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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 3, 2004:

Aromatic Whites

We tasted last week some aromatic whites:       
  1. Bonny Doon Le Sophiste WTW (52% Marsanne, 48% Roussanne) Santa Cruz Mountains 1989: Med.dark gold color; light toasty/pungent/nutmeg/cloves/oak fragrant slight hazelnutty fairly perfumed/complex nose; tart rather lush/rich spicy/nutmeg/cloves bit appley/nutty/ toasted hazelnuts flavor; long lush/tart complex quite spicy/nutmeg finish; a lovely/ rich complex wine that's still in good shape. $24.00
  2. Bonny Doon Le Sophiste WTW (81.25% Marsanne, 18.75% Roussanne) Santa Cruz Mountains 1990: Med.gold color; rather oxidized/nutty slight fusel oil quite unattractive nose; tart rather bitter fairly oxidized/nutty/toasty/pungent unpleasant flavor; lots of oak and pretty oxidized; DOA. $26.50
  3. Bonny Doon LeS ophiste WTW (73% Marsanne, 27% Roussanne) Santa Cruz Mountains 1991: Med. yellow gold color; attractive spicy/hazelnutty slight old Riesling/waxy light toasty/ oak quite complex nose; soft/rich/lush complex bit honeyed/old Riesling spicy/hazel- nutty lovely/complex flavor; med.long lush hazelnutty/honey comp[lex finish; good old RhoneBlanc character w/ a touch of old Riesling character; lovely/complex wine. $25.30
  4. Bonny Doon Le Sophiste (77% Marsanne, 23% Roussanne; 14.4%) Santa Cruz Mountains 1992: Med.yellow color; slight SO2/used fireworks/burnt gunpowder/pungent/smokey slight hazelnutty/spicy complex nose; tart beautiful lush/rich very spicy/pungent/ smokey bit pencilly/oak complex hazelnutty/nutmeg/spicy flavor; very long rich/tart spicy/hazelnutty light pencilly/pungent/smokey quite complex finish; a beautiful complex wine. $25.00
  5. Edmunds St. John El Dorado County Pinot Grigio (14.5%) 1998: Med.yellow color; attractive slight fusel oil/petrolly very floral/fragrant slight smokey/pungent/earthy perfumey nose; rich/textured/oily rather Alsatian/floral some smokey/pungent light earthy/ petrol flavor; very long rich/textured some smokey/pungent/petrolly rather floral/ fragrant finish; first Calif Pinot Grigio I've ever had that displays some similarity to older Alsatian PGs; beautiful amazingly good wine. $14.00
  6. Edmunds St. John El Dorado Pinot Grigio Witters Vnyd (13%) 2002: Light yellow color; lovely fragrant/citrusy/grapefruity/perfumed talc some perfumed/fragrant/floral nose; tarter bit lean citrusy/perfumed talc some minerally/floral slight bitter flavor; med. rather lean/earthy/tight citrusy/grapefruity slight perfumed talc/floral finish; much more Italian in style; bit on the tight side and needs a bit of age. $19.00
  7. Cold Heaven Santa Ynez Valley Viognier (13.5%) 1997: Light yellow color; rather piney/ oxidized/metallic unattractive slight nutty/tobaccoy nose; soft rather piney lean/ thin some oxidized/metallic flavor; med. oxidized/nutty piney/PineSol finish; strange rather linew/thin/piney wine and not at all attractive; a goner. $18.00
  8. Cold Heaven Santa Barbara County / Sanford & Benedict Vnyd Viognier (13.5%) 1996: Light yellow color; quite interesting rather perfumed/spicy slight pear/Viognier bit Mosel/valve oil complex nose; tart/lean quite spicy some pera/Viognier rather lean/minerally light oak/tobaccoy flavor; med.long minerally/spicy light pear/Viognier bit stoney/pungent/ tobaccoy finish; a rather interesting minerally Chablis-like Viognier; still has Viognier varietal character present. $25.00
  9. Edmunds St. John Viognier Paso Robles Rozet Vnyd (13.9%) 2003: Pale yellow color; lovely perfumed/pear/peach/Viognier rather spicy/nutmeg pure Viognier nose; soft quite lush peach/pear/Viognier some spicy/nutmeg/melony very ripe flavor; very long soft/fat very lush/ripe pear/peach/Viognier rather spicy slight smokey/pungent finish; loads of very ripe Viognier character; classic DollyParton Viognier wearing loads of French whorehouse perfume. $27.00
  10. Alban Vineyards Edna Valley Viognier (14.3%) 1997: Med.gold color; very ripe/rotted apples some toasty/smokey/oak bit nutty/hazelnutty some vanilla/Bourbon interesting nose; tart/lean very ripe/overripe toasty/smokey/oak rather rotted apples nutty/hazelnutty flavor; long overripe/rotted apples quite smoky/pungent/oak finish; rather weird wine; not at all unattractive but quite strange. $22.00
  11. Edmunds St. John blonk! Paso Robles White Wine (44% Roussanne, 37% Viognier, 19% Marsanne; 14.1%) 2002: Med.gold color; some toasty/smoky/pungent lovely/fragrant floral/honeysuckle/perfumed very interesting nose; tart bit smoky/pungent/toasty rich/ lush floral/honeysuckle rather spicy flavor; long tart/lush/rich rather smoky/pungent ver floral/honeysuckle finish; more oak than most EdStJ but restrained and gives the wine an exotic smoky character; a steal at $14.60
  12. Edmunds St. John Los Robles Viejos Paso Robles WhiteW ine Rozet Vnyd (13.3%; 39% Viognier, 33% Roussanne, 28% Marsanne) 2003: Light gold color; lovely floral/honeysuckle/pear very perfumed slight stony/minerally quite interesting nose; tart some honeysuckle/ floral/pear/apple blossom rather hard/minerally/stony very lush/ripe some Rhonish flavor; very long lush/ripe/tart floral/pear quite spicy/minerally finish; lots of lush richness but a minerally Rhone-like backbone; terrific Rhone-style white. $27.00
