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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 Novemer 29, 2000:

New Australian Rhones

Tasted a few weeks ago some new Oz Rhones:
  1. Yeringberg Yarra Valley Marsanne/Roussanne (13.0%) '99: Med.gold color; fragrant/almondy/appley bit floral/earthy no oaked nose; tart/lean/hard appley bit floral/metallic/earthy/stoney/hard flavor; very tart/hard/lean metallic/stoney bit appley/floral finish; larts of Marsanne character; may be a terrific wine in 10-20 yrs but a real leap of faith; stupid price. $34.50
  2. Charles Melton Barossa Valley Rose of Virginia Grenache/CS (12.5%) '00: Med.light red color; fragrant Grenache/strawberry very perfumed/spicy loads of strawberry/floral nose; soft very floral/spicy lush loads of Alpine strawberry flavor; very long very lush intense strawberry/Grenache/floral finish w/ light tannins; delicious light red loaded w/ alpine strawberry character; this is what the Phelps Grenache should be like; good value. $14.00
  3. Hongell Barossa Valley Grenache Biscay Vineyard (13.8%) '98: Med.color; bit herbal rather black cherry/cola/ pepperminty/strawberry bit dusty minty/oak nose; soft candied cherry cola bit licorice some sour some minty/Am.oaked flavor; med.long sweetish/candied cherry cola some minty/oaked finish w/ little tannins; lots of cheap Christmas candy character; overpriced. $18.50
  4. Twelve Staves McLaren Vale Grenache Gary Wait Vineyard (14%) '99: Med.color; very intense strawberry/Grenache/ peppery very spicy/fragrant nose; rich very peppery/spicy/strawberry some Am.oaked flavor; long very spicy/strawberry/peppery rather Am.oaked finish w/ light tannins; lots of peppery/strawberry character; very tasty Grenache.
  5. Clarendon Hills Old Vines Grenache Clarendon Vineyard (15.0%) '98: Med.dark color; very strong fragrant/ strawberry/Grenache some pencilly/toasty bit earthy/eucalyptus nose; rich/sour/quince/bitter strawberry/ Grenache some eucalyptus/oaked flavor; long ripe strawberry/Grenache minty/menthol/eucalyptus/oaked some sour/bitter finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; more bright/overripe character & not as extracted as the other.
  6. Clarendon Hills Old Vines Grenache Kangarilla Vineyard (13.5%) '98: Med.color; rather earthy/dusty/gamey/spicy rather strawberry/Grenache some Rhonish bit Am.oaked nose; tart very spicy earthy/dusty some strawberry/ Grenache some Am.oaked flavor; med.long gamey/strawberry/Grenache rather earthy/dusty/Rhonish finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; more clunky/Rhonish & less intense but more interesting.
  7. Charles Melton Barossa Valley Grenache (15.0%) '98: Med.dark color; very intense/pencilly/Am.oak/menthol licorice/strawberry/Grenache nose; rich very pencilly/Am.oaked/menthol/buttery strong strawberry/Grenache loads of fruit flavor; very long Am.oaked/buttery/pencilly very strong spicy/strawberry/Grenache finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-5 yrs of age; loaded w/ Am.oak but loads of strawberry fruit.
  8. Torbreck Barossa Valley Woodcutter's Red (13.5%) '99: Very dark color; strong minty/menthol/oaked very perfumed/ blackberry/strawberry very spicy complex nose; intense sour blackberry/strawberry some menthol/Am.oaked tart lots of fruit flavor; long bit sour/tart strong blackberry/strawberry ratherr menthol/Am.oaked juicy/ jammy bit bretty/horsey finish; a ripe juicy/jammy red; good value. $22.00
  9. The Hattrick McLarenVale Red Wine (50% Grenache, 45% Shiraz, 5% CS; 15.0%) '99: Black color; very intense strawberry/blackberry gamey/Syrah eucalyptus very spicy intense nose; very strong blackberry/boysenberry/ Syrah very fragrant/spicy some minty/eucalyptus/oaked flavor; very long/intense boysenberry/jammy/ blackberry/Syrah/strawberry spicy/aromatic loads of fruit finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-6 yrs; loaded w/ very intense/ripe fruit w/ some eucalyptus/oak.
