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 night in the midst of a raging snowstorm that brought over a foot of snow some Zins from the archives, the last gasp in a once-proud collection of Joseph Swan Zinfandels: 

1. Joseph Swan Vineyards Sonoma Zin TW 1974: Med.light color; attractive pencilly/cedary/agedZin some spicy/raspberry complex/oldBdx nose; tart/spicy minty/cedary/pencilly slight metallic/dried- out bit alcoholic flavor; med.long slight raspberry/Zin/minty cedary/pencilly bit astringent finish; really lovely/complex/mature/Zin nose but a bit dried-out on the palate; in absolutely amazing condition for a 30 yr old Zin. $6.00
2. Joseph Swan Vineyards Sonoma Zin TW 1975: Med.light color; slight musty/wet dog fur/wet basement/ burnt rubber/pungent slight cedary/pencilly/menthol nose; somewhat sour burnt rubber/pungent very slight blackberry bit cedary/pencilly flavor; med.long sour/burnt rubber/pungent bit pencilly/cedary/charred less-dried-out finish; bit weird & skanky but not particularly old or tired. $6.50
3. Joseph Swan Vineyards Sonoma Zin TW 1976: Med.light color; somewhat minty/menthol/eucalyptus/Oz-like quite spicy/pencilly/cedary very complex slight raspberry/Zin nose; tart some dried-out rather minty/menthol some spicy/cedary/pencilly/cigar box slight rapberry/spicy/Zin flavor; med.long rather menthol/minty/cedary/cigar box slight Bourbon barrel/vanilla smooth/silky finish; beautiful/complex nose w/ strong minty/eucalyptus streak but a bit dried-out on the palate. $7.50
4. Joseph Swan Vineyards Mendicino Zin TW 1977: Med.color; rather dusty/ earthy/MendocinoZin/t omatoey spicy/light raspberry light pencilly/cedary very complex/perfumed/fragrant nose; smooth/silky/ elegant bright cherry/raspberry/Zin slight pencilly/cedary Mendocino tomatoey/earthy complex flavor; very long/lingering smooth/elegant/silky bright cherry/raspberry/tomatoey slight earthy/dusty light cedary/pencilly/cigar box finish w/ light tannins; a beautiful/complex/ smooth balanced mature Zin that's a total pleasure to drink; it's very rare that a Zin matures into such a balanced old wine w/ everything fitting together so seamlessly. A rarity. Easily my favorite of the group and one of the finest most seamless mature Zins I've ever had...lets hear it for maturity!! $10.00
5. Joseph Swan Vineyards Sonoma Zin TW 1979: Med.light color; lovely spicy/minty/menthol some raspberry/ spicy Zin slight pencilly/toasty/pungent/smokey very complex nose; tart bit lean/astringent/ dried-out some pencilly/cedary/toasty/pungent slight raspberry/bright/Zin slight dusty smmoth/elegant/balanced flavor; very long aromatic light raspberry/spicy/Zin light cedary/ toasty/pungent smooth/elegant finish w/light tannins; my 2'nd favorite of the bunch; much like the '74 but smooth/silky on the palate & not much dried out; lovely/balanced mature Zin that tastes like it's only 10 yrs old. $8.00
6. Joseph Swan Vineyards Sonoma Zin TW 1981: Light color; pleasant pencilly perfumed slight raspberry rather light some complex nose; light bit metallic/astringent/dried-out slight funky/dishwater very slight cherry/raspberry bit simple flavor; med.short light bit astringent/dried-out light raspberry finish w/ light tannins; attractive Pinot-ish nose but bit dried-out/tired on the palate; obviously a different beast from the previous one; not matured into anything exciting. $10.00
7. Joseph Swan Vineyards Sonoma Zin TW 1982: Med.light color; bit dusty/earthy slight raspberry/ pencilly bit Burgundian/c edary/cherry pleasant nose; tart wet dog fur/metallic/dried-out astringent weak cedary/pencilly/cherry flavor; med.short cedary/earthy some astringent/dried-out light cherry/ cedary finish w/ light tannins; a pretty old Burg/cherry character but dried-out & shot on the palate. $9.00
8. Rosenblum Napa Valley Reserve Zin GeorgeHendry Vineyard (13.8%) 1991: Med.dark color; bit aged/tired slight pungent/oak some raspberry/spicy/Zin/earthy bit complex nose; tart some spicy/raspberry/dusty slight toasty/pungent/oak bit earthy/dusty bit astringent interesting flavor; med.long light/ raspberry/Zin/earthy some toasty/oak/tobaccoy finish w/ light tannins; a bit past its prime but still distinctively Rosenblum.
