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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.
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Some Pre-Thanksgiving Wines -
November 25, 2009 |
We tasted last night (11/11/09) some Chronic Wines:
- We tasted last week (11/25/09) Some Pre-Thanksgiving Wines:
1. Puinello Nobilomo DOC: Marzemino Colli di Scandiano di Canessa (9.5%) Quattro Castella/
Reggio Emilia NV: Med.color; slight earthy/dusty some plummy/cherry/cherry pie quite grapey Lambrusco-
like bitter cherry nose; slightly sweet Nehi black cherry soda pop/very grapey/plummy Lambrusco-like
flavor; med. grapey/black cherry soda pop bit bitter some plummy finish w/ earthy tannins; a pleasant
quite grapey wine made like a Lambrusco. $12.00
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2. de TarczalDOC trentino Superiore Marzemino di Isera (12.5%) Mariano d'Isera 2004: Med.color; rather
pungent/earthy/gunpowder bit reduced slight fecal slight burnt oak nose; tart very dry/austere dusty/
earthy rather hard/tannic bit metallic/tinny almost no fruit flavor; med. dry/austere no fruit earthy/dusty
hard/tannic bit unclean/fecal finish; time will probably not do much for this ugly wine; the kind of
wine that gives a bad name to terroir. $28.00
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3. Cantina d'Isera NoveSette DOC: Trentino Superiore Marzemino d'Isera (13%) 2005: Med.color; fairly
attractive black cherry/plummy bit earthy/dusty some sour cherry/cherry pie nose; tart somewhat bitter/
hard/tannic slight sour cherry/plummy earthy/dusty rather sour/coarse flavor; med.short tannic/austere/
hard/astringent earthy/dusty bit plummy/sour cherry finish; somewhat interesting nose but unattractive
on the palate. Overpriced at $32.00 __________________
4. FlyingMonkey Monterey Syrah 2006: Med.dark color; bit floral/blackberry/Syrah slight herbal light oak/
vanilla nose; soft slightly sour/earthy bit plummy/herbal/boysenberry/Syrah light oak flavor; med. soft/
plummy bit herbal simple/blackberry/Syrah slightly bitter finish w/ little tannins; a pleasant juicy/
plummy slight herbal Syrah at a very good price. $8.33
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5. Stillman Syrah ArroyoSecco/Monterey (Clone 877; 14.7%; www.SWillyIdle.com) 2007: Dark color; lovely cracked
black pepper/peppery/spicy some blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah light toasty/oak very interesting/attractive
nose; tart bit herbal/cracked black pepper spicy/peppery/blackberry/Syrah light toasty/oak flavor; med.
long cracked black pepper/spicy some blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah slight herbal light toasty/oak finish
w/ an underlying tannic hardness; needs 1-3 yrs yet; lots of spicy/cracked pepper character; quite a nice
Syrah at a very attractive price. $20.00
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6. TablasCreekVnyd Tannat PasoRobles (15.0%; www.TablasCreek.com) 2006: Very dark/black color; strong plummy/
licorice/boysenberry/black cherry/blueberry/big fruit lovely/lush nose; med.tart strong black cherry/
licorice/pungent/boysenberry light toasty/oak very interesting/spicy flavor; long black cherry/boysenberry/
pungent/licorice light toasty/oak interesting/spicy finish w/ modest tannins; needs 2-6 yrs; probably
the best Tannat I've yet had; this is how they'd make Tannat in Madiran if they could. $35.00
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7. Ch.Bouscasse AC: Madiran Vielle-Vignes (14%; vines > 50 yr old; 100% Tannat) 2000: Very dark color; some
reduced/H2S/gunpowder/WWII beacon rather unclean/fecal/barnyardy/bretty slight black cherry/plummy/earthy/
dusty nose; tart very hard/tannic/bitter/astringent slight plummy/black cherry unclean/bretty/fecal coarse/
earthy flavor; med.long hard/tannic/very astringent rather bretty/unclean finish w/ huge tannins; needs
much age but seems a big gamble; a very terroir-driven wine but I'm not sure that counts for much in
this case; not a terroir that I'm attracted to; way overpriced at $45.00
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8. SylvainBernard Domaine de Fauterie AC: StJoseph (12%) 1990: Med.light color w/ some browning; beautiful
classic Rhone/smokey/roasted/pungent/espresso some black olive beautiful/complex/mature nose; tart coffee/
roasted/espresso/smokey/pungent smooth classic NorthernRhone complex beautiful flavor; very long/lingering
espresso/roasted/coffee classic NortherrnRhone very complex finish w/ slight tannic bight; starting to dry
out on the palate a bit but a beautiful classic mature NorthernRhone. $18.00
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9. AlainGraillot AC: Crozes-Hermitage (13%) 2007: Dark color; strong earthy/dusty bit roasted/smokey/pungent
rather blackberry/Syrah/lush some toasty/oak little NorthernRhone nose; tart slight toasty/oak some
blackberry/Syrah/green olive rather Calif-style/fruit forward bit tannic flavor; med. some blackberry/
Syrah slight green olive/pungent some toasty/oak finish w/ modest tannins; rather Calif in style and a
paucity of NorthernRhone character; good wine but a bit disappointing for a Graillot.
