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. Jewel Collection Viognier Calif (13.5%; www.JewelWine.com) V&B by Jewel, Woodbridge 2002: Med.light gold color; slight herbal light pear/Viognier simple nose; slightly sweet weak pear/Viognier simple flavor; med.short sweet light pear/Viognier finish; smells/tastes like it's been muted; too sweet; dull & insipid; serve ice-cold; no bargin at any price. $10.00
2. Yalumba South Australia Viognier (14.0%) 2002: Med.gold color; light simple pear/Viognier slight earthy nose; tart light pear/Viognier/pineapply washed-out/dilute flavor; slightly more interesting but pretty dull & simple.
3. Navarro Mendocino Chardonnay (13.4%) 2001: Light gold color; attractive clean appley/melony/Chardonnay very light oak nose; attractive clean/pure varietal/appley/Chardonnay very light pencilly/oak flavor; med. long clean/appley/Chardonnay finish; bit underacid but pretty/clean/appley low-oak Chardonnay at a good price. $13.28
4. Navarro Anderson Valley Premier reserve Chardonnay (13.6%) 2001: Med.light gold color; lovely smokey/Oscar MeierWeiner/soked some ripe/melony/Chardonnay fragrant/floral nose; tart some smokey/pungent/oak ripe/ melony/Chardonnay spicy/nutmeg/floral flavor; lots of ripeness but good acidity/balance and interesting smokey character.
5. Navarro Anderson Valley Riesling (11.9%) 2001: Light yellow color; attractive floral/JR/pineapply nose; tart spicy/floral/JR/pineapply bit lean/tight off-dry flavor; bit simple but pleasant/attractive JR at a fair price. $13.28
6. Riesling "Hugel" Vendange Tardives (SaH: 24.5%; RS: 2.5%; 12.5%) 1996: Med.light gold color; beautiful strong gout de petrol/valve oil smokey/pungent/complex some floral/R very perfumed nose; very tart petroly/valve oil very glycerined smokey/pungent very spicy/floral/R lovely flavor; very long/ lingering petrol/valve oil pungent/smokey lush/floral/R fairly complex finish; a beautiful R showing lots of petrol; bit on the pricey side for what it is. $63.00
7. Navarro Cuvee Traditional GWT (13.4%) 2002: Med.light gold color; attractive/fragrant lychee/GWT/ hair oil rather spicy nose; soft/fat off-dry bit dilute flowery/lychee/GWT flavor; med.long soft light lychee/GWT/hair oil finish; pleasant bit dull GWT; needs acidity. $10.91
8. Navarro Anderson Valley Muscat Blanc (13.2%) 2001: Pale gold color; lovely fragrant/floral/muscatty slight earthy nose; tart very dry lush/spicy/floral/muscatty clean/crisp flavor; med.long crisp/tart floral/ muscatty finish; crisp/clean very Alsatian-like muscat; good value at $13.28.
9. Navarro Mendocino Edelzwicker (13.1%) 2002: Light gold color; fragrant/grapey some GWT/spicy attractive/ floral nose; very tart off-dry floral/spicy flavor w/ med.long finish; very nice-drinking summertime white at a great price. $10.19
10. Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Zind (Pinot d'Alsace, Indice 2; 13%; MeBaD; 50% Auxerrois, 35% Chardonnay, 15% PinotBlanc) Z001: Med.gold color; beautiful/fragrant/spicy almost GWT-spicy-like very perfumed/ aromatic nose; tart/spicy dry bit earthy some floral/perfumed/R-like flavor w/ very long/lush floral finish very R like ib character; lovely if a bit pricy wine. $37.50
11. Heidi Schrock Furmint (12.5%) Rust/Burgenland/Austria 2001: Pale yellow color; pretty some floral/ aromatic rather earthy/dusty interesting nose; tart/lean/hard earthy/dusty bit metallic/steely flavor w/ med. steely/earthy finish; a rather lean/hard wine that probably needs age; bit pricey at  $24.00
12. Navarro Mendocino TW Rose (Old Vine Cuvee; 85% Grenache, 15% Syrah; 13.3%) 2001: Pale copper/pink color; lovely strawberry/fragrant/spicy/floral nose; tart spicy/strawberry/floral slight earthy flavor; med. bright strawberry/floral finish; a dry lovely some Provence-like rose.
