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. Albert Morot Beaune-Bressandes 1er Cru (13%; www.FrenchWinesSuck.com) 2000: Med.color; lovely violets/floral light earthy some black cherry/Pinot Noir bit mushroomy slight brett nose; tart light earthy/mushroomy elegant/floral/violets/Pinot Noir little oak flavor; med.long tart fragrant/floral/violets finish w/ light tannins; a lovely/drinkable RedBurg w/ very pretty Pinot Noir fruit; pretty & elegant.
2. Dehlinger Pinot Noir RussianRiver Valley (EB; 14.6%) 2000: Med.color; very bright cherry/spicy some pencilly/oak chocolate covered cherries/candied very spicy nose; tart very spicy bright/ cherry/chocolate covered cherries very bright/Pinot/floral flavor; very long rather pencilly/ Fr.oak very spicy Nehi cherry soda pop/floral/chocolaty finish w/ light tannins; lovely/ elegant/well-balanced w/ classic Dehlinger spiciness; Cherry Mash in a glass.
3. Dehlinger Pinot Noir High Plains RussianRiver Valley (EB; Pommard clone; 14.8%) 2000: Med.color; bit more earthy/mushroomy more black cherry/deep some pencilly/Fr.oak nose; softer/rounder more candied/cherry very spicy bit more earthy/mushroomy some cherry soda pop flavor; long more pungent/deep/mushroomy finish w/ some tannins; bit more Burgundian & bit more deep; more RussianRiver in character; classic Dehlinger spice.
4. Dehlinger Pinot Noir Octagon Russian River Valley (EB; Swan clone; 14.5%) 2000: Med.color; more bright cherry/soda pop/floral/violets some pencilly/Fr.oak more spicy bit volatile/aromatic nose; harder more tannic less fruit rather pencilly/Fr.oak some cherry/Pinot/floral flavor; long bit harder/tannic less fruit finish w/ some tannins; needs more age.
5. Au Bon Climat Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir "La Bauge Au-dessus" BienNacido Vineyard (13.5%) 2000: Med.color; fairly fragrant/black cherry/BN/plummy bit floral/Pinot Noir some toasty/oak nose; tart bit dilute/ lean rather light/plummy/black cherry some herbal/earthy some toasty/oak flavor; med.short tart light plummy/cherry light toasty finish w/ light tannins; some BN character but a bit on the simple side; OK for the price. $23.00
6. Fiddlehead Cellars Santa Ynez Valley Lallapalooza Estate Pinot Noir Fiddlestix (13.5%; www.FiddleheadCellars.com) 2000: Med.dark color; bit minerally rather toasty/charred/Fr.oak rather black cherry cola/coffee/mocha pungent/smokey some complex nose; tart rather mocha/ coffee/toasty/Fr.oak bright cherry/black cherry/cola/Pinot Noir bit minerally/earthy flavor; very long tart minerally/spicy cherry/black cherry/cola/mocha pungent/toasty finish w/ some tannins; needs a few yrs; lots of oak but lots going on in this wine. $56.00
7. Silver Pinot Noir Julia's Vineyard Santa Barbara County (15.8%; SilverWines@Aol.com) 2000: Dark color; deep black cherry/plummy/blackberry almost Syrah-like unusual some toasty/charred/Fr.oak nose; big/glycerined black cherry/plummy/black berry rather pungent/toasty/Fr.oak rather tart/ schreechy/acid flavor; med.long rich/plummy/blackberry tart/acid rather toasty/pungent/oak some hard/tannic finish; not a lot of Pinot character and more like a Syrah; tastes acidified; rather strange wine for Pinot but not unpleasant.
8. Tantara Santa Lucia Highlands Garys' Vineyard Pinot Noir (14.5%) 2000: Med.dark color; very spicy/cinammon/cloves/nutmeg very perfumed/fragrant/aromatic violets/floral/cherry slight volatile some light/toasty/pungent/oak nose; softer very spicy/cloves/nutmeg very perfumed/fragrant strong black cherry/cherry/cola/Pinot Noir light toasty/oak flavor; very long/ lingering black cherry/Pinot/floral/violets very spicy/cloves/nutmeg light toasty/oak finish w/ some tannins; needs a few yrs; a wonderfully fragrant version of Pinot.
