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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 October 31, 1997 
 

ZINFANDEL
 
    Tasted this week some new (mostly) Zins (mostly): 
  1. Ridge California Carignan OatValleyVineyard (12.9%) '95: Med.dark color; dusty tomatoey some cherry/fragrant oaked/dusty nose; bit sour dusty/earthy light cherry/ fruity bit metallic/clunky flavor; med. some cherry/fragrant light earthy finish w/ light tannins.
  2. Ridge California Carignan OatValleyVineyard (13.3%) '94: Med.color; deeper dusty  perfumed talc slight cherry/fragrant oaked nose; soft spicy cherry some dusty/earthy oaked flavor; med. fragrant cherry/dusty finish w/ light tannin.
  3. Ridge California Carignan Whitten Ranch/Geyserville (14.4%) '94: Med.dark color; attractive fragrant cherry/spicy bit earthy nose; tart lean bit astringent some earthy/cherry spicy metallic oaked flavor; med. tart lean light cherry spicy astringent finish; very nice nose but not as good on thg palate.
  4. Ridge California Carignan Whitten Ranch (14.1%) '92: Dark color; lovely pungent/ smokey slight H2S/stinky some fragrant cherry nose; soft black cherry/pungent smokey bit sour licorice/cherry flavor; med.long astringent smokey pungent spicy oaked light cherry finish, needs 2-6 yrs age yet; pretty interesting.
  5. Ridge California Carignan Sommer Ranch/AlexanderValley (13.8%) '93: Med.dark color; fragrant black cherry dusty spicy oaked nose; tart smokey oaked black cherry/ dusty sour flavor; med.long sour lean some cherry/black cherry spicy oaked finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs yet. $16.00
  6. Rabbit Ridge Sonoma County Zinfandel (13.8%) '96: Med.dark color; pleasant raspberry spicy light oaked nose; tart light lively spicy raspberry some oaked flavor; med.short buttery raspberry/spicy finish w/ little tannins; a bit light & thin but a pleasant clean/raspberry Zin.
  7. Franus Contra Costa PlanchonVineyard Zinfandel (13.8%) '95: Med.dark color; fragrant plummy/cherry/raspberry bit dusty/earthy light oaked nose; spicy bit sour dusty/plummy some raspberry/fragrant flavor; long plummy bit sour some bright raspberry/cherry spicy oaked finish w/ light tannins; a rather fragrant  bright well-made CC Zin. 
  8. Edmunds St.John Amador County Zinfandel (13.3%) '95: Med. bit murky color; some toasty tobaccoy oaked light ripe blackberry nose; soft light simple raspberry/dusty light tobaccoy/smokey flavor; med.short light bit sour light raspberry/ tobaccoy/toasty finish w/ light tannins; neither much Amador character nor Steve Edmunds character; tastes like StoryVnyd grapes; unthrilling.
  9. Sierra Vista El Dorado Zinfandel *Reserve (13.5%) '95: Very dark color; beautiful toasty/pencilly Fr.oaked ripe blackberry/dusty/truffly/mushroomy very spicy nose; big rich tannic tart blackberry dusty very pencilly/toasty oaked  pungent mushroomy flavor; very long pungent toasty/pencilly Fr.oaked deep blackberry finish w/ fair tannins; a big rich rather oaked pungent Zin w/ lots of ElDorado character. 
  10. Marietta Alexander Valley Angeli Cuvee (Zin, PS, Carignane; 14.5%) '94: Very dark color; light blackberry/dusty bit volatile/fumey light oaked nose; tart  spicy fruit light raspberry light oaked bit simple flavor; med. spicy low key raspberry/blackberry bit hot/volatile finish w/ light tannins; a bit on the light side for Marietta Angelo; a nice wine but just that & overpriced at $23.00.
  11. Rosenblum Napa Valley Reserve Hendry Vineyard Zinfandel (14.9%) '95: last of the  Rosenblum '95's; Med.dark color; very fragrant spicy aromatic pencilly/Fr. oaked spicy bright raspberry/licorice/cherry nose; tart buttery very spicy bright raspberry pencilly/Fr.oaked licorice flavor; very long lingering buttery pencilly/Fr.oaked bright aromatic raspberry/licorice finish w/ some tannins; not a blockbuster or intense Zin but very beautiful balance & very well made in a Nalle/Coffaro style. 
  12. Gary Farrell Sonoma County Russian River Valley Zinfandel (TW) '95: Dark color; rather dusty/mush- roomy/RRV bit licorice smokey/oaked bright raspberry Zin nose; tart bit pungent/mushroomy earthy/licorice toasty/pencilly light raspberry smokey flavor; long pencilly/Fr.oaked mushroomy/dusty bit pungent/smokey light raspberry finish; a nicely done Zin w/ lots of that RRV character; not as big & oaked & intense as previous ones.
  13. Rabbit Ridge Russian River Zinfandel Hedin Vineyard (13.8%) '96: Med.dark color; slight stinky very pencilly/toasty Fr,oaked spicy/raspberry bit volatile/aromatic nose; rather tart hot/burning/volatile pencilly/oaked some raspberry/Zin flavor; med.long bit oxidized/hot/volatile some raspberry/Zin rather pencilly/oaked finish w/ little tannins; a bit thin & lacking fruit and bit too hot/volatile not an inspiring effort from RabbitRidge.
  14. Rabbit Ridge Russian River Valley Zinfandel Estate Reserve Rabbit Ridge Ranch (13.8%) '96: Very dark color; deep complex blackberry/toasty pencilly/Fr.oaked smokey nose; strong very toasty/pencilly Fr.oaked ripe blackberry/pungent smokey flavor; very long taosty/pencilly oaked soft lush blackberry/raspberry finish w/ some tannins; a very nicely made complex Zin.
  15. Hanna Alexander Valley Zinfandel Reserve Pourroy Vineyard (13.5%) '96: Med.dark color; very strong raspberry/blackberry very jammy lots of spicy/milky Am.oak nose; rich bit herbal/vegetal rather blackberry milky Am.oaked jammy flavor; long very jammy overripe bit herbal rather blackberry milky oaked finish w/ light tannins; typical soft/fat/bit flabby AlexVlly Zin lacking in structure; way overpriced at $27.00. 
 
                   =   And (of course) pontificating from the bloody pulpit: 
  1. It was most interesting to taste all of these Ridge Carignans together. My impression of Carignan has always been that it produces a rather dull/clunky unexciting kind of wine. These were interesting but really didn't jazz me much. Perhaps even such a talented winemaker as Paul Draper can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear?? Yet I have had some Ridge Carignans from the '70's that aged into very interesting wines. Perhaps these will too, but I don't view it as a very good gamble.
  2. Edmunds St.John....sigh.... I've never had an EdStJ Zin that I really (or  even halfway) liked. Many have been on the overripe/raisened side. This one was.... just there, not much excitement at all. How can such a brilliant winemaker as Steve Edmunds, who makes some absolutely stunning Syrahs/Pinot Grigio/Rhone stuff stumble soooo badly w/ a veriety like Zin??? Probably I would blame it on not-the-best of grapes. But I sure do like his other wines.
  3. The SierraVista 5* Reserve was probably the best ElDorado Zin I've yet found. Lots of toasty Fr.oak (too much for some) but lots of blackberries but still showing lots of that ElDorado dusty/earthy/mushroomy character. Every so often John MacCready will slug one over the fence, and this is definitely one of them. 
Tom Hill 

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