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. Ridge StoneRanch: I was quite impressed w/ this wine; one of the best ATPs I can recall. It had more tannins and structure than many of the recent Ridge releases; perhaps a bit more rusticity and less svelte/polish than many. Almost like some of the Ridges from the early '70's in style. A change at Ridge or just a fluke??
2. CoroMendocino: This is the joint project of Mendocino winemakers to draw attention to the quality of their wines. This EaglepointRanch version is a pretty impressive debut for the label, I must say. It's one of the finest new Mendocino reds I've had (save some Anderson Vlly Pinots) in many a year. It had a unique minerality to it that I've never seen in a wine that I can recall. EaglePoint terroir?? Mendocino terroir?? Winemaking tricks & gimmicks?? I haven't a clue. But it gave the wine a certain something I found quite compelling.
3. I've been following Mendocino wines from the very start when Barney Fetzer started making some pretty terrific single-vnyd Zins in the early '70's. Then along came JedSteele at Edmeades and JimMilone/GregGraziano at Milano in the late '70's to make some Zins & Cabs that were every bit the equal of anything made anywhere in Calif. Then, in the early '80's, Mendocino sorta vanished from the face of the Earth for premium wines and became sort of a backwater growing area. But the quality of the grapes has always been there. Insiders and winemakers have recognized that, What puzzles me is that so few outside-Mendo winemakers have been so slow to exploit these grapes. Kent Rosenblum has made some mightly impressive Zins from the Rhoades Ranch over the last 10 yrs or so. Recently Wells Guthrie (Copain) and Sean Thackry have started making some world-class wines from there. I'm hoping the Coro project will raise the profile of Mendocino and make others, other than us old-timers, recognize the quality of Mendocino grapes and the potential of their wines.
4. One of the more controversial aspects (from the consumer standpoint) is the pricing strategy, all the wines at $35/btl. The Coro intent is to show to the world that Mendo is making world-class wines that can compete in the upper price range; that Mendo's just not only a source for "value" wines. Whether that's the right strategy or not, I'm not sure. I am certain if that some of those wines taste like only $20 btls, they'll have shot themselves in the foot and the Coro project will be for naught. Alas, I think many consumers will look at that btl on the shelf and say "What...$35 for a Mendo wine??" The real question should be "Is this wine interesting and unique and say something about Mendo grapes and wines"? and then ask the question is it worth $35. I'm looking forward to someday tasting all 8 Coro wines together.
5. Montepulciano: This is apparently a grape that is indigenous to Abruzzo. There is some suggestion that the variety is a clone or related to Sangiovese brought South from the town of Montepulciano in Tuscany, but DNA typing indicates no relationship to Sangiovese whatsoever. Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Montepulciano d'Abruzzo are totally unrelated wines. The Rosso Conero wines are also based much on the Montepulciano variety, although their WebSite seems to imply theirs is somehow superior to mere Montepulciano.
6. CalItal varietals: It's certainly been a struggle over the yrs since the big Sangio plantings in the '80's and the market has struggled and never caught fire the way folks expected it to. But there's light at the end of the tunnel. I've seen an remarkable progress in the last few yrs with them. Steve Clifton's Palmina wines, both white & red, are very impressive across the board. Sashi Moorman/Stolpman  has some impressive ones in the works as well. Clearly, Barbera is the flagship varietal. I've had some Calif versions that are world- class, as good as any Barbera anywhere. The Sangios are getting much/much better, especially from the SantaBarbara area. They're getting that beautiful floral/cherry aromatics right and getting more texture & richness in them, w/o that mean acid/tannic streak on the palate the early ones had. The Nebbs are showing much more aromatics, but tannin management is still a problem. But they'll figure it out. Like they did Pinot. As SteveEdmunds points out, Nebbiolo is another-worldy grape that is not easily mastered. And then there's a $hitload (Kansas colloquialism) of other stuff: Toreldego, Montepulciano, Lagrein, Refosco, Primitivo, Ruchet, Freisa.... it goes on and on. And Amarone/Recieto is a genre that should be pursued. It's exciting times.
7. Palmina Barbera: It's seems rather strange to be growing a high-acid variety like Barbera in Pinot country. And it shows...one of the most acid Calif wines I've had. It had a bit of funk to it, but lots of interesting things going on in this wine.
8. Eberle Barbera: I've followed Gary's Barberas from the very start...the '78 at Estrella River. When I first visited Gary there about '79, when he'd been getting lots of good press for his Chards and Cabs; I announced that I'd like to try his Barbera and Syrah. He gave me this weird look and knew right then he was dealing w/ somebody whose elevator didn't go all the way to the top. I was mightly impressed by the Barbera, especially for the price ($6 as I recall) and my group wound up buying some 20% of his production of 5 barrels. He expected it to be a very tough sale & was delighted to find a buyer. After it came out & started attracting attention, I suspect he regretted so much of it went to LosAlamos. I had my last btl about 10 yrs ago & it was still wonderful.
9. Lagrein: Grown mostly in the AltoAdige for it's dark pigmentation (though not a tenturier), I've had some pretty impressive ones from there. Seems to be a rather earthy/licorice/cola character to the wine. This Terlan was probably the most impressive one yet. The first Calif Lagrein was the one from Chris Whitcraft. Grown in far EastSidePaso/FrenchCampVnyd; it was pretty decent, though more in a Pinotish style. This Santa Barbara Winery version, from a vnyd near LosOlivos, is far more impressive, nearly as good as the Terlan I thought. Santa Barbara Winery & Bruce MacGrath are really on a roll these days. Terlan Site is located at www.kellerei-terlan.com/eng  As anyone had experience with the many other wine from this cooperative??
10. Dornfelder: A German cross (Heroldrebe x Helfensteine) developed in 1956 to boost the pitifully anemic color of German red wines. Grown mostly in Platinate and Wurttenberg regions. Early ones I've had were not too exciting. I've had a couple that Howard&Rhoda have brought back from Germany that were impressive, though very much in the international/ modern style w/ skads of NewFrenchOak. The SantaBarbara version from Norm Huber is a pretty amazing wine. The SantaRitaHills is not a likely spot to be growing Dornfelder, but here it is. I first tasted this at Peter Cargasacchi's SRH Tour two yrs ago & was mightly impressed. Tasted from the btl, even more impressed. Pretty amazing wine.

    Tom Hill