13. Navarro Mendocino Pinot Noir (13.6%) 2001: Med.light color; light pencilly/toasty fragrant/cherry/Pinot slight earthy/dusty nose; tart bright cherry/Pinot light pencilly/toasty/oak flavor; med. some buttery rather pencilly/toasty cherry finish w/ light tannins; nice Pinot for the price. $14.23
14. HRM Rex-Goliath Giant 47 Pound Rooster Central Coast Pinot Noir (13.5%; www.RexGoliath.com) 2001: Med.light color; rather earthy/herbal/black cherry/Pinot light/weak nose; some intense herbal/ black cherry/Pinot Noir earthy rather sour/bitter flavor; med.short sour/bitter rather herbal/Pinot Noir finish w/ light tannins; definitely Pinot Noir but a mean sour/bitter streak to it. No bargin at any price, but cute label. $7.00
15. Navarro Mendocino Cabernet Sauvignon (13.9%) 1998: Med.dark color; very attractive blackcurranty/Cab earthy slight herbal/perfumed talc some complex nose; tart bit herbal/earthy some blackcurranty/Cab slight buttery/ oak flavor w/ med.long finish w/ light tannins; pleasant/drinkable mature Cab.
16. Santa Cruz Mtn Vineyards SCM Cabernet Sauvignon Bates Ranch (SaH: 25%; 13.8%) 1980: Dark color; bit reduced/pungent nose clears to black pepper very smokey/pungent herbal/blackcurranty/Cab chocolaty/licorice toasty/oak rather young complex nose; tart some tannic big blackcurranty/peppery/herbal/Cab smokey/pungent/ toasty/oak smoked poblano chile complex flavor; very long toasty/oak/pungent/smokey/charred smoked poblano/blackcurranty/Cab/herbal finish w/ some tannins; beautiful pungent complex and rather young Cab. A steal at $6.00

1. The Navarros were all from Howard&Rhoda on the pre-release shipment.
2. The Z-H reflects as I understand the forbiddin usage of Pinot d'Alsace as a varietal name by the EU. It is also the first btlling to reflect Olivier Humbrecht's Sweetness Index on the label, a welcome addition that I hope becomes more widely used in Alsace.
3. The Rex-Goliath commemerates this huge Texas rooster that used to be a big hit on the Texas county fair circuit. Not sure what he has to do with wine, but it's a cute story. Product from the Wimbledon Wine Company (www.wimbledonwine.com), that has a number of lesser-known wineries in their portfolio.
4. SantaCruzMtn Cab: I pulled this outta the cellar as a mystery wine when it was clear we wern't going to have the requisite gadzillion mystery wines people always bring. I was expecting it to pretty much be on its last legs. It was not; still a pretty big/pungent Cabernet.
5. This wine (and the companion Duriff) were released by Ken Burnap priced in the low-$20's as I recall. The wine, as was his style then, very/very reduced; stinky/pungent/sewer gas/diaper pail/ fecal in character; what I had come to call the Burnap stench. Small wonder it didn't sell at that price. Even though it was very stinky/reduced; it was packed w/ intense flavors and tannins and I just KNEW it would have to age into something pretty good. Anyway, since the distributor couldn't sell this very stinky wine; they marked it way down to clear it out and it (and the Duriff) of the '80 and '81 vintages, were available at $6/btl.... and still didn't sell. I bought a bunch of them and, alas, this was my last btl. And this was the best it's ever been; probably as good as any mature Ridge MonteBello I've had. This is the wine that taught me to believe in reductive winemaking. So when I run into a stinky/ fecal smelling Alban Syrah; I pay it no mind; confident that down the road that reduced character will lead to a great wine. Certainly did in this case and I believe w/ the Albans as well.