9. Milano Talmage/MendocinoCnty Zin Pacini Vineyard (SaH: 25 Brix, TA:0.95; 15.2%; 465 cs) 1979: Dark color; strong cranberry/boysenberry very ripe pungent/toasty/charred/cigar box some smokey/meaty/gamey/roasted/coffee very complex nose; soft very lush/very ripe bit raisened toasty/charred/smokey/oak some blackberry/framboise/licorice/boysenberry slight earthy/ dusty complex flavor; very long/lush framboise/boysenberry/blackberry/licorice slight overripe/ raisened rather charred/pungent/smokey/burnt/oak finish w/ light tannins; a big/complex quite smokey/roasted Zin some like a NorthernRhone; tastes like a Zin made by AlainGraillot; in wonderful condition w/ lots of interesting things therein. $10.50
10. Milano Late Harvest Talmage/MendocinoCnty Zin Pacini Vineyard (SaH: 29.0%, TA:0.80; 15.2%; RS: 1.8%, TA:0.67, pH: 3.70; 807 cs) 1980: Med.dark color w/ slight browning; very ripe/over- ripe blackberry/boysenberry earthy/dusty some toasty/charred/roasted/mocha complex nose; off- dry slight barnyardy/horsecollar very ripe/overripe/raisened boysenberry/framboise some toasty/ charred/burnt/oak flavor; long overripe/raisened strong framboise/boysenberry slight bretty/ barnyardy/unclean off-dry toasty/charred finish w/ light tannins; a bit on the overripe side but complex & very interesting; holding up well. $7.00

1. I started buying Joe Swan's Zins w/ the '70 vintage, up at LiquorMart in Boulder. It was probably Calif's first cult wine, though back then in olden times, the term "cult wine" had not been invented. I first met Joe in about 1974, after having sent him several letters remarking how impressive I thought his Zins were. The folklore then was that Joe Swan was an irrascible/curmudgeonly/ornery old coot who made Joe Heitz look like MissManners. So I was scared $hitless when I showed up at his wnry in Trenton to meet him. The folklore couldn't have been more wrong. He was one of the most charming/gracious/gentlemanly hosts that I ever had the occasion to meet in the wine business. Though I had come to learn about his Zins, it was soon clear that his real passion was for PinotNoir and we spent most of the time talking Pinot & RedBurg. This was shortly after I had tasted thru a long set of the Dr.Barolet Collection from LiquorMart, where Joe had recently purchased a large batch of them as well, since Phil & Rene wern't price-gouging the wine like most retailers in the USofA. So he wound up pumping me for my take on the wines as much as anything we discussed. I eventually started buying my wines directly from Joe & he'd hold them for me until I'd make my annual drive out there (this was well before reciprocity allowed shipping) to pick them up and visit. Along the way, I also met his wife June and daughters Lynn and Kate(?). Lynn, of course, married RodBergland and they both now run the winery.
2. Joe was an EasternAirlines pilot flying out of Visalia. He had a small property up in the town of Badger, NE of Visalia, near Sequoia Natl.Park, a podunk burg probably about the size of Metropolitan Fiddletown. He planted a small vnyd up there and started making ho-made wine from those grapes. According to RodBerglund (via Mike Dunne), the property is still in the family and the vnyd exists, but the varietal identity of the grapes is not known. After he retired, he moved to Forestville and planted his vnyd to what is now known as the Swan clone of PinotNoir. Before those vines were producing, he started making Zinfandel (about '68?) that were legendary. Only David Bruce and Ridge and SutterHome (of all people!!) were making Zin of any stature in those days. He also made a '70 Gamay (Valdiguie?) that was equally legendary. It would make an interesting project to make a wine from those grapes (if they're still producing) for a JoeSwan Comemmorative Red.
3. The first Swan Sonoma Zins came from grapes purchased from the Teldeschi vnyd. My understanding was that Joe was a tough customer to deal with and wanted to pay next-to-nothing for the grapes. So, in 1977, someone else came along waving $$$'s to the Teldeschis to get the famous SwanZin grapes, and Joe refused to match their price. So he had to scramble to line up Zin at a price he liked up in Mendocino.
4. I'm still missing one of the '77 Mendocino Zins that I paid Joe for. When I went up to Forestville in early summer of 1979 (probably) to pick up my case of Swans, Joe & June were on a trip to Burgundy, but he had dug them out of the basement and left them upstairs. When I stopped by the Swan residence to pick them up, I was met by these two hot-chicks in very/very tiny bikinis...Joe's daughters. The friend who had accompanied me because he had wanted to meet Joe went sort of gawgaw. Me.....I was all hot & excited about getting my Swan wines!!! The wines were safely tucked into the boot of my car and hauled off. When I got them back to the motel and opened the case to fondle the btls, I found that one of the Mendocino Zins was missing. Chuck & my suspicion were that the girls had helped themselves to a btl of TomHill's stash whilst Mom & Dad were out of town. I've never had the courage to confront Lynn when I've seen her over my missing Zin. Too late now, probably. But it makes for a great story.
5. Joe always labelled his wines back then simply as "TableWine". When I queried him one time on this point, he made it abundantly clear it was nobody else's damn business what the alcohol levels actually were. Classic JoeSwan.
