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. Rosenblum Cellars San Francisco Bay Zin Continente Vineyard ContraCosta County (13.4%) 2000: Med.dark color; bit earthy/ContraCosta/mushroomy plummy/black cherry nose; tart bit lean bit metallic bright/plummy slight black cherry flavor; med.short tart bit thin/lean some candied/raspberry some plummy/ black cherry finish w/ little tannins; pleasant little ContraCosta Zin.
2. Rosenblum Cellars San Francisco Bay Zin Planchon Vineyard ContraCosta County (15.2%) 2000: Dark color; some toasty/oak deep plummy/black cherry more oaked nose; soft/fat bit overripe rather plummy/black cherry bit hot some toasty/oak flavor; med.short plummy/black cherry some earthy some menthol/toasty/oak  finish w/ light tannins; a bit on the porky side.
3. Rosenblum Cellars Paso Robles Zin Richard Sauret Vineyard (15%) 2000: Med.color; lots of bright/raspberry spicy clean bit simple nose; soft light blackberry/raspberry/Zin jammy/candied pleasant flavor; med. bright/ spicy/raspberry/Zin finish w/ light tannins; a pleasant straight forward drinking Zin; bit on the light and simple side.
4. Ridge Calif Zin Dusi Ranch Paso Robles (100% Zin; 14.6%; 42 brls) 2000: Med.dark color; deep plummy/ jammy/blackberry slight menthol/buttery/oaked nose; soft some blackberry/jammy/boysenberry slight earthy bit buttery/oaked flavor; long bright/jammy/blackberry light/buttery/oaked finish w/ light tannins; attractive/pretty Paso Zin.
5. Sierra Vista El Dorado Zin Reeves Vineyard (EB; 14.2%) 1999: Med.dark color; deep earthy bit perfumed talc some blackberry/Zin bit spicy/cloves/oaked some complex nose; tart bit sour/lean/tangy some toasty/oak/ spicy/cloves rather strong blackberry/earthy/foresty flavor; med.long spicy/cloves bit sour some blackberry/Zin/Dr.Pepper bit earthy/mushroomy complex finish w/ some tannins; not a lot of blatant Zin fruit but a very interesting/serious Zin that needs a yr or two; almost like a Chinon or Bourgeil w/o the herbal character; well-made red.
6. Easton Amador County Zin (14.5%) 2000: Med.dark color; deep bright blackberry/boysenberry/Amador briary lush fruit nose; soft/round/lush classic Amador/briary/blackberry/Zin slight chalky/earthy flavor; med.long soft briary/blackberry finish w/ light tannins; little oak obvious; a nice-drinking straightforward Amador Zin at a good price; far better than the Ravenswood Amador.
7. DEWN Monterey County Dolcetto (14.3%) 1997: Dark color; rather herbal deep earthy/black cherry near vegetal strange nose; rather sour/earthy herbal mouldy fruit black cherry soft flavor; med.short sour/earthy herbal/licorice/cough syrup finish w/ light tannins; very strange wine, not particularly attractive, with little Dolcetto character.
8. Wild Hog Vineyard Saralee's Vineyard Russian River Valley Dolcetto (13.0%) 1998: Med.light color; strong Cheracol/ floral very spicy bit licorice appley/oaked rather Freisa-like/ floral/high-toned/ aromatic nose; tart/ lean/ thin floral/lilacs/cherry blossoms/Cheracol flavor; med.short floral/perfumed/cherry/Cheracol finish w/ light tannins; very interesting/exotic nose but rather hurtey on the palate; reminds me a lot of Piedmonte Freisa.
9. Ridge Calif Dry Creek Sangiovese (17% Merlot; 14.4%; 33 brls) LyttonWest Vineyard 1997: Med.color; rather earthy some volatile plummy/black cherry some dusty/earthy bit muddled bit oaked nose; hard/earthy little fruit rather tannic some funky/unclean light oaked flavor; med.short earthy/funky low fruit/ cherry finish w/ fair tannins; may be slightly corked but borderline; disappointing.
10. Ridge Calif Dry Creek Sangiovese (100% Sangiovese; 13.4%; 32 brls) LyttonWest Vineyard 1998: Med.dark color; some cherry/black cherry light toasty/spicy/cinammon/oak interesting nose; tart/lean light cherry/ fruity light toasty/oak flavor; med.long tart/lean light black cherry/cherry/Sangio light oak finish w/ some tannins; pleasant red but just that. _ 1RabbitRidge Sonoma County Sangiovese Coniglio Selezione (13.2%) 1997: Light color; some leathery/old  Zin/cedary/gardenia some oaked nose; tart/thin/lean but cedary/aged/dried out bit charred/oak flavor;  short dried out/thin/cedary toasty/charred/oak finish w/ light tannins; tired & dried out afore its time; don't trust the bunny's selection unless they're the PlayBoy type.