  10. Goundrey Mt.Barker/ Western Australia Shiraz Reserve Selection (14.0%) '97: Very dark color; lovely earthy very meaty/gamey/Syrah very peppery/cracked black pepper spicy/complex Rhonish nose; tart intense black pepper gamey/meaty/Syrah earthy/dusty complex bit funky/Rhonish flavor; very long very black pepper/ spicy meaty/gamey/Syrah bit earthy/funky finish w/ fair tannins; needs several yrs; very interesting/ complex Syrah w/ lots of black pepper; great value.
  11. Pirramimma McLarenVale Shiraz Stock's Hill Vineyard (14%) '98: Black color; very intense boysenberry/blackberry very licorice/chocolaty hugely fruity rather Am.oaked/vanilla nose; soft very intense blackberry/boysenberry/ Syrah jammy/licorice/pungent gamey vanilla/oaked flavor; very long very intense chocolaty/boysenberry/ blackberry/Syrah/licorice ripe/jammy rather vanilla/Am.oaked finish w/ fair tannins; loads of intense Syrah fruit but good structure for aging; a steal at $19.00
  12. Hewitson L'Oizeau McLaren Vale Shiraz (14.1%) '97: Dark color; intense blackberry/Syrah/peppery/gamey very spicy complex bit volatile/aromatic nose; tart rather dusty/earthy spicy/blackberry/Syrah complex bit bretty flavor; long some menthol/oaked/medicinal dusty very spicy/gamey/Syrah/blackberry some minty bit bretty finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; pretty interesting Syrah at a good price. $22.00
  13. Hewitson L'Oizeau McLaren Vale Shiraz (14.0%) '98: Very dark color; more intense blackberry/boysenberry/ Syrah loads of forward fruit vanilla/Am.oaked nose; soft loads of blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah some vanilla/oaked flavor; long/lush loads of blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah some vanilla/oaked finish w/ some tannins; bigger/riper/more intense than the '97 but not worth the price increase. $32.00
  14. Charles Melton Nine Popes (54% Grenache, 44% Shiraz, 2% Mourvedre; 14.5%) '98: Dark color; very strong blackberry/boysenberry/licorice some menthol/eucalyptus/oaked rather spicy fragrant nose; tart very menthol/ eucalyptus/oaked very spicy/boysenberry/blackberry/jammy/ripe complex flavor; very long tart strawberry/ blackberry/blueberry/strawberry some menthol/eucalyptus/Am.oaked finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; a very good rich/ripe/deep Grenache.
  15. Charles Melton Barossa Valley Shiraz (14.5%) '98: Black color; very intense ripe/chocolaty/licorice intense boysenberry/blackberry/Syrah loads of intense fruit complex/perfumed/aromatic nose; soft/rich/lush very intense boysenberry/blackberry/Syrah/licorice/chocolaty complex some Am.oaked bit gamey flavor; very long very intense/licorice/boysenberry/Syrah some Am.oaked/vanilla gamey/complex/spicy finish w/ fair tannins; needs 3-8 yrs; loads of intense ripe Syrah fruit w/ nice touch of oak.
  16. Luigi d'Allesandro Podere Il Bosco Toscano (13%) Syrah di Manzano '98: Very dark color; intense green olive/ pungent/charred/toasty/oaked rather blackberry/Syrah some NorthernRhone/smokey/pungent nose; tart green olive/ bit blackberry/Syrah earthy toasty/oak/pungent/smokey flavor; long/tart green olive/blackberry/Syrah rather toasty/charred/pungent/Fr.oaked mocha/smokey finish w/ some hard tannins; lots of charred/oak but very interesting Syrah character.
Just a bit of a bloody pulpit:
  1. Grenache: I continue to be mightly impressed w/ the Grenaches coming from Australia. World class wines; some of the best in the world. They're consistently greater than those from France and, certainly, Calif. The Alban Grenache is the only one to come close, but look for a '99 from AdamTolmach/Ojai to be close. But Calif will catch up in 10 yrs, I'm convinced, with the Aussies.
  2. Oak: This tasting was a continuation of the trend I've been noting over the last yr or so; a more modest usage of oak by the Aussies. They used to give everything a big shot of oak, whether the fruit was there or not. I'm seeing less of that. The ones that are strongly oaked seem to have a pretty intense fruit to carry all the oak. A trend I hope continues.
TomHill

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