6. The prices are all what I originally paid for the wines. They were on the high side for Calif Zin. In the mid-'70's, Ridge Geyservilles and DavidBruces were going for $6-$8/btl, shockingly high prices. Unlike now, there didn't seem to be all the whining and bitching over those prices like we see now. The wines all came from my cellar which runs particularly cold in the wintertime (presently sitting at 30F). All the Swan btls, save the '74 (which was ullaged to just below the neck), showed no signs of leakage and perfect fills. The corks were a bit soft & crumbly in several cases, but all came out unbroken, no doubt because of my point-control skills with an epee.
7. Joe's early Zins were pretty huge/extracted Zins for that time, though not compared to the extraction levels we sometimes see these days. Around '79, who started to use a fraction of whole-berry fermentation, much as in his Pinots, in his Zin fermentations. It made the wines much more fragrant & perfumed, but I felt he was gutting the structure of them. I complained to Joe like bloody hell that he was gutting his Zins by that practice, but my pleas fell on deaf ears. After the '82 vintage, I pretty much quit buying his Zins, though I continued with his Cabs/Pinots/Chards. The way the '81 & '82 showed in the tasting reflect, I feel, his use of the WBF with them. It wasn't until Rod Bergland came along that the Swan Zins returned to their former glory, IMHO. This was, of course, the period when everyone was lightening up their Zins to make them food wines, mostly in response to criticism from the wine writers over alcohol levels (I've never forgiven Charlie Olken for his labeling these wines as "Monster Zins with shabby table manners".... may he burn in hell for that!!). That trend pretty near killed the Zin market until the late '80's. After Joe died ('88??), I had pretty much given up on the Swan Zins by then. Then, about in the early '90's, I happened to taste one of RodBergland's Joseph Swan Zins. All I could think was that JoeSwan Zin was back, and have continued to buy them thru the '90's, even as my passion for Zin was waning. The still remain some of my favorite Zins, especially the Frati btlg, partly out of sentimental reasons I suspect. But I think Rod&Lynn have done a mighty fine job of keeping Joe's (original) vision for Zin alive.
8. I also have a pretty complete selection of Joe's Chards from this era, save the original '75 weirdo. His Chard were always some of my favorites from Calif because of their high acidity levels. Very much in the style of Hanzell or Marcassin. His first, I believe, was the '75, from his estate grapes. Always one to save a nickle or dime, Joe bought some used whisky or brandy barrels (at a very attractive price, no doubt), knocked them down, scrapped out the inside layer, and reassembled them to be used for his first Chard. Alas, he didn't shave them down quite far enough and they picked up this really weird burnt/vanilla/cognac character that pretty much obliterated the Chard fruit. Joe hated the wine and sold it for a song. Though a pretty weird wine in its youth, it actually matured into a very interesting, though atypical, Chard, a bit like an old WhiteBurg. 
9. When we tasted the '74, one of my tasters commented that she was in JrHigh when that wine was made. Then this young AirForce major who tastes with us HAD to point out that he wasn't even born yet!!! JUST what I needed to hear!!
10. Milano: Back in '76-'80, Jim Milone and Greg Graziano made some absolutely stunning Zins/Cabs/ Petite Sirahs under the Milano label. They were huge/big/extracted w/ lots of toasty/charred oak, but they never struck me as over-the-top like some. They've all held up amazingly well. Still have one SanelVlly Cab '79 left. Some of the greatest Mendocino reds ever made.
11. Mendocino: Back in the '70's, some of Calif's greatest reds were coming out of MendocinoCnty; under the Fetzer, Edmeades, and Milano labels. Wines as good as anything you could find in Calif. JedSteele (Edmeades) went to K-J, Jim & Gregg parted ways at Milano, Barney Fetzer expanded into mediocrity. And then they seemed to start this long/slow slide into oblivion; dragged down to the depths by the likes of Fetzer Sundial. Yet...it's no secret that some of Calif's greatest grapes are grown in Mendocino. Their Pinots/Rieslings/GWTs from the Anderson Vlly are as good as any in Calif. Every so often, you'll see those bright bursts of a white dwarf (the astrophysical kins) in a Mendocino red....the Rosenblum Rhodes Zin, the Copain Eaglepoint Syrah, the Eaglepoint Zin & Syrah (the Grenache is also terrific, in a slutty sort of way). The grapes from Eaglepoint and AlderSprings (a vnyd to watch) are as good and well- farmed as any in Calif. It's an area waiting to return to those glorious days of yesteryear. There's a lot of NorthernCalif winemakers who are missing a sure thing by not going up to Mendocino to buy grapes.
12. My expectation for this tasting of Zins from the archives was very low; I was expecting most of the wines to be dead&gone, or on their last legs. So I let people pay whatever they felt the tasting was worth, rather than try to recover my costs. The wines turned out much better than any of us expected. Generally, old Zins like these will be more intellectual experiences, rather than sensual experiences. They will have interesting/complex old Zin noses, but be very dried out & tired on the palate. In this batch, there were a number that were genuine pleasures to drink. The Swan Mendocino '77 was one of the best mature Zins I've ever had the pleasure to try.

    TomHill