9. Talley Vineyards Pinot Noir ArroyoGrande (14.3%; EB) 2000: Med.light color; rather pungent/toasty/oak/ charred some fragrant/black cherry/soda pop/Pinot Noir slight hybridy/plastic nose; tart bit lean/ angular light cherry/black cherry/Nehi soda pop slight plastic rather charred/toasty/pungent/ oak flavor; med. toasty/charred/pungent light cherry/soda pop/black cherry finish w/ light tannins; pleasant if slightly strange Pinot.
10. Talley Vineyard Rosemary's Vineyard Pinot Noir (EB; #6960 of 7493; www.TalleyVineyards.com; 14.5%) 2000: Med.color; more intense black cherry/Pinot Noir slight earthy some charred/toasty/Fr.oak rather attractive nose; soft rather black cherry/Pinot Noir/cherry rather toasty/charred/Fr.oak/pungent flavor; med.long rather black cherry/cola/floral slight earthy fairly charred/toasty/pungent/ Fr.oak finish w/ some tannins; needs a yr or two; quite nice Pinot Noir but bit pricey for what it is. $60.00
11. Bonaccorsi Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir (14.2%; www.BonaWine.net) 2001: Med.dark color; fragrant/ spicy/black cherry/cola/Pinot Noir some toasty/pencilly/Fr.oak rather interesting nose; soft/rich black cherry/cherry/cola/Dr.Pepper quite spicy some toasty/charred/Fr.oak bit complex/earthy/ mushroomy/Burgundian flavor; long/soft rather black cherry/cola some toasty/charred/Fr.oak slight earthy/truffly finish w/ some tannins; needs yr or two; very nicely made/interesting Pinot at very fair price. $36.00
12. Brewer-Clifton Rozak Ranch Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir (15.8%; 2160 btls) 2001: Med.light color; very perfumed/aromatic cheap-perfume/flowery almost Marzeminno or Freisa-like exotic/bizarre light pencilly/Fr.oak nose; tart light/bit thin slight cherry very exotic/flowery/perfumed slight fumey light pencilly/oak flavor; med. lean/thin very exotic/perfumed/flowery delicate light pencilly finish w/ little tannins; a very bizarre rendition of Pinot but kind of interesting; a bit of hotness on the palate.
13. Societe Civile du Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Echezaux (#859 of 14,651; MaD; 13%) 1999: Dark color; some black cherry/chocolaty slight earthy/mushroomy bit smokey/oak/ pungent straightforward Pinot Noir nose; bit hard/tannic fairly rich quite black cherry/chocolate slight floral/violets some earthy/dusty/old vines slight pencilly/toasty/pungent flavor; med.long chocolate/black cherries slight earthy/mushroomy slight pungent/smokey/oak finish w/ some tannins; needs a few yrs to show, seems a bit tight & closed; much like a pretty mainstream Calif Pinot Noir of the Siduri style; pretty pricey at $130.00
14. David Bruce Santa Cruz Mtn Pinot Noir Estate (15.3%) 1980: Med.light color w/ some bricking; rather weird/herbal nose clears to very pencilly/Burgundian/fragrant some tobaccoy/old-Cab/charred rather complex nose w/ no fruit; tart very toasty/charred/pungent/tobaccoy/Burgundian complex flavor; bit astringent/dried-out very pencilly/toasty/charred/smokey/tobaccoy some Burgundian/complex finish; a bit over the hill but some interesting Burgundian/old Pinot/ complex character.
15. Nalle Sonoma County Russian River Valley Pinot Noir Hopkins Ranch (13.7%) 1999: Med.light color; very fragrant/cherry/bright/spicy perfumed slight dusty/earthy some pencilly/Fr.oak nose; tart pencilly/Fr.oak bright cherry/zippy/soda pop almost Zinberry flavor; med.long bright/zippy/ cherry/soda pop some pencilly/Fr.oak finish w/ light tannins; lots of bright fruit; tastes like a Pino made by a Zin producer!!