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10. Manzane L'eccelente Marzimino IGT Marzimino Colli Trevigiani VinoPassito (13%)
SanPietro di Feletto NV: Very dark/black color; quite earthy/dusty intense black cherry/Nehi soda pop/
DrPepper/plummy intense grapey/boysenberry/licorice/chocolaty lovelu late harvesty nose; somewhat sweet
(2%??) very intense black cherry cola/boysenberry/blueberry/licorice/DrPepper some tannic/hard bit bitter/
cherry flavor; very long very tannic/hard/astringent somewhat sweet huge black cherry fruit/plummy/
DrPepper/boysenberry finish; needs some age yet; huge fruit lovely example of a red passito. Fairly
priced at $27.00/500ml
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11. Sakonnet IceWine VidalBlanc SouthEast NewEngland (11.2%; EG&B; SaH: 36%; RS: 15%; www.SakonnetWine.com)
RhodeIsland 2000: Dark gold some browning/burnished bronze color; some earthy/herbal/dusty bit raisened/
rotted apples slight pickle juice/volatile rather interesting nose; quite sweet apple cider/pickle juice
earthy/dusty/rotted apple strange but interesting flavor; fairly long quite sweet pickle juice/apple
cider earthy/dusty/herbal finish; a rather weird but interesting dessert wine. $18.00/hlf
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Marzemino: This grape, a cross between Tereldego and Refosco (which implies it's probably a natural
cross from Friuli), is one I've long been attracted to. It often has a bright cherry character, much
like Sangiovese, but w/o the hard tannins and acids. It often reminds me a bit of Freisa, a bit
of Schiopettino, maybe a bit of Ruche.
It had been a few yrs since I have tried any Marzeminos, so I was hoping to dazzle my group with
this grape. They were not dazzled in the least. The Passito was the only one I cared much for, the other
three were not very good. But I still think Marzemino is a grape worth pursuing.
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2. TablasCreek: I have, of course, followed TablasCreek from the very start. Their first wines (forget the
label they used) from purchased grapes were rather underwhelming, given the names (Haas/Perrin) behind
the label. They (legally) brought in from the Rhone all the appropriate varieties, pushed them thru
quarantine, and turned them over to their vnyd operation. For the first few yrs, the nursery operation
was the bulk of their business. I was sorta puzzled by their dawddleness in breaking into the winemaking
business. When they first released a red under the TablasCreek label, I was again underwhelmed by it and
sorta done writ off TablasCreek. Fast forward 5 yrs: BobSenn shared w/ me (blind) that first red at the
Casmalia HitchingPost. I was very impressed with the wine. It spoke mostly of Calif, but had underlying
hints of SouthernRhone/garrigue. I was (as usual) clueless. When he unveiled it, I shook my head in
disblief...how could that lacklustre wine turn into something so friggin' good??
Since those early/shakey yrs, TablasCreek has gone from strength to strength. They're making the best
wines they've ever made. Much like Qupe or EdmundsStJohn, the wines can be a bit unthrilling upon their
release. They don't have the "gobs of hedonistic fruit" that appeal to some palates. And, like those other
two, their wines seem to make dramatic improvements with btl age. But, unlike those other two, TablasCreek
has never (to my knowledge) (rightfully so) been taken to the woodshed by MrParker.
