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.

We tasted this week (2/23/05) some Romanian & Other Aromatic Whites:

1. Bolognani Trentino MoscatoGiallo (12%; www.Bolognani.com; www.OMWines.com) 2003: Pale
yellow color; very fragrant/perfumed/aromatic near volatile some cheap hair oil nose; tart/
dry/austere slight bitter intense floral/muscatty/cheap hair oil flavor; very long some bitter/ astringent very floral/muscatty finish; needs food; a bit like Alsatian muscatw/ GWT/ hair oil component; terrific aromas; a bit different in character from other muscats w/ seem a bit simpler. Well priced at $17.00
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2. Petrussa Bianco Petrussa ColliOrientali del Friuli Bianco (14%) 2001: Med.dark gold color; very intense/overwhelming toasty/charred/pungent/smoky slight perfumed/fruit nose; tart/huge/ glycerined very intense/toasty/charred/smoky/coconutty intense fruit slight bitter flavor; very long/lingering huge/glycerined intense/toasty/charred some bitter finish; has a ton of new oak but loads of underlying fruit; for some reason I like this wine despite being bludgeoned by oak; rather pricey for an oak fix at $36.00
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3. I Frati Lugana WW (13%; www.CaDeiFrati.IT) 2002: Med.color; slight toasty/oak spicy/herbal/
fragrant slight earthy rather attractive/perfumed nose; tart/citrusy/grapefruity spicy/herbal slight earthy/stoney quite attractive flavor; med. quite spicy/herbal slight SB-like/grapefruity light stoney finish; pleasant bit simple white from the Trebbiano de Luganagrape; fairly priced at $16.00
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4. DiBruno SantaRitaHills PinotGrigio Sanford&BenedictVnyd (13.5%) 2003: Light yellow color;
attractive grapefruity/spicy slight perfumed nose; bland/simple grapefruity/fruity slight earthy flavor; med.short simple grapefruity/earthy finish; rather pretty nose but doesn't deliver much on the palate. $16.00
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5. MoviaEstates Ribolla (13.5%) VQS and OC: GoriskaBrda Mirko&Ales Kristancic/Dobrovo/Slovenia 2001: Med.dark gold color; strong fragrant/grapey/perfumed very aromatic/resinous nose; tart very rich piney/grapey/resinous strong/intense very perfumed/interesting flavor; very long very grapey/resiny/piney finish; very interesting much like a very ripe/old NYState Riesling. $25.00
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6. MarcoPorello Canale Roero Arneis Camestri WW (12.5%; www.OMWines.com) 2002: Med.dark gold color; low key earthy/stoney light fruit rather spicy/interesting nose; very tart/screechy
stoney/earthy slight spicy/nutmeg flavor; med.long austere/tart/screechy finish; makes me think of running your fingernails down a chalkboard (for those who remember such things); interesting Arneis at a good price. $13.00
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7. Murfatlar Muscat Ottonel Perla Vinurilor Romanesti (12%) 1999: Dark gold color; rather muscatty intense grapey/figgy bit resinous very ripe slight earthy quite interesting nose; soft/ fat/flabby very rich figgy/grapey/resiny slight earthy flavor; med.long very ripe/grapey/muscatty/ resiny finish; definitely Muscat in character; quite interesting at a very good price. $8.00
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8. RomaniaVnyds Cotnari Tamaioasa Romaneasca (12%) 2000: Med.dark gold color; slight corked/
musty rather waxy very ripe/peachy/apricotty spicy/frankincense very weird nose in a pleasant sort of way; off-dry rather earthy slight musty/corked very ripe/overripe/figgy/apricotty flavor; med.short overripe/figgy slight musty finish; pretty strange wine. $9.80
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9. GrayMonk VQA OkanaganVlly PinotAuxerrois (12.8%) BritishColumbia/Canada 2003: Light yellow
color; attractive floral/R-like slight piney/green apple bit cheap/Liebfraumilch nose; tart pleasant floral/grapey cheap/Liebfraumilch bit coarse flavor; med.short grapey/floral finish; bit to close to BlueNun for my tastes. Overpriced at $19.00
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10. Adelsheim WillametteVlly Auxerrois (13.2%; www.Adelsheim.com; PinotNoirXGouaisBlanc)
