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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 November 15, 2000:

New Navarro Wines (mostly)

Howard&Rhoda Sherry provided last week some new Navarro wines to try: 
  1. Navarro Anderson Valley Deep End Blend White Riesling (11.8%; RS:0.9%) '98: Pale yellow color;  lovely fragrant light pineapply/floral/R some Alsatian nose; tart/clean bit metallic/crisp  attractive floral/R pineapply/appley bracing/zingy flavor; long bracing/zippy/tart light  floral/R pineapply/appley finish; lots of acidity & bright R fruit.
  2. Navarro Mendocino Chenin Blanc (13.2%; RS:0.4%) '99: Pale yellow color; nice/spicy CB/floral  clean/fruity nose; pleasant aromatic/floral/fruity/appley/melony clean crisp CB flavor;  med.short Sprite/7Up/floral/fruity/melony finish; a pleasant-drinking very fruity/CB wine. 
  3. Navarro Anderson Valley Pinot Gris (13.7%; RS:0.39%) '99: Pale yellow color; fragrant/appley bit  earthy/smokey/spicy nose; tart/metallic bit sweet/sour lean/tight appley/floral light earthy/  smokey flavor; med.short metallic appley light floral finish; pleasant wine but more  Calif Riesling in character than Alsatian PG.
  4. Navarro Anderson Valley Estate Gewurztraminer (13.6%; RS: 0.45%) '99: Med.yellow color; terrific  spicy/GWT/lychee bit hair oil very aromatic/perfumed nose; soft spicy/lychee attractive  floral/GWT bit hair oil flavor; long bit off-dry spicy/lychee/GWT light hair oil perfumed  finish; terrific nose but a bit dilute on the palate.
  5. Navarro Mendocino Cuvee 128 (13.1%; RS: 0.29%) SauvignonBlanc '99: Med.light color; attractive  herbal/cat-pee/figgy/SB clean bit perfumed talc nose; soft/round bit metallic light herbal/  perfumed talc/cinammon light oak flavor; med.long slight metallic light figgy/herbal light  oak finish; pleasant low-key SB.
  6. Navarro Mendocino Table Wine Chardonnay (13.4%; RS: 0.39%) '99: Med.light gold color; light  spicy/cinammon/oak clean/appley/Chard attractive/simple nose; light cinammon/oak clean/  appley/Chard bit green/spicy flavor; med.short light appley/Chard/spicy light cinammon/oak  finish; pleasant/simple nice-drinking Chard. Great price at $8.75 
  7. Navarro Mendocino Chardonnay (13.2%; 75% Anderson Valley, 25% PotterVlly) '98: Med.light gold  color; light toasty/oaky melony/fragrant/Chard slight earthy nose; tart/clean light toasty/oak  light melony/appley/Chard flavor; med.short appley/melony/Chard citrusy light toasty/oak  finish; pleasant lightly oaked simple Chard.
  8. Navarro Anderson Valley Premier Reserve Chard (13.1%) '98: Med.dark gold color; strong butter-  scotchy/toasty/buttery/Fr.oaked ripe melony/Chard nose; strong toasty/butterscotchy/oaked/  buttery floral/melony/appley/Chard bit cinammon/spicy flavor; very long butterscotchy/toasty/  oaked buttery bit smokey/spicy ripe/melony finish; just more intensity of both fruit & oak;  attractive tasty Chard.
  9. Navarro Mendocino Pinot Noir (13.7%) '98: Med.light color; bright/fragrant cherry/soda pop/  whole berry fermentation light toasty/oak nose; tart bit lean bright cherry/soda pop zippy  some toasty/oak flavor; med.short some pencilly/toasty/oak bright cherry/soda pop finish w/  light tannins; simple bright cherry Pinot w/ lots of whole-berry fermentation character. 
  10. Navarro Anderson Valley Methode a l'Ancien Pinot Noir (13.7%) '98: Med.color; deeper more earthy/  black cherry spicy/cloves some toasty/pencilly bit Burgundian nose; tart rather pencilly/  smokey/oaked fairly deep black cherry/cherry light earthy flavor; med.long toasty/pencilly/oak  earthy/black cherry finish w/ light tannins; pleasant earthy/Burgundian-style Pinot.
