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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 June, 2002:

Ojai Vineyards California Syrahs 

Notes from a small vertical of Ojai Vineyards California Syrahs done w/ Adam in June:
 
  1. Ojai Calif Syrah (Bien Nacido/ZacaMesa/Thompson/Estate vnyds) 1994: Dark color; lovely/complex perfumed smokey/spicy blackberry nose that becomes very pungent/toasty/smokey; tart/juicy blackberry/Syrah complex some toasty/pungent flavor; developing some bottle complexity but still in terrific shape and still some yrs ahead of it.
  2. Ojai Calif Syrah (RollRanch/Bien Nacido/ZacaMesa/Estate) 1995: Dark color; very strong blackberry/ boysenberry licorice/pungent/smokey intense Syrah nose; soft/big/lush juicy/boysenberry/framboise slight pungent/smokey flavor w/ light tannin; loaded w/ Syrah fruit & still young.
  3. Ojai Calif Syrah (RollRanch/Bien Nacido/Stolpman vnyds) 1996: Very dark color; big green olive/blackberry some toasty/oak/pungent complex nose; rich blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah slight green olive light toasty flavor; a very interesting and still young Syrah.
  4. Ojai Calif Syrah 1997: Very dark colr; more blackberry/boysenberry/juicy/Syrah light toasty/oak nose; soft/round/lush very ripe loads of boysenberry/blackberry/Syrah light toasty flavor; not quite the tannins/structure of the others, probably acause the large '97 crop loads.
  5. Ojai Calif Syrah 1998: More toasty/pungent/oaked very peppery/black pepper/blackberry/Syrah/black cherry nose; big/rich lush blackberry/Syrah/black cherry light toasty flavor w/ good tannins; still needs more age; terrific Syrah.
  6. Ojai Calif Syrah 1999: Arghhhhh....badly corked. The producer would have replaced it...if he had any there at the winery.
  7. Ojai Santa Barbara County Syrah 2000: Very dark color; fairly strong blackberry/Syrah/black cherry/cola bit dusty/earthy rather closed nose; tart/closed/tannic/hard some blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah light toasty flavor; seems really tight & closed right now but very structured for long aging; I expect this  to be a killer Syrah in a yr or two, and hold much longer than that.

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