  13. Weingut Prager GrunerVeltliner Weissenkirchen Smaragd Achleiten (13%) 2002: Light yellow color; very perfumed/floral/aromatic slight earthy/grapey nose; very tart/hard/acid very lush/ripe bit stony/earthy slight smoky/herbal floral/fruity/grapey flavor; very long/hard/acidic very ripe/lush smoky/earthy stony/floral/spicy finish that goes on&on; needs much age; hard & acidic but lots of richness; will go 10-20 yrs. $39.00
  14. Luna Rosa New Mexico Minbres Valley Viognier (12.8%) 2002: Med.yellow color; very strong Fr.oaked/toasty/butterscotchy/caramel/tobaccoy/vanilla bit perfumed/floral/pear nose; very soft/fat intense tobaccoy/charred/Fr.oak slight pear/grapey flavor; med.short soft/flabby/underacid loads of charred/tobaccoy/oak finish; weird stuff w/ loads & loads of toasty oak; little Viognier character. $12.00
  15. Garretson Taistelai Roussanne (14.8%) Lake Cnty 2003: Med.gold color; very ripe/ overripe strong citrusy/lime/apple/peach slight volatile/EA bit alcoholic nose; soft very ripe limey/citrusy peach/floral/perfumed slight alcoholic/fumey slight vanilla/ oak flavor; soft/fat long citrusy/lime/citron bit alcoholic very ripe/fat finish; showing lots of ripe/overripe character w/ attractive lime/citrus character; pretty exotic stuff. $24.00
  16. Domaine Ogereau Anjou (14%; Sec) Vincent Ogereau/St.Lambert du Lattay 2003: Pale yellow color; rather chalky/stony quite perfumed/melony/CB spicy lovely nose; very tart/lean quite chalky/minerally/stony light melony/CB earthy fairly rich flavor; long very stony/minerally/chalky/earthy some perfumed/CB/melony lean/hard finish; very classic dry Anjou that will live 10-15 yrs. Great price. $14.00
  17. Domaine Ogereau Coteaux du Layon Saint Lambert (12.5%) 2002: Light gold color; lovely peachy/apricotty/botrytis bit chalky/minerally some complex nose; very tart/chalky/ minerally some botrytis/peachy/apricotty slightly sweet complex primary flavor; very long tart/minerally/chalky some botrytis/peachy/apricotty slight CB/melony finish; very primary in character and needs much time; easily 10-20 maybe 30 yrs. A steal at $24.00
  18. Cold Heaven Santa Ynez Valley/Sanford & BenedictVnyd Late Harvest Viognier (15%) 1997: Deep gold bit hazy/cloudy color; intense botrytis/peachy overripe/figgy complex nose; soft ripe/ overripe botrytis/figgy/peachy/apricotty/pear slight cedary/pencilly bit hot/volatile flavor; long sweet strong botrytis/peachy very ripe/overripe slightly hot finish; lots of overripe fruit character w/ fair amount of botrytis; kinda strange but interesting dessert wine; no Viognier character. $21.00/hlf
More wisdom from the Bloody Pulpit:
  1. LeSophiste: I've followed this wine from the very start. Since Randall had the first commercial plantings of "Roussanne" and this was the first comercially-available wine containing "Roussanne", I was pretty excited about them. In their youth, they were never anything to get excited about, but, since I knew that Roussanne was a good ager, I was diligent in collecting them. The grapes were grown in Randall's vnyd up in Bonny Doon in the Santa Cruz Mountains. These were those tall/heavy btls w/ the black plastic top hat in loo of a capsule. Those suckers were boogers to get off the btl, but nothing an epee guy couldn't handle. I've got probably nearly a dozen of those top hats lying around...wonder if there's a market for them?? It, of course, turned out that Randall's "Roussanne" was not true Roussanne after all but, in fact, Viognier. In their youth, I never got much of the Viognier fragrance from these wines, even at the small component level these were, but that's not too surprising. I wouldn't expect SCM Viognier to smell like ordinary Viognier anyway. I was quite amazed as to how well this tableau had aged. Except for the oxidized '90; they were all lovely fully-developed wines. I've found that SCM white wines, as a rule, age remarkably well; at least the old Ridges and Mt.Eden ones have. I can only attribute the aging of these LeSophistes to the Marsanne component.
  2. EdStJohn Pinot Grigio: Now here (like Gamay) is one grape that gets no respect. Leave it to SteveEdmunds to champion these Gawd-forsaken varieties....marketplace be damned!! I had already tried the '02 version and liked it a lot; maybe the best Calif PG I've had to date. I was not expecting a whole lot from the '98 version (presumably also from the WittersVnyd); in fact expected it to be shakey or gone. Surprise.... it was in wonderful condition. Maybe the best (non-Alsatian) PG I've ever had. Steve's interest in PG stems from some excellent ones from Friuli that he's had. If he can do this good with such a no-account grape; wonder what he could do with Burger or UgniBlanc or French Colombard?? Marketplace be damned, of course.
  3. Prices on the EdStJ wines include shipping. A bit cheaper in local markets.
  4. SteveEdmunds doesn't get the recognition he deserves for his white wines. Some of his older Viogniers, with some age on them, have been some of the most spectacular Calif Viogniers I've ever had.


TomHill

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