11. Ridge Calif Zin Jimsomare (100% Zin; 14.9%; 21 brls) 1993: Med.dark color; rather old Zin/tobaccoy/ cedary/earthy/stewed tomatoes bit toasty fragrant/spicy/peppery complex nose; tart/chalky/tannic some tobaccoy/cedary/old Zin bit blackberry/peppery/stewed tomatoes bit dried out flavor; med.long cedary/old Zin bit blackberry/peppery finish w/ light tannins; seems a bit dried-out and tired afore its time but somewhat interesting.
12. Rosenblum Cellars DryCreek Valley Zin RockPileRd Vineyard (14.8%) 2000: Med.dark color; very bright Zinberry/ raspberry/blackberry light toasty/oak nose; tart/bright bit deeper very spicy/raspberry/Zinberry/ licorice light oak flavor; long tart very spicy/raspberry/Zinberry/licorice light toasty/oak finish w/ light tannins; a bright/zippy very spicy Zin w/ some depth; lovely Zin.
13. Rosenblum Cellars Alexander Valley Zin Harris Kratka Vineyard (13.6%; 5% Carignane) 2000: Dark color; deep blackberry/Framboise/boysenberry some dusty/old vines bit damp Kansas basement (not TCA/cork) light buttery/oaked nose; softer loads of lush/blackberry/raspberry/Zinberry some dusty/old vines light oaked ripe/lush flavor; very long lush blackberry/raspberry/Zin light toasty/oak some dusty finish w/ light tannins; a lovely H-K Zin; classic Rosenblum/lush Zin; beautiful wine.
14. Ridge Calif Lytton Estate Late Harvest (SaH: 29.6%; RS: 1.8%; 93% Zin, 5% PS, 1% Carignane, 1% Grenache; 16.0%) 2000: Dark color; strong appley/pear loads of raspberry/blackberry/jammy fragrant/ aromatic nose; off-dry loads of bright/lush/blackberry/jammy/raspberry/strawberry fruit flavor; very long jammy/raspberry/blackberry/fruity off-dry finish w/ light tannins; like opening a jar of Smucker's raspberry jam and sticking your tongue into the jar; loads & loads of fruit; no obvious raisened/pruney/overripe character; lots like the Heart's Desire Zin; tasty/ripe Zin for the cheese course or dessert.

1. ContraCosta Zin: This is, of course, ClineCountry. These Zins usually display a soft/fat rather plummy/black cherry character w/ a slight earthy/mushroomy undertone. I think Kent Rosenblum does a better job, consistently, than anyone with those grapes. These 2000 display, I guess, the alleged weakness of that vintage. The Continente seems just a small step up from his Vintner's Blend. The Planchon was much better; but not the depth nor intensity He's had in previous ContraCosta Zins.
2. The 2000 Zin Vintage: The buzz coming out of ZAP was the 2000 vintage was weak and light. Guess I'd tend to agree from this limited sampling, though the Harris-Kratka and RockPile didn't seem to show that. Look like it may be a vintage we have to pick&choose; always good advice anyway.
3. Calif Dolcetto: I've followed Kent Rasmussen's Dolcetto (the first one) from the very start and, in general, liked them quite a bit. They have that mean/tannic streak that I often find in Piedmonte Dolcettos. These two Dolcettos had little resemblance to Kent's. I actively disliked the DEWN (Doon Esoteric Wine Network of Randal Grahm's) and found the (usually reliable) Wild Hog somewhat interesting for its resemblance to Freisa.
4. RockPile Road: I've followed Kent's Rockpile Road Zin from the very start. It's one of the quintessential DryCreek Valley Zins around. The vnyd itself, is anything BUT classic DryCreek Valley vnyds. You drive clear to the upper end of the DryCreek Valley, past Ferrari-Carrano & Lake Sonoma wineries, then you start to climb up, up, and up. You then come to Lake Sonoma itself, and then you climb some more. Eventually, after a bit of climbing and more climbing, you come out on this ridge top road and the RockPile Road vnyd is just below you on your left, and not much above you but sky. Very rocky & austere, I'm always surprised by how much bright fruit the Zins show. Also thought that that'd be a fun bike ride... 'ceptin' there's too much damn oxygen down there at that altitude for me. And once they start  producing Syrah up there.... wow!!
5. Rosenblum 2000 Zins: These are the first of the Rosenblum 2000 Zins I've tried. They all, thus far, show that classic Rosenblum lushness. I'm not sure, but they seem to be showing a bit more oak than the last few vintages.