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 last week (7/26/06) Mostly Siduri Pinots:

1. Bouchard Pere&Fils Bourgogne (13%) 2003: Med.color; pleasant cherry/PN slight earthy simple nose; thin/lean bit tannic/metallic light/washed-out simple cherry/fruity flavor; short tannic/metallic light washed-out finish; some RedBurg character but why bother at any price. $12.50
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2. Ampelos lambda PinotNoir AmpelosVnyd/Sta.RitaHills (15.2%; www.AmpelosCellars.com; 366 cs)    2004: Med.color; some toasty/Burgundian/oak bit alcoholic very attractive/bright/PN cherry/ black cherry nose; tart rich/lush cherry/black cherry/PN slight earthy light toasty/oak/ Burgundian flavor; rather long toasty/Burgundian bright black cherry/cherry/PN finish w/ modest tannins; needs a yr or two; quite an attractive/lovely Pinot. $33.00
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3. Siduri SonomaCnty PinotNoir (14.7%; 1280 cs) 2004: Med.color; attractive bright/clean/ cherry/spicy/PN bit leafy/foresty nose; soft/lush bright/cherry/PN light spicy/nutmeg flavor; med. bright/cherry/PN finish w/ little tannins; a pretty/frivolous good-drinking bright Pinot. $16.00
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4. Siduri RussianRiverVlly PinotNoir (14.6%; 1020 cs) 2004: Med.dark color; deeper/more earthy slightly peppery strong black cherry/PN light toasty/oak nose; soft richer/lusher peppery/ black cherry/PN bit earthy/dusty light oak flavor; med.long peppery/black cherry/PN finish w/ light tannins; pretty PN w/ nice RRV/peppery character; great price. $21.00
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5. Siduri PinotNoir WillametteVlly/OR (14.1%; 43% MuirfieldVnyd, 22% ArbreVertVnyd, 22% ShawMtnVnyd, 13% Hawk'sViewVnyd; 1226 cs) 2004: Light color; rather dusty/earthy slight walnutty bright cherry/PN classic OR PN nose; tart rather walnutty/dusty some bright/ cherry/PN simple/light flavor; med. tart walnutty/dusty light cherry/PN/bright finish w/ light tannins; less lushness and tighter/brighter; great OR PN for $16.00
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6. Siduri ArbreVertVnyd WillametteVlly/OR PinotNoir (14.3%) 2003: Med.dark color; much deeper black cherry/cherry/PN some walnutty/earthy light vanilla/toasty/oak nose; tart slight alcoholic walnutty/earthy/mushroomy rather black cherry/PN bit lean/tannic flavor; med. long tart/lean walnutty/earthy/dusty some black cherry/PN finish w/ light tannins; needs yr or two; very good OR PN at good price. $28.00
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7. Siduri MuirfieldVnyd WillametteVlly/OR PinotNoir (14.4%; 192 cs) 2003: Med.dark color; strong quite black cherry/PN more toasty/oak slight minty/earthy nose; tart bright cherry/ black cherry/PN light toasty/oak some minty/menthol/spicy flavor; long tart very bright cherry/black cherry/PN bit minty/menthol some toasty/charred/oak finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; terrific OR PN. $30.00
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8. Siduri WillametteVlly/OR PinotNoir Hawk'sViewVnyd (14.7%; 123 cs) 2003: Dark color; deeper/ richer more lush/ripe/black cherry/PN very spicy/aromatic slight earthy nose; tart rich bit hard/tannic strong black cherry/PN some toasty/charred/smokey/oak light earthy/mushroom flavor; very long bit tannic/hard ripe/lush/black cherry/PN some toasty/smokey/oak bit Burgundian finish; best of the OR PNs; needs 2-5 yrs; terrific OR Pinot. $30.00
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9. Siduri SantaRitaHills PinotNoir (14.2%) 2004: Med.color; ripe cherry/black cherry/PN sweet/ ripe very spicy nose; tart bright cherry/black cherry/PN sweet/ripe/very spicy nose; med. long very spicy ripe/black cherry/PN finish w/ light tannins; loads of bright/vibrant/ cherry fruit w/ lots of spiciness; very good value. $24.00
