ALL we sell, with tasting notes for mostSearch our web site by keyword. Includes the Usenet Wine FAQALL we sell, with tasting notes for mostSome of our favorite linksHow to get here from there. Highway condition links.An archive of the Santa Barbara Independent's own GRAPEVINE local wine columnWining, dining, touring, weather and more. The Definitive Guide to Tasting Wine in Santa Barbara County. Complete list of wineriesOur own great Emporium events as well as links to local area wine eventsOur line-up of spirits, definition of word related to spirits, information on producers and more Wines, wine tastings, history, neat info on wineries and winemakers and more The Los Olivos Wine & Spirits Emporium. Experts in County of Santa Barbara Wine and Central Coast Wine
 
Clickable Image  

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 6/25/03:

Some New Navarros and Others

Tasted last night some new Navarros and others:
 
  1. Jewel Collection Viognier Calif (13.5%; www.JewelWine.com) V&B by Jewel, Woodbridge 2002: Med.light gold color; slight herbal light pear/Viognier simple nose; slightly sweet weak pear/Viognier simple flavor; med.short sweet light pear/Viognier finish; smells/tastes like it's been muted; too sweet; dull & insipid; serve ice-cold; no bargin at any price. $10.00
  2. Yalumba South Australia Viognier (14.0%) 2002: Med.gold color; light simple pear/Viognier slight earthy nose; tart light pear/Viognier/pineapply washed-out/dilute flavor; slightly more interesting but pretty dull & simple.
  3. Navarro Mendocino Chardonnay (13.4%) 2001: Light gold color; attractive clean appley/melony/Chardonnay very light oak nose; attractive clean/pure varietal/appley/Chardonnay very light pencilly/oak flavor; med. long clean/appley/Chardonnay finish; bit underacid but pretty/clean/appley low-oak Chardonnay at a good price. $13.28
  4. Navarro Anderson Valley Premier reserve Chardonnay (13.6%) 2001: Med.light gold color; lovely smokey/Oscar MeierWeiner/soked some ripe/melony/Chardonnay fragrant/floral nose; tart some smokey/pungent/oak ripe/ melony/Chardonnay spicy/nutmeg/floral flavor; lots of ripeness but good acidity/balance and interesting smokey character.
  5. Navarro Anderson Valley Riesling (11.9%) 2001: Light yellow color; attractive floral/JR/pineapply nose; tart spicy/floral/JR/pineapply bit lean/tight off-dry flavor; bit simple but pleasant/attractive JR at a fair price. $13.28
  6. Riesling "Hugel" Vendange Tardives (SaH: 24.5%; RS: 2.5%; 12.5%) 1996: Med.light gold color; beautiful strong gout de petrol/valve oil smokey/pungent/complex some floral/R very perfumed nose; very tart petroly/valve oil very glycerined smokey/pungent very spicy/floral/R lovely flavor; very long/ lingering petrol/valve oil pungent/smokey lush/floral/R fairly complex finish; a beautiful R showing lots of petrol; bit on the pricey side for what it is. $63.00
  7. Navarro Cuvee Traditional GWT (13.4%) 2002: Med.light gold color; attractive/fragrant lychee/GWT/ hair oil rather spicy nose; soft/fat off-dry bit dilute flowery/lychee/GWT flavor; med.long soft light lychee/GWT/hair oil finish; pleasant bit dull GWT; needs acidity. $10.91
  8. Navarro Anderson Valley Muscat Blanc (13.2%) 2001: Pale gold color; lovely fragrant/floral/muscatty slight earthy nose; tart very dry lush/spicy/floral/muscatty clean/crisp flavor; med.long crisp/tart floral/ muscatty finish; crisp/clean very Alsatian-like muscat; good value at $13.28.
  9. Navarro Mendocino Edelzwicker (13.1%) 2002: Light gold color; fragrant/grapey some GWT/spicy attractive/ floral nose; very tart off-dry floral/spicy flavor w/ med.long finish; very nice-drinking summertime white at a great price. $10.19
  10. Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Zind (Pinot d'Alsace, Indice 2; 13%; MeBaD; 50% Auxerrois, 35% Chardonnay, 15% PinotBlanc) Z001: Med.gold color; beautiful/fragrant/spicy almost GWT-spicy-like very perfumed/ aromatic nose; tart/spicy dry bit earthy some floral/perfumed/R-like flavor w/ very long/lush floral finish very R like ib character; lovely if a bit pricy wine. $37.50
  11. Heidi Schrock Furmint (12.5%) Rust/Burgenland/Austria 2001: Pale yellow color; pretty some floral/ aromatic rather earthy/dusty interesting nose; tart/lean/hard earthy/dusty bit metallic/steely flavor w/ med. steely/earthy finish; a rather lean/hard wine that probably needs age; bit pricey at  $24.00
  12. Navarro Mendocino TW Rose (Old Vine Cuvee; 85% Grenache, 15% Syrah; 13.3%) 2001: Pale copper/pink color; lovely strawberry/fragrant/spicy/floral nose; tart spicy/strawberry/floral slight earthy flavor; med. bright strawberry/floral finish; a dry lovely some Provence-like rose.
  13. Navarro Mendocino Pinot Noir (13.6%) 2001: Med.light color; light pencilly/toasty fragrant/cherry/Pinot slight earthy/dusty nose; tart bright cherry/Pinot light pencilly/toasty/oak flavor; med. some buttery rather pencilly/toasty cherry finish w/ light tannins; nice Pinot for the price. $14.23
  14. HRM Rex-Goliath Giant 47 Pound Rooster Central Coast Pinot Noir (13.5%; www.RexGoliath.com) 2001: Med.light color; rather earthy/herbal/black cherry/Pinot light/weak nose; some intense herbal/ black cherry/Pinot Noir earthy rather sour/bitter flavor; med.short sour/bitter rather herbal/Pinot Noir finish w/ light tannins; definitely Pinot Noir but a mean sour/bitter streak to it. No bargin at any price, but cute label. $7.00
  15. Navarro Mendocino Cabernet Sauvignon (13.9%) 1998: Med.dark color; very attractive blackcurranty/Cab earthy slight herbal/perfumed talc some complex nose; tart bit herbal/earthy some blackcurranty/Cab slight buttery/ oak flavor w/ med.long finish w/ light tannins; pleasant/drinkable mature Cab.
  16. Santa Cruz Mtn Vineyards SCM Cabernet Sauvignon Bates Ranch (SaH: 25%; 13.8%) 1980: Dark color; bit reduced/pungent nose clears to black pepper very smokey/pungent herbal/blackcurranty/Cab chocolaty/licorice toasty/oak rather young complex nose; tart some tannic big blackcurranty/peppery/herbal/Cab smokey/pungent/ toasty/oak smoked poblano chile complex flavor; very long toasty/oak/pungent/smokey/charred smoked poblano/blackcurranty/Cab/herbal finish w/ some tannins; beautiful pungent complex and rather young Cab. A steal at $6.00

