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. Mostly New Mostly California Cabernet & Merlot
   Tasted a few, mostly new, Calif Cabs last night:
   Montevina Amador County Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon '77: deep black cherry cedary tobaccoy slight herbal Cab nose; soft smooth round pungent licorice smokey cedary flavor; very long pungent licorice tobaccoy cedary finish w/ light tannins; drying out a bit in the finish but really lovely complex smooth round developed Cab.
   Carneros Creek Esola Vnyd Amador Cabernet Sauvignon (14.4% alc) '76: deep dusty black cherry briary youthful some Amador Zin-like licorice nose; bit hot lush black cherry very spicy briary sweetish light oaked flavor; long very spicy licorice black cherry bit hot finish w/ light tannins; loaded w/ spicy almost Zin-like character; still tastes rather young.
   Carneros Creek Amador Esola Vineyard Cabernet SauvignonCS (14.2%) NV ('90-'92-'93): rather black- curranty Cab dusty licorice bit closed nose; soft bit diffuse ripe spicy black cherry/blackcurranty dusty light oaked nose; med.long dusty black cherry light oaked finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; a nicely done fairly spicy Amador Cab.
   Carneros Creek Amador Esola Vineyard Cabernet SauvignonCS (14.6%) '91: deep pungent licorice dusty strong blackcherry blackcurranty very spicy light oaked nose; rich mouth- filling licorice dusty blackcherry bit earthy flavor; very long ripe black cherry dusty licorice finish w/ ample tannins; needs 3-8 yrs.
   Jade Mountain Napa Valley Merlot '93: fragrant pungent smokey ripe lush Merlot nose; very soft fat ripe jammy Marlot some toasty oaked flavor; long soft ripe Merlot/jammy finish w/ light tannins; nicely done but a bit soft and porky on the palate. Overpriced at $22.50
   La Merleausine Oregon Merlot '93: fragrant very spicy almost Pinot-like cinammon&cloves nose; tart very spicy cinammon&cloves dusty floral slight edgy flavor; long spicy flowery cinammon&cloves bit toasty oaked finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-5 yrs; a really interesting Merlot w/ lots of spicy/ floral character; good acidity & structure for aging.
   Cinnabar Columbia Vlly Wash State Merlot '93: intense pungent earthy smokey very herbal coffee nose; soft cherry herbal coffee toasty oaked dusty flavor; long herbal dusty coffee spicy cherry earthy finish w/ light tannins; loaded w/ herbal Wash State Cab character; most people disliked this but I thought it to be good herbal Wash Cab.
   Santa Cruz Mountainn Vineyard Santa Cruz Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon '80: intense dusty SCM Cab earthy toasty/cedary oaked nose; hard tannic dusty SCM Cab earthy toasty oaked flavor; very long very dusty SCM Cab menthol toasty oaked earthy finish w/ fair tannins; still a very young wine; needs age.
   Douglass Hill Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon '92: This is wine that didn't make it into the Silver Oak AV Cab blend & sold to a negociant. strong fragrant spicy Am. oaked pencilly black cherry slight musty nose; soft fragrant black cherry strong Am. oaked bit light flavor; med.long very strong Am. oaked light black cherry finish w/ light tannins; the Silver Oak connection is obvious; very good Cab for the $13.
   Ravenswood Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon '93: very strong minty/menthol oaked black- curanty licorice toasty nose; rich minty/menthol tannic ripe blackcurranty Cab pungent tannic flavor; very long sweet minty/menthol oaked tannic ripe blackcurranty finish; needs 3-8 yrs; a big rich rough Cab very much in the Ravenswood style.
   Graceland Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon '93: If'n you rotate the bottle 90 deg counter- clockwise & hold it at arm's lenghth, you can see Elvis' face on the label, no joking!! strong fragrant blackcurranty licorics perfumed oaked nose; soft smooth buttery oaked light herbal/blackcurranty flavor; med.long soft oaked very buttery light blackcuranty finish w/ light tannins. Made by Phil Baxter of Phillipe-Lorraine; a pleasant $12 Cab for $21.
   Rafanelli Dry Creek Vlly Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon '92: intense rustic earthy dusty old vines blackcurranty strong oaked nose; big rich dusty mouthfilling oaked ripe blackcurranty flavor; very long rough rustic dusty old vines big ripe blackcurranty toasty oaked finish w/ ample tannins; needs 2-8 yrs; classic rough & rustic big Rafanelli red.
   Viader Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon '92: intense pungent licorice blackcurranty toasty Fr. oak menthol dusty mtn Cab nose; rich mouthfilling tannic dusty mtn Cab ripe blackcurranty earthy toasty Fr. oak flavor; very long pungent licorice dusty blackcurranty Fr. oaked menthol finish; needs 5-15 yrs. A big ripe intense mtn-grown Cab. Will be a great one.
   Phillip Togni Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon '93: Wow!! Very intense pungent toasty charred oak roasted bit stinky intense blackcurranty licorice very dusty nose; huge rich mouthfilling highly extracted tannic toasty/charred oak intense dusty mtn Cab blackcurranty flavor; very long very intense toasty/roasted/charred Fr. oaked dusty mtn Cab blackcurranty/black cherry tannic finish; needs 10-20 yrs; a huge intense extracted mtn grown Cab. Ouch on the pricetag of $38.
   
   Musings.
   1. Carneros Creek bough the Esola Cab grapes, only a few tons worth, since 1974. Frank Mahoney usually blends a bit (5%-10%) into his regular Cab to give it a shot in the arm; and then bottles the rest & sells this small amount mostly direct from the winery. It has always been quite a good wine, usually more characteristic of Amador Zin than Cab, seldom much of the blackcurranty Cab character is obvious. It's a wine worth seeking out for a different Cab experience if you are up at the winery.
   2. The SantaCruzMtn Cab was very impressive and quite a young wine. It shows a distinct familial resemblance to Monte Bello Cab in that it has the very dusty earthy characteristic of SCM Cab. Ken Burnap makes some pretty big & rustic & rough wines, including Chard & Pinot, but doesn't seem to get much recoginition any more. The Cab, when it was first released, had the classic "Burnap stench" to it, a somewhat stinky/H2S/sewer gas aroma (but absolutely packed w/ flavor) that many people couldn't see beyond. The wholesaler dumped the rest of the lot and it was retailing around $7. An absolute steal, should've bought even more than I did.
   3. The Ravenswood Cab was impressive. Joel gets all the good press for his Zin and many people overlook the very impressive Cabs & Merlots that he also produces. This '93 Sonoma is a good one.