  11. Navarro Anderson Valley Deep End Blend PinotNoir (13.9%) '98: Med.dark color; strong smokey/toasty/  oaked/molasses/maple syrup/pungent strong black cherry/earthy nose; big rich black cherry/  maple syrup/pungent/smokey rather toasty/pencilly/oaked complex flavor; long rich toasty/smoky/  pungent/charred strong black cherry/earthy spicy/cloves finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs;  rather Burgundian in style; one of the best Navarro Pinots yet.
  12. Panther Creek Willamette Valley Reserve (13%; U; 535 cs) PinotNoir '98: Dark color; earthy/funky/  bit fecal/pungent slight volatile rather Mourvedre-like earthy/complex nose; tart bit thin/  hard funky/pungent toasty/oak black cherry/earthy flavor; long hard/tannic pungent/funky/  smokey ripe earthy/black cherry toasty/Fr.oaked finish w/ fair tannins; not the richness &  lushness I'd expect of a '98; maybe over-saigneed?; strange stuff.
  13. Navarro Mendocino Cabernet Sauvignon (13.9%) '95: Very dark color; strong herbal/CS smokey/toasty/  cinammon/cloves/oaked some earthy/dusty complex nose; tart bit lean/hard some herbal/CS/pepper/  green peppercorn cinammon/cloves/pungent spicy hard/tannic flavor; long cinammon/cloves/oak  pungent/toasty green peppercorn/herbal/CS earthy/dusty finish w/ fair tannins; needs 2-5 yrs;  one of the biggest most extracted Navarros I've had; pretty good Mendocino Cab.
  14. Navarro Mendocino Zinfandel (15.0%) '98: Dark color; strong spicy/toasty/oaked licorice/  blackberry/tarry very peppery nose; tart Dr.Pepper/licorice/blackberry/tarry/pungent earthy/  dusty big flavor; very long pungent/tarry/smokey/toasty/oaked blackberry/licorice/spicy/  peppery finish w/ fair tannins; big rich hard extracted Zin that needs age; best Navarro  Zin yet. Great price at $17.00 
  15. Pringle Family Vnyds Howell Mtn Outpost Zin (old Lamborn Family Vnyd; 16%) '98: Very dark color;  quite volatile/finger nail polish/EA/fumey/hot strong blackberry/licorice/fruity/tarry nose;  hot/volatile/fumey strong blackberry/licorice/black pepper toasty/oak flavor; long very  peppery/blackberry/tarry/pungent rather hot/volatile some toasty/oak/cedary finish w/ fair  tannins; a raging volatility marrs some pretty interesting Zin in this wine.
  16. Navarro Anderson Valley Vintage Select Late Harvest Gewurztraminer (10.0%; RS: 14.2%) '99: Med.dark  gold color; beautiful aromatic/floral/intense/lychee/hair oil light peachy/botrytis nose;  very sweet intense lychee/hair oil/spicy/GWT slight raisened/oxidized flavor; very long  intense lychee/hair oil loads of GWT fruit slight oxidized/raisen finish; not much botrytis  evident; tastes like GWT that set out on the leavless vines into Dec dehydrating; pretty  terrific dessert wine at a great price.
And some notes:
  1. Many of these are Howard&Rhoda's prelease stash that recently arrived, hence the prices may  be a bit lower than normal. 
  2. Most of these Navarros had strong/fragrant noses, but they all seemed a bit dilute on the  palate as if, perhaps, they were being a bit overcropped. But you certainly can't object  to the prices. 
  3. Zin & Cabernet: The Navarro versions I've had before of these wines tasted like Zin or Cab  made by a Pinot producer. These two ones were in a whole 'nuther league; big rich & extracted.  They are a bit lacking in lushness & forward fruit, but seem pretty ageable wines. 
  4. Outpost Zin: This wine comes from the old Lamborn Family Vnyd estate on Howell Mtn. The  winemaker was Ehren Jordan, so I had very high expectations for the wine. Very much an over-  the-top Zin; it had some pretty impressive fruit in it but the raging volatility badly marred  the wine & made it seem very hot/fumey/alcohoic/mouth searing on the palate. 
  5. No doubt about it. Nobody does dessert wines in Calif like Navarro. Consistently always very  good to outstanding. And at great prices. 
TomHill

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