2003: Pale yellow color; low key floral/R-like slight Mosel/valve oil nose; very tart/lean/austere somewhat washed out/piney/floral flavor; med.short hard/lean/austere dilute piney/floral finish; pretty nose but not much on the palate. Overpriced at $18.50
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11. ColemanVnyds PinotGris Estate WillametteVlly OR (13.8%; www.ColemanVineyard.com)
2003: Near colorless; very attractive pineapply/vanilla slight herbal/resiny/melony prettynose; very tart/acid/lean rather pineapply/floral/resin spicy/nutmeg slight oaked flavor; long ripe/ pineapply/floral slight resin finish; more like a traditional Alsatian R like Trimbach; fair price at $15.00
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12. Madame Arnaud Gaujal Chateau de Pinet Picpoul de Pinet Coteaux de Languedoc (MeBaC;
13.7%) 2002: Light gold color; very strong earthy/stoney Arneis-like simple low-fruit nose;
very tart/austere/astringent green apple very stoney/earthy hard flavor; short hard/austere
very stoney finish w/ little fruit; needs more ripeness; rather Arneis-like. $11.00
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13. Loimer Langenlois GrunerVeltliner Kamptal (12.5%) 2003: Pale yellow color; deep grapy/
earthy fairly lush waxy/valve oil/spicy interesting nose; very tart/acid rich/lush waxy/grapey/ earthy bit coarse flavor; med.long earthy/lush/ripe/waxy/grapey very tart/hard finish; needs age; quite a nice GV at a fair price. $16.50
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14. VanVolxem Wiltinger Gottesfuss AlteReben Riesling (12.0%; A.P.Nr. 3 567212 06 02;
www.VanVolxem.DE) 2001: Med.dark gold color; beautiful/complex very intense minerally/floral/
R/pineapply slight botrytis slight oak(?) complex/amazing/ripe nose; rather sweet/Auslese-
level very lush/ripe/floral/R/pineapply bit peachy/botrytis flavor; very long/lingering complex ripe/floral/pineapply/R/perfumed slight apricotty/botrytis finish; very unusual wine but I like it a lot; crazy price at $51.00
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15. Cotnari Grasa de Cotnari FineWhiteSweetWine (11.5%) 1999: Med.gold color; intense grapey/
lush very ripe/overripe rather earthy/complex sweet nose; soft slight oxidized very rich/ripe/
lush grapey/figgy no botrytis attractive flavor; very long very ripe/grapey/figgy slight earthy /dusty somewhat sweet; lots of very ripe fruit; rather interesting wine if a bit strange. $9.80
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16. Dacia Cotnari (12%; Grasa, Feteasca Alba, & Francusa grapes; Sweet; "Pearl of Moldavia")
1999: Dark gold color; beautiful/intense/grapey/very ripe/figgy slight toasty/oak Auslese-
like nose; soft slight metallic/earthy some peachy/botrytis very ripe/grapey/lush/figgy flavor; very long ripe/overripe peachy/figgy/grapey slight earthy/metallic finish; much like an Auslese from the Rheinhessen; great price at $5.30
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17. Dr.KonstatinFrank DryRiesling FingerLakes (12%) 2003: Pale yellow color; very strong
floral/R slight herbal/diaper pail/funky stoney/minerally slight pungent/Mosel valve oil interesting nose; very tart steely/grapefruity/earthy bit valve oil rather floral/R flavor; long very tart/steely/metallic/minerally quite floral/R bit herbal/funky finish; very interesting R that needs 5-10 yrs; Sylvia's mystery wine.

1. The Movia was the first Slovenian wine I've had. I was impressed. Everyone tells me that
these wines are even better than many of the nearby Friulian versions.
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2. Romanian wines: Not had a lot of experience with these. One of the ladies in our group
is Romanian and she thought these were better than most that she's had there. When Darell
Corti suggested I try these wines last Fall, I was pretty skeptical. He was, of course,
as usual, right on. Never hurts to keep an open mind I guess.
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3. VanVolxem: Bought this wine because of its absurd price (for a non-Pradikat wine); mostly
out of curiosity. Not quite sure what this wine is about and the WebSite gives no info.
Whatever it is, it's darn good stuff and maybe even reasonably priced.
Tom