The focus at TablasCreek was originally on making a single blended white and red. They've expanded their
scope a bit and make 2 levels of blended wines (Cotes de Taablas and Esprit de Beaucastel) and a handful
of single varietals. All are amazingly good and very reasonably priced. This is the 2'nd or 3'rd TC Tannat
that I've had. Tannat is a variety known for its fierce tannins. They do an amazing job in their Tannat
in taming those tannins. Best Tannat in the world, methinks. And their Picpoul, Vermentino, and Grenache
Blanc are equally exceptional. Not a wnry that gets a lot of press, but top notch in my book.
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3. Fauterie: This was a wine we bought seveal cases of, way back when. I loved it for its classic Northern
Rhone character. And the price was great. Have not seen this wine around of late, so don't know what
they're doing in more recent yrs. Larry's mystery.
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And the usual stuff from TheBloodyPulpit: |
1. Some of these wines were given to us to try, so don't know the price on all of them.
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2. VinoV: These wines are made by MichaelMeagher. He was formerly winemaker w/ AdamTolmach/OjaiVnyds before striking out on his own. He makes his wine at the OldCreekRanch, near OjaiVnyd, where he's also the winemaker. Michael & I go way back to his early days at Ojai.
I've tried his VinoV wines in the past, sorta on a hit or miss basis. So when Michael offered his current wines to try, plus the vertical of his WhiteHawk Syrah, I jumped at the chance. The Chard was a lovely/interesting Chard; one of the better ones I've had this year. The Pinot was
not nearly as thrilling. Of the Syrahs; the '04 seemed to have a slight funk to it and seemed a bit ragged at the edges; as if it was not evolving gracefully in the btl. Hard to tell where it will be going. The '05 was a good/solid classic SantaBarbara Syrah. But the '06 I thought was absolutely first-rate; as good as any from SantaBarbara, and probably the best I've from WhiteHawk. Terrific job I thought.
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3. SolomonHills Pinot: I've not had many SantaMaria Pinots from this side of the river that have really hit my sweet spot. Most seem to have a somewhat earthy/Burgundy character to them and lack the bright cherry/Pinot fruit you find in the BienNacido Pinots. Also owned by the Miller brothers. It is one of the coolest & westernmost vnyds in the SantaMariaVlly. The soil appears very sandy in character, in stark contrast to very stoney/gravelly BienNacido soils.
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4. ShakeRidgeVnyd: When I was researching HdR, I noted a new wnry, Yorba. This is NapaVlly wine made by KenBernards. The grapes are grown by highly-regarded viticulturist AnnKraemer in her ShakeRidge vnyd up in AmadorCnty. This vnyd is up in the Sierra foothills; east of SutterCreek and south of the ShenandoahVlly. Ann has a lot of interesting stuff planted there in a rather complicated vnyd. The wines did not strike me as typical AmadorCnty/ShenandoahVlly wines. They did not have that strong briary/blackberry/ripe component typical signature of ShenandoahVlly. They seemed much more akin to the wines from the Fiddletown area, just east of the ShenandoahVlly and slightly higher elevation. They did not show that earthy/mushroomy character you typically find in the ElDorado reds. They did not have a ton of lush/opulent fruit but showed more restraint and all very structured for aging. Stylistically, I found a lot of similarity in these wines, but still very much varietally correct. Definitely a wnry/vnyd to watch in the future. I was impressed by my first test drive of Ann's wines.
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5. OldBlackMagic: I didn't find much in this wine to excite me. It reminded me some of a middling Cotes du Rhone, not one of my favorite genres. However, like the Rocks&Gravel, Steve's wines have this way of rising up and biting you on the a$$ with some age. I would guess that this OBM is one of those wines. Sometimes you just gotta believe.
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6. NovySyrah: This was SteveCostigan's mystery wine. On release; it had big boysenberry fruit w/ strong herbal character typical of SLH. This wine has since developed a strong cracked black pepper character and in a very good place for drinking right now.
TomHill
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[Additional Wine Reviews from Tom Hill] |
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