by Tom Hill

A self-admitted wine geek, Tom lives in Northern New Mexico and works as a computational physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory doing numerical neutron transport & large scale code development. He has been tasting wines since 1971, participates locally with a couple of large tasting groups in his area, and is practically a fixture at most California wine festivals, such as the Hospice du Rhône, Rhône Rangers, and ZAP. Other interests: Tom is heavily into competitive sport fencing (foil & epee), biking, cooking, basketball, skiing, backpacking, mountain climbing.

 
1. Amador Foothill Winery Fiddletown Zin Eschen Vineyard (14.1%; 665 cs) 1990: Light color; rather bright cherry/Pinot-like lightly spicy dusty/old vine nose; very tart/lean bright/ tart cherry quite tannic lean/pinched/austere flavor; med.long bright cherry very acidic rather tannic light spicy finish; probably not going anwhere; a lean/acidic/tight/ pinched Zin.
2. Amador Foothill Winery Shenandoah ValleyCalif Zin Grand-Pere Vineyard (14.3%; 682 cs)  1990: Med.color; bit musty/reduced dusty/earthy little fruit nose; tart/lean some aged Zin bit spicy/cinammon some tannic flavor; med.short dusty/earthy little fruit slight cinammon/oak finish w/ some tannins; another tight/little Zin.
3. Renwood Amador County Zin (14.5%; 974 cs) 1991: Med.dark color; some pungent/smokey bit ripe/jammy some briary/Amador fruit nose; tart/dried out light pungent/smokey bit jammy/ Dr.Pepper/black cherry cola flavor; med.long bit dried out tart smokey/pungent finish w/ light tannins; a wine starting to slide down the steep slope into senility (unlike yours truly!)
4. Renwood Calif Shenandoah Valley Zin Grandpere (123 yr old vnyd; 624 cs) 1991: Med.dark color; fairly strong pungent/smokey dusty/old vine some blackberry/briary some licorice/pungent rather complex nose; slightly sweetish/ripe tarry/licorice/blackberry/briary/jammy very ripe flavor; long tarry/jammy ripe/blackberry/briary/Amador sweetish finish w/ modest tannins; really drinking nicely w/ a sweet fruit character; nicely developed complex Amador Zin.
5. Ridge Calif Lytton Estate Grenache (75% Grenache, 20% Zin, 5% PS; 14.3%; 31 brls) 1998: Med.color; strong buttery/Am.oaked/Draper perfume light/spicy/strawberry/Grenache slight aromatic/volatile nose; light/bright strawberry/Grenache some buttery/diacetyl/ Am.oaked spicy flavor; med.short light/strawberry/Grenache buttery/Am.oaked finish w/ light tannins; a pleasant Ridge-style red on the lightish side. $22.00
6. Ridge Calif Lytton Estate Grenache (78% Grenache, 17% Zin, 5% PS; 14.7%; 37 brls) 1999: Med.dark color; rather spicy light strawberry more blackberry/Zin-like some buttery/ Am.oak deeper nose; soft richer/strawberry/Grenache buttery/Am.oaked spicy/berry bit tannic flavor; med.long blackberry/strawberry/Zin-like rather Am.oaked finish w/ light tannins; deeper & richer than the '98; lovely Ridge red.
7. Ridge Calif Lytton Estate Grenache (92% Grenache, 6% Zin, 2% PS; 14.5%; 36 brls)  1996: Med.color; light Grenache/strawberry some old Zin/tobaccoy/pencilly spicy/berry light Am.oaked nose; tart some spicy/strawberry/Grenache rather Am.oaked bit tobaccoy/pungent finish w/ light tannins; interesting mature Ridge red.
8. Ridge Calif Zin Paso Robles (14.9%) 1991: Med.dark color; intense licorice/blackberry/ boysenberry/jammy very fragrant/perfumed very spicy slight herbal/milky/Am.oak nose; rich blackberry/boysenberry/jammy/licorice very spicy slight gamey flavor; very long blackberry/ boysenberry/jammy very spicy finmish w/ light tannins; lots of jammy/blackberry character; fully mature & ready to drink; lovely Paso Zin.
9. Ridge Calif Zin Paso Robles Dusi Ranch (14.9%) 1998: Med.dark color; very strong blackberry/ jammy spicy bit smokey/pungent/oaked nose; tart bit lean buttery/Am.oak elegant bit  earthy slight Kansas feed store rather blackberry/jammy flavor; med. jammy/blackberry some spicy/earthy finish w/ light tannins; pleasant Paso Zin.
10. Ridge Calif Zin Paso Robles Dusi Ranch (95% Zin, 5% PS; 14.4%) 1999: Dark color; deeper very spicy strong blackberry/boysenberry/jammy some pungent/licorice Am.oak nose; soft/ rich blackberry/jammy very spicy bit earthy/pungent/licorice flavor; very long very spicy/ blackberry/jammy pungent/licorice finish w/ some tannins; needs 1-4 yrs yet; a beautiful spicy/jammy Paso Zin.
11. Ridge Calif Zin Lytton Springs (85% Zin, 10% Carignane, 5% Grenache; 13.6%) 1984: Med.color; attractive raspberry/Zin/framboise/alpine strawberry bit minty/spicy complex/fragrant nose; tart light bit leafy/stemmy attractive strawberry/framboise spicy smooth flavor; med. spicy/complex ripe/framboise/strawberry/raspberry soda pop mild finish w/ little tannins; a lovely gentle/elegant fully mature Zin; drink now.
12. Ridge Calif Zin Lytton Springs (80% Zin, 15% Carignane, 5% Grenache; 13.9%) 1986: Med.light color; low key/light raspberry/spicy some oaked bit earthy/dusty nose; soft earthy spicy some blackberry/raspberry/Zin bit dusty elegant flavor; med. light/elegant spicy/raspberry/ blackberry bit dusty/earthy complex elegant finish w/ little tannins; fully mature and a bit beyond Zin; gentle/elegant Zin.
13. Ridge Calif Lytton Estate (60% Zin, 35% PS, 5% Carignane; 14.6%; 47 brls) 1996: Very dark color; strong buttery/Am.oak strong blackberry/boysenberry/Zin some pencilly/toasty nose; soft very buttery/Amoaked strong blackberry/boysenberry bit dusty/pungent bit simple flavor; long spicy/blackberry/boysenberry some oaked/pungent finish w/ some tannins; needs a yr or two yet; not showing much development yet.