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10. Siduri PinotNoir SantaLuciaHighlands (14.2%) 2004: Med.dark color; bit herbal/chocolaty/ earthy ripe/black cherry/framboise/PN light toasty/oak nose; softer/richer chocolaty/ herbal ripe/black cherry/PN some toasty/charred/oak flavor; long fairly herbal/chocolaty ripe/lush/black cherry/PN finish w/ light tannins; good SLH character at a very good price. $26.00   
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11. Siduri PisoniVnyd/SantaLuciaHighlands PinotNoir (15.0%; 960 cs) 2004: Med.dark color; somewhat herbal/dusty complex black cherry/chocolaty/espresso/PN ripe/lush very aromatic nose; tart very rich/lush black cherry/PN rather herbal/dusty some toasty/oak/smokey flavor; very long ripe/lush black cherry/PN/chocolaty rather herbal/dusty complex finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; lots of richness & nice SLH/herbal character. $39.00
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12. Siduri Garys'Vnyd SantaLuciaHighlands PinotNoir (14.5%) 2004: Med.dark color; very strong chocolaty/espresso/pungent ripe/black cherry/jammy quite herbal nose; softer rather herbal/ black cherry/PN some toasty/pungent/smokey/oak flavor; med.long very ripe/black cherry/PN/ cola herbal light toasty finish w/ light tannins; seems rather ripe and a bit over-the-top but lots of SLH Pinot character. $34.00
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13. Siduri VanDerKampVnyd/SonomaMtn PinotNoir (15.5%; 171 cs) 2003: Med.color; attractive black cherry/PN light toasty/oak rather perfumed/perfumed talc nose; tart light/lean/bit austere bright cherry/PN/cherry cola flavor; med.long tart/lean spicy/cherry/PN finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; attractive PN but just that. $31.00
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14. Siduri AmberRidgeVnyd/RussianRvrVlly PinotNoir (14.2%; www.SiduriWines.com) 2004: Med. dark color; deep/rich black cherry/PN/black cherry cola strong toasty/charred/oak rather Burgundian beautiful/aromatic/perfumed nose; tart rich/lush black cherry cola/PN fairly toasty/charred/oak perfumed flavor; very long rich/lush black cherry cola/PN toasty/oak complex finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; big/rich/lush Pinot w/ Burgundian overtones; terrific Pinot. $34.00
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15. Siduri Rosella'sVnyd/SantaLuciaHighlands (14.3%) 2001: Very dark/black color; very ripe/ bit overripe bit herbal/rosemary slight alcoholic/volatile rather plummy/licorice charred/oak strange nose; very acid/citric somewhat herbal toasty/burnt/oak some plummy/ black cherry/cola flavor; long herbal/rosemary charred/oak slight plummy/alcoholic finish w/ some tannins; seems to be evolving in a very strange way; not typical Siduri.
    
    
    

1. AmpelosCllrs: This is the new vnyd in the SantaRitaHills that is now making their own Estate wine as well. Farmed very meticulously, bio-dynamically, by Peter & Becky Work. Their wnry is in the western Lompoc ghetto, sharing space w/ Ken Brown. As their vines mature and the winemaking evolves, the wines are only going to get better and better. An operation to keep your eyes on.
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2. Siduris: Not much more I can say than I've said before. These are easily some of my favorite Pinots. My group buys a $hitload (Kansas colloquialism) of them every year. They (primarily Kate) are some of the nicest people you'd ever want to deal with. This was an accumulation of several months of Siduri Pinots. The wines are all quite distinctive and express their origins (that terroir thingey), even though they are distinctly Siduri. The AmberRidge was easily my favorite of the bunch, closely followed by all the SLH ones. The regional series Pinots are some of the best values in Pinot that can be found from Calif. Terrific lush/balanced Pinots at more than fair prices. The one thing I don't quite understand...with two small children, vnyds spread hither and yon, from Oregon to SRH, lots of wines going on all the time; how in the world Adam and Diana ever have time for a real life (well..granted, children ARE a real life). Beats heck out of me.
   

TomHill