnty Syrah England Shaw Vnyd (13.9%) '97: Dark color; strong buttery/ buttered popcorn/dyacetyl/Am.oaked bit licorice/gamey/Syrah nose; soft very buttery/ buttered popcorn/oaked some earthy/licorice/pungent slight horsey flavor; med. very buttery/ buttered popcorn slight licorice/pungent finish w/ little tannins; more like Zin than Syrah & not an exciting Zin at that; a bit on the coarse side & loaded w/ buttery/oak.
  7. Jaboulet Crozes-Hermitage '85: Med.color; pleasant tobaccoy/roasted/ espresso somewhat NorthernRhone/pungent nose; light fragrant roasted/espresso/Northern Rhone some dried out flavor; med.short roasted/espresso/pungent bit dried out finish w/ little tannins; rather pleasant NorthernRhone character but on the downside; in very good condition for a rather simple wine.
  8. Bruno Thierry Gigondas '85: Med.light some brown color; foul oxidized wet dog fur nose; undrinkable much too oxidized; another btl a few days later was somewhat better but still on the oxidized side.
  9. Chapoutier St.Joseph Deschants (12.5%) '97: Med.color; attractive fragrant/Syrah/blackberry very strawberry/cherry bit gamey nose; tart bit thin spicy/roasted/Syrah/blackberry/cherry flavor; med.long bit thin/light/lean attractive roasted/Syrah cherry/berry finish w/ light tannins; a pleasant Syrah if on the light side. $20.00, but worth only that.
  10. Young'sVnyd Shenandoah Valley Calif Syrah (14.0%) '97: Very dark color; rather strong Am. oaked blackberry/Amador/briary spicy/Syrah nose; soft strong Am.oaked spicy/blackberry Amador/briary/chocolaty/licorice flavor; med.long very strong Am.oaked licorice/blackberry/ Syrah Amador/briary/chocolaty finish w/ some tannins; needs yr or two; lots of Am.oak but a very nice Amador Syrah/Zin underneath. Good price. $14.95
  11. J.Vidal-Fleury Hermitage '85: Med.light color some browning color; foul/oxidized/sherry/ maderized nose; offensive/maderized flavor.
  12. Chapoutier Hermitage La Sizeranne (13%) '97: Med.dark color; lovely some gamey bit herbal/ blackberry/Syrah light roasted rather shy nose; tart bit light/lean some tannic pleasant gamey/Syrah/blackberry bit herbal/dusty flavor; med.long some gamey/herbal/blackberry/Syrah slight roasted/pungent finish w/ some tannins; the herbal character makes it see much like a (lighter) Qupe Hillside; a pleasant Hermitage but not much roasted/espresso character and a bit on the light side. Not worth $50.00
  13. Jamet Cote-Rotie '85: Med.light color; attractive coffee/roasted bit earthy somewhat tired nose; rather funky/fecal/barnyard slight roasted/espresso rather tired flavor; med.short slight roasted no fruit tired finish w/ light tannins; some interesting things therein but pretty tired wine.
  14. Chapoutier Cote-Rotie (12.5) '97: Med.dark color; rather blackberry/Syrah/licorice light roasted/complex nose; soft blackberry/licorice/Syrah/fruity slight roasted/earthy/dusty bit spicy flavor; long licorice/blackberry/Syrah slight pungent/roasted/herbal finish w/ some tannins; little roasted/C-R character & more like an Hermitage than C-R. Nice attractive wine but not worth $47.00
  15. H. Sorrel Hermitage La Greal '88: Dark color; rather earthy/dusty/wet cement very slight musty/corked some roasted/CdP-like complex nose; tart earthy/gamey bit funky/wet basement/ wet concrete light herbal/roasted/pungent flavor; med.long bit tart/lean funky/wet basement/dusty light herbal/roasted/pungent finish w/ some tannins; intereting if a bit strange Hermitage. Howard's mystery wine.
  16. Frey Mendocino County Syrah (organic grown/organic made) '98: Med.dark color; fairly strong dusty/earthy some blackberry/black cherry rather Am.oaked nose; soft black cherry/ blackberry/strawberry rather funky/bretty slight gamey rather Am.oaked/dusty/earthy flavor; med. some tannic rather earthy/dusty some black cherry/strawberry/cola Am.oaked rather funky/bretty bit wet dog fur finish; needs yr or two; a bit funky/unclean & not a lot of Syrah character but a decent red at $12.49
Aye, and some more sermons from the bloody pulpit:
  1. The Gigondas was sadly over-the-hill by a large margin. When it was first poured, it was a rather washed out/old color w/ a slight browning. When I went back to try it again at the end of the evening, it was a very murky/brown color; a remarkable change in color in a very short period. That is, browning is a well-known oxidation effect in wine so this (highly reduced) wine was oxidizing fast. Why is it then when we pour a young red & slosh it around in a decanter to oxidize all the young tannins and make it softer, allowing it to breathe, we never see any browning or precipitate form as the polyphenolics are oxidized?? A semi-rethorical question; food for thought.
  2. My first exposure to a Young's wine was a '94 Zin that was really foul, very fecal/dirty diaper pail. Dreadful stuff. Although I've heard some good reports on their wines, I was reluctant to revisit their wines. This Syrah was very clean & had none of those problems at all. Not TerreRouge quality, but pretty good, especially if you like Am.oak.
  3. The Chapoutier '97's were all pleasant/attractive Rhones; more on the elegant/light side. Not a particularly strong showing; not worth the prices.
  4. The three '85 were particularly disappointing. In their youth, they were pretty impressive Rhones. They all came from Argonaut up in Denver in a torrid summer of '87. Hmmmmm??
TomHill

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