More stuff from the Bloody Pulpit:
  1. The Navarros were all from Howard&Rhoda on the pre-release shipment.
  2. The Z-H reflects as I understand the forbiddin usage of Pinot d'Alsace as a varietal name by the EU. It is also the first btlling to reflect Olivier Humbrecht's Sweetness Index on the label, a welcome addition that I hope becomes more widely used in Alsace.
  3. The Rex-Goliath commemerates this huge Texas rooster that used to be a big hit on the Texas county fair circuit. Not sure what he has to do with wine, but it's a cute story. Product from the Wimbledon Wine Company (www.wimbledonwine.com), that has a number of lesser-known wineries in their portfolio.
  4. SantaCruzMtn Cab: I pulled this outta the cellar as a mystery wine when it was clear we wern't going to have the requisite gadzillion mystery wines people always bring. I was expecting it to pretty much be on its last legs. It was not; still a pretty big/pungent Cabernet.
  5. This wine (and the companion Duriff) were released by Ken Burnap priced in the low-$20's as I recall. The wine, as was his style then, very/very reduced; stinky/pungent/sewer gas/diaper pail/ fecal in character; what I had come to call the Burnap stench. Small wonder it didn't sell at that price. Even though it was very stinky/reduced; it was packed w/ intense flavors and tannins and I just KNEW it would have to age into something pretty good. Anyway, since the distributor couldn't sell this very stinky wine; they marked it way down to clear it out and it (and the Duriff) of the '80 and '81 vintages, were available at $6/btl.... and still didn't sell. I bought a bunch of them and, alas, this was my last btl. And this was the best it's ever been; probably as good as any mature Ridge MonteBello I've had. This is the wine that taught me to believe in reductive winemaking. So when I run into a stinky/ fecal smelling Alban Syrah; I pay it no mind; confident that down the road that reduced character will lead to a great wine. Certainly did in this case and I believe w/ the Albans as well.
TomHill
 

Return to the Tom Hill Archive Index