16. Sebastiani Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir (13.5%) 2000: Med.color; rather grapey/soupy some earthy slight tanky simple/grapey little Pinot nose; soft rather grapey/soupy slight tanky some earthy/ clunky flavor; med.short soft soupy finish w/ little tannins; pretty well obliterated any Pinot character in this wine; OK for the $12.00 price but not much Pinot character.

1. The DRC: Hadn't seen a DRC wine for a half-reasonable price in years. Hadn't had a DRC in a goodly number of yrs. Used to buy them when in college from the dreadful '65 vintage but at a price in the upper-teens. So thought this would be a good time to return to my RedBurg roots. The wine was served as a mystery wine. Virtually everyone who commented picked it out as a Calif Pinot. I even tried to sucker LarryA into choosing betwixt RussianRiver or Santa Barbara; but he wisely refused to take the bait. Had I not known the wine, I think I would have picked it as a Siduri, possibly from BienNacido Vineyard (Adam doesn't make such a wine, though). It was very Calif/international in style. Nary a trace of RedBurg I could find, save a slight earthiness to it. Not that much tannin, but it may evolve into something very good, though I have my doubts it'll ever a achieve greatness. Certainly not worth $130 IMHO.
2. Brewer-Clifton: This winery is, of course, recently annointed by certain Monktown attourneys as one of Calif's great Pinot producers. I've followed Steve & Greg's wines from the very start when they first showed them at a WineCask futures tasting and have, in general, liked their Pinots & Chards quite a lot. Didn't try the 2000 ones because of their RP-induced scarcity; but I had my Siduris, so wasn't lacking for good Pinot. Some people thought the alcohol really showed on this wine, though I didn't find it all that objectionable. I did find the wine totally bizarre, very eccentric. It did not speak much of Pinot Noir to me; though I'm not very big on demanding that a varietal display typicity. I did, however, like the wine.
3. Dehlinger Pinots: Tom Dehlinger never seems to stumble when it comes to Pinots. Consistently one of my favorites w/ a spiciness to them that always speaks of Dehlinger. This was a good comparison betwixt the Pommard and the Swan clones. On the nose, I found the Pommard to be a bit more earthy/Burgundian in character and more elegant/delicate on the palate. On the nose, the Swan was more fragrant/perfumed but a bit more clunky/Calif-style on the palate and needing more age. Both were terrific Pinots and a real step up over the regular Estate.
4. Fiddlehead Fiddlestix: Kathy Joseph was pouring this at the SantaBarbara Harvest Festival last Oct and I was very impressed by it. We had it a couple of months ago in a tasting and I was rather underwhelmed by it. Tonights version was terrific; lots of oak but plenty of Pinot fruit and a certain kind of minerality and structure to it that I really liked. This fairly new Vineyard of Kathy's is located in the western SantaRitaHills, not too far from Peter Cargassachi's Vineyard. We're seeing some mightly impressive Pinots from the SteRitaHills. The best is yet to come.
5. Tantara Wines: First tasted these at the SantaBarbara Harvest Festival and then, the next day, at their Open House. Owned by Bill Cates & Jeff Fink, they are making some very well- made wines. They're located on the BienNacido property, just across the creek from that "Like Wines from Incestuous Minds" winery of Qupe/ABC/...... the list goes on and on. A winery to keep your eyes on. Proud to say that "I followed them from the very start". Eventually they will be making Syrah, always a good sign for an up&coming winery.
6. Bonaccorsi: This is the fourth one of Mike Bonaccorsi's wines I've had, and probably the best one yet. He's the winemaker at Spago restaurant in LA and very much knows what he's doing. His wines are sourced from a bunch of different Vineyards in Santa Barbara and Edna Valleys. The Red Monkey Syrah, which I stumbled onto at a restaurant in Denver, is a very good Syrah for $21, worth tracking down.