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. Handley Mendocino County Viognier Whispering Oak Vineyard (14.8%) 2002: Pale yellow color; light pencilly/ oak light pear/Viognier perfumed/appley fragrant nose; soft/off-dry slight pencilly/oak very spicy/exotic appley/pear/Viognier flavor; very long soft pencilly/oak appley/pear/Viognier quite perfumed/spicy finish; bit shy on the nose but a lovely/exotic/spicy flavor. $20.00
2. Andrew Murray Santa Ynez Valley EG Viognier (13.9%; www.AndrewMurrayVineyards.com) 2002: Pale yellow color; very unusual spicy/earthy some minerally/Condrieu-like floral/Viognier/very ripe/appley some smokey/hot-dog/oaked nose; soft rather spicy/minerally slight earthy appley/pear/ripe flavor; med.long soft earthy/minerally bit smokey/oak finish; a slight funkiness & may be slightly corked; some really interesting minerally/Condrieu-like character; rather strange Viognier. $21.25
3. Eric Ross Russian River Valley Catie's Corner Vineyard Viognier (14.2%; www.EricRoss.com) 2000: Pale yellow color; bit volatile fragrant/pear/Viognier bit earthy light pencilly/oak nose; tart/lean minerally/earthy light pear/Viognier bit bitter flavor; med.long tart/lean/austere light pencilly/ pear finish; a bit tight & pinched; more like Pays d'Oc Viognier; seems austere for 14.2%. $22.00
4. De La Montanya Russian River Valley Viognier Estate (14.2%; www.DLMWine.com) 2000: Med.gold color; very heavy/ripe/peachy/Viognier almost pineapply slight volatile/perfumed light toasty/oak nose; soft very ripe/peachy/pear/Viognier/tropical fruit some oaked flavor; med.long soft/fat very ripe/ peachy/Viognier bit smoky/toasty/oak finish; very ripe & a bit in a Chard style. $17.60
5. Renard Santa Ynez Valley Roussanne (14.2%) 2001: Light gold color; ripe/floral/honeysuckle/waxy lovely/perfumed slight earthy nose; tart/rich very floral/honeysuckle/aromatic bit minerally flavor; very long light/toasty/oak lush/floral/honeysuckle/spicy bit minerally finish; a text- book Roussanne; beautiful wine at a great price. $17.00
6. Wellington Vineyards Russian River Valley Roussanne (14.5%; www.WellingtonVineyards.com) 2001: Med.gold color; very ripe/floral/spicy/peachy almost Viognier-like lovely slight toasty/oak nose; soft/fat/lush very ripe/peachy/spicy some toasty/oak flavor; long soft/lush very ripe/peach/floral light toasty/ oak slight minerally/earthy finish; lots of ripeness; bit Viognier-like; lovely white at a great price. $14.50
7. Guigal Cotes du Rhone Blanc (13%) 2001: Light yellow color; fragrant earthy/minerally appley slight pear/Viognier nose; tart bit earthy/minerally some floral/pear/ripe flavor; med.long light floral/ pear some earthy/minerayyl/appley finish; seems like Marsanne w/ big chunk of Viognier; very nice Rhone Blanc for a great price. $12.50
8. Marc Colin et Fils Saint Aubin 1er Cru La Chateniere (13.5%) 2001: Med.gold color; very fragrant/ perfumed appley/melony slight oaked/toasty nose; soft fairly lush/ripe appley/melony light toasty/ oak slight earthy flavor; med.long soft/rich appley/pear/melony/honeydew slight smokey/oak finish; rather Calif-style of WhiteBurg; very attractive wine. $38.00
9. Nalle Sonoma County Dry Creek Valley Zin (13.5%; www.NalleWinery.com; Zin The Beginning) 2000: Med.dark color; lovely/fragrant DVC/spicy/Zinberry slight bretty light Fr.oak perfumed nose; tart/spicy floral/Zinberry/raspberry/DCV classic Nalle flavor; med.long spicy/Zinberry light Fr.oak finish w/ light tannins; bit tart & lean but classic Nalle Zin; great drinking Zin. $16.00
10. Starry Night Tom Feeny Ranch Russian River Valley OldVine Zin (14.8%; www.StarryNightWinery.com) 2000: Med.color; bit volatile some menthol/eucalyptus buttery/oak some spicy/earthy light blackberry/RRVZin slight herbal nose; tart bit lean/hard rather buttery/oak some menthol/eucalyptus attractive/blackberry/Zin flavor; med. light blackberry/Zin rather buttery/diacetyl/ oak finish w/ light tannins; pleasant Zin but just that; not in the league of the Carlisle. $20.00