1. AmadorFoothill Winery: I've followed Ben & Katie Zeitman's wines from the very start. In general, I've rather liked them. Ben&Katie, however, certainly march to the beat of their own drummer when it comes to making Zin. They are very atypical of Amador Zins, in general, and have a style all their own; sort of a throw-back to the "food wine" Zins that became the rage in the early '80's and have since fallen from favor. Their wines have a refreshing/brisk tartness that is not often found in Zins. Although they have good/healthy alcohol levels, they don't show the richness & ripeness & lushness of most Zins. What has always struck me about their Zins is that they usually show a wonderful perfumey fragrance to them & very little oak. Thus I was interested in trying these two '90's to see how "food Zins" hold up to aging. Not so well, I would have to say. The fragrance is gone, the fruit has receded into a quiet whisper, the tannins have become raspy, and the teeth-chattering acidity makes these wine difficult to taste. The reminded me a bit of Italian Barberas, wines that cry out for food.
2. Renwood: I've followed Scott Harvey's Zins from the very start, first at Santino/Renwood and now at Folie a Deux. I didn't always like them that much. His early wines at Santino were very much in the "food wine" category, not particularly alcoholic, not very extracted, nice, but just that. He was very clear in his intent to avoid the stereotypical Amador Zins that were high in alcohol and extract and make more food-friendly Zins. It was, I would say, an abysmal failure, a big mistake. Finally, with the '91 vintage, after listening to my continual harping on the subject for years, Scott pulled out all stops and went back to making no-holds-barred, full-bore Amador Zins. The wines were a great  success and our group bought a $hitload (as we say in Kansas.... and we know of what we speak!!) of them at great prices. After the '91's, I always enjoyed the gloating "told you so" with Scott.  So I was looking forward to trying these "new(old) wave" Zins at 10 yrs of age. The regular Amador, though still drinkable, is about to give up the ghost. But the GrandPere is still in fine shape, has calmed down considerably, and still a lovely drinking classic Amador Zin. 
3. Food Wines: I've followed Zinfandel in Calif from the very start; tasting the first crop off ol' Gus Harazsthy's vines at BuenaVista back then. In the early '70's, when it was finally  recognized that Zin can make great wine, a number of wineries pushed the limit on the grapes, going for alcohol, flavor, extraction, and oak. Then a bunch of the wine writers of that day (Charlie Olken... you know who you are!!) started whining about these  alcoholic "monster" Zins with "shabby" table manners (sound familar, Charlie?). Alas, then, as now, the wine consumers paid too much attention to these wretched scribes. So... the winemakers started to make "food wine" Zins that were much more restrained and balanced and elegant. Anemic/scrawny little runts is how I would characterize them. And, the worst of it all, White Zin became the rage. And, alas, Syrah was not yet there to take up the slack. So I lived thru years of sheer torture thru the '80's, and just about gave up on Zinfandel. Fortunately, the winemakers (and their customers) done see'd the light and have returned, in the late '80's, early '90's to making Zin like it should be made. What strikes me most about the early-'70's vs current Zins, with their elevated alcohol levels of 15% and above, is the current ones have a balance those early ones didn't and a lack of the pruney/raisened flavors those early ones often had. Now, with spinning cones and osmosis and other gee-whiz thingeys, we can now get Zins with the "right" flavors but w/o the elevated alcohols.... if that's what you really want!!
4. Ridge Grenache: Much like their Syrah, the Ridge Grenaches speak more of Ridge red wine than of strong varietal character. The strawberry/Grenache is more of a nuance than  anything. Not particularly profound, just nice dringing Ridge red.
5. Ridge Paso Robles Zins: When Ridge first started making Paso Zin back in the mid-'70's, they were my least favorite Ridge reds. They seemed to have a chalky/earthy character and lacked the rich/lush/plump fruit of their Ridge stablemates. But Ridge has really learned how to work w/ Benni Dusi's fruit and, now, makes one of my most favorite Paso Zins. They seem to show a lot of that jammy/blackberry Paso fruit w/o the overripe character they often show from other wineries.

TomHill