11. Ridge Calif Geyserville (74% Zin, 18% Carignane, 8% PS; 14.4%; Drk: 12/09-12/12) 2001: Dark color; very fragrant/perfumed raspberry/licorice slight earthy slight milky/Am.oak lush fruit some complex nose; tart bright/forward/raspberry/blackberry very spicy/perfumed milky/Am.oak lovely flavor; very long lush/spicy/blackberry/raspberry/fragrant some Am.oak finish w/ some tannins; loads of lush/ primary/Zin fruit; not big & powerful but all about balance; a classic Geyserville that should age very well; a bit simple & underwhelming right now. $30.00
12. Ridge Calif Zin Pagani Ranch (88% Zin, 8% AlicanteBouschet, 4% PS; 15.4%; Drk: 3/08-3/10) 2001: Very dark/black color; beautiful/lush/intense boysenberry/blackberry/licorice dusty/old vine bit earthy complex/terrific nose; tart/acid intense/licorice/boysenberry/blackberry very spicy/pungent dusty flavor; very long intense licorice/blackberry/boysenberry dusty/old vines Dr.Pepper/very spicy complex finish w/ ample tannins; one of best Paganis at this stage in a long time; big/extracted Zin that needs age; killer Zin. $28.00
13. Ridge Calif Zin Late Picked York Creek (78% Zin, 20% PS, 2% Carignane; NapaValley; 15.9%; SaH: 28.5%; RS: 0.2%; Drk:3/08-3/10) 2001: Very dark color; very strong/intense very ripe/raspberry/ grapey slight volatile light Am.oak nose; very ripe/overripe/lush intense grapey/raspberry slight hot/ volatile bit simple flavor; very ripe/overripe grapey/raspberry/lush finish w/ light tannins; bit on the overripe side but not raisened or pruney; pretty over-the-top Zin. $28.00
14. Sottimano Curra Barbaresco (14%) 1998: Very dark color; rather fragrant/floral/lilacs/Nebbiolo slight pencilly/oak nose; tart/acid/lean/hard/astringent very drying tannins rather floral/fragrant/lilacs/ violets classic Nebbiolo flavor; med.long quite tannic/astringent/hard some floral/lilacs finish; needs much age; lovely Nebbiolo fruit but...oy...the tannins. Larry's mystery wine. $35.00
15. Sea Ridge Private Selection Occidental Old Vines (13.5%) 1991: Dark color; very funky/earthy Cognac- barrel/vanilla/oaked volatile/hot very boysenberry/Zin dusty/old vine bit stemmy/herbal old/damp/root cellar weird nose; very tart ripe/blackberry/boysenberry/Zin volatile/hot very toasty/pungent/oak rather funky flavor; very long/astringent/tannic very pungent/toasty/oak blackberry/boysenberry/Zin dusty/funky finish; rather on the weird/funky side; huge/extracted. $13.00

1. NalleZins: I've followed Doug Nalle's Zins from the very start. Have always liked them for their elegance and balance. They are not powerhouses and very extracted and often don't stand out in tastings, but they're often the ones I go to when I just want something nice to drink.
2. Ridge'01's: This is the last of the (regular) Ridge '01 Zin releases. I thought Ridge was very/very successful w/ their '01's. The Paso was excellent, the Lytton outstanding; the Geyserville doesn't show that much right now but I have confidence it'll improve quite a bit. But the Pagani; my favorite Pagani in a number of yrs; killer Zin. Hope the Pagani/Alicante is as dynamite.
3. SeaRidgeZin: This was a wine made by DanWhickham from their very old Zin Vineyard there in Occidental. Far too cold to ripen Zin consistently. The wine was always a huge/extracted Zin that I felt had great potential. This was a lot that had special labels on it; got it for a song. The wine has been all over the map... sometimes outstanding, sometimes weird. This was one of the weirder ones. I pull out a btl every time I feel I need some additional abuse from Larry Archibald. Still have more  data points to take, though.