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.

Recently tried (3/2/05) Some New Reds:

1. Az.Agr. Mauro Lunelli Terre di Pietra Vigneti delli Dolomiti Rosso IGT (13%;
www.FerrariSpumante.IT) 2001: Dark color; quite spicy/fragrant/gamey bit dusty/earthy
some smokey/pungent bit toasty/oak very attractive nose; tart/lean/austere rather smokey/ pungent rather chunky/dusty/earthy bit tannic flavor; long austere/tannic/hard lean rather dusty/earthy/pungent finish; needs several yrs; a lovely almost PN-like nose, rather rough/ rugged/mountain wine on the palate; interesting/tasty red. $18.00
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2. Mahn Dornfelder Rotwein Rheinhessen Trocken (A.P.Nr. 4 369 045 2 04; 12.5%) 2003: Very dark color; rather lush/grapey/Refosco-like slight earthy nose; soft/lush very grapey/fruity/juicy slight earthy/dusty bit diacetyl flavor; med.long soft/lush very juicy/grapey rather buttery some dusty/earthy finish w/ light tannins; much like Refosco or a Dolcetto w/o the acid & tannins; good price at $13.00.
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3. Sean thackrey Aquila Sangiovese EaglepointRanch:Mendocino (14.3%) 2000: Very dark color;
slight minty/menthol rather black cherry/Sangio/blackberry quite spicy/perfumed bit cedary/oak nose; tart bit lean bright black cherry/Sangio/cherry very spicy/vibrant/perfumed slight minty/menthol flavor; very long bright/vibrant/spicy/cherry/black cherry/Sangio fragrant/perfumed finish w/ slight tannins; easily the best NorthCoast Sangio I've ever had; this is how they'd make Sangio in Chianti if the could.
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4. sean thackrey Aquila Sangiovese EaglepointRanch::Mendocino (15.7%) 2002: Dark color; very
strong black cherry/Morellino cherry really lush/perfumed/fragrant slight vanilla/oak nose; softer/ lusher slight tomatoey very lush/black cherry/cherry very spicy slight earthy/dusty/Refosco-like/juicy slight oak flavor; very long very lush black cherry/cherry slight dusty/earthy finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; a terrific Sangio more like Refosco than Sangio; dynamite red.
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5. Bucklin Mixed Black RW SonomaVlly (Viticultura Promiscua; Zin/PS/AlicanteBouchet/
Grenache; YoungVines; 94 cs; SaH: 26.5%; TA: 0.78, pH: 3.48; 14.2%; TA: 0.67, pH: 3.57) 2002: Dark color; very interesting/spicy blackberry/fragrant mostly Zin-like slight oak nose; tart spicy/blackberry/raspberry attractive light oak flavor; med. spicy/berry/blackberry light Am.oak finish w/ light tannins; a very attractive good-drinking Zin at a fair price. $18.00
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6. Bucklin OldHillRanch Zin SonomaVlly (510 cs; SaH: 27%, TA: 0.78, pH: 3.48; 15.6%;
TA: 0.67, pH: 3.67) 2002: Dark color; very perfumed/spicy slightly dusty/smokey some complex blackberry/Zin nose; tart lovely/rich spicy/blackberry/Zin slight dusty/old vines light pencilly/ vanilla/oak flavor; med.long very tart ripe/blackberry/Zin light oak finish w/ some tannins; not the depth or intensity of the Ravenswoods but nice Zin; a bit tart/ schreechy on the palate and seems acidified. $30.00
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7. Bucklin OldHillRanch Zin SonomaVlly (15.6%; www.BuckZin.com) 2001: Dark color; very spicy/
blackberry/Zin bit dusty/old vine nose; tart/shrill rather tannic/rough very spicy/
blackberry/Zin flavor; med.long rather tannic very spicy/blackberry/Zin flavor; loads
of spicy Zin fruit and not seem overripe; bit shrill on the palate. $30.00
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8. Ravenswood OldHillRanch Zin 1985: Med.light color; dreadful mousy/tired rather cedary/
pencilly/oldZin nose; soft/smooth bit astringent/tannic/dried out spicy/cedary/oldZin/rather pencilly complex flavor; med. rather astringent/dried out/tannic light pencilly/cedary/oldZin finish; unpleasant nose but OK on palate for a tired Zin. $13.00
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9. Ridge Calif Zin DryCreekVlly TeldeschiRanch (100% Zin; 15.1%; 41 brls; Drk: 2/04-2/09)
2002: Dark color; lovely spicy/Zinberry/blackberry some smokey/Draper perfume nose; soft/lush attractive raspberry/blackberry/Zinberry/Zin light toasty/smokey/oak slight earthy flavor; med. Zinberry/blackberry light toasty/oak finish w/ light tannins; pleasant mid-range Ridge Zin but not that distinctive. $25.00
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10. Ridge Calif Zin LatePicked DusiRanch/PasoRobles (15.6%; 47 brls; SaH: 26.6%; RS: 0.8%;
Drk: 7/07-7/08) 2003: Very dark color; very strong jammy/juicy/blackberry/boysenberry/Zin
loads of ripe fruit nose; soft/ripe lush/jammy/blackberry/PRZin slight dusty flavor; longripe/jammy/ blackberry/cranberry/Zin finish w/ light tannins; a classic PR Zin; loaded w/a ton of fruit for drinking over the short term. $25.00
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11. SeanHThackrey Pleiades XI OldVines (14.3%; EaglepointRanch; www.wine-maker.net) NV: Med. dark color; very strong bretty/horsecollar/barnyardy some charred/oak lighht peppery/spicy
raspberry nose; light quite bretty/barnyardy some charred/burnt/oak slight peppery/berry rather Rhonish flavor; med. bretty/unclean some charred/burnt/oak finish w/ some tannins; needs some age but the brett has run amok in this wine; too much for me.
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12. SeanHThackrey Pleiades XII OldVines (14.0%; EaglepointRanch) NV: Med.color; slight bretty/
horsecollar rather tomatoey/blackberry/spicy slight reduced/funky light oak nose; tart earthy/ tomatoey/Mendocino interesting spicy/peppery slight charred/oak flavor; med.long tomatoey/ pungent/earthy some blackberry/spicy/dusty finish w/ some tannins; a good-drinking interesting red, much better than the XI.
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13. sean thackrey Sirius PetiteSirah EaglepointRanch MendocinoCnty (15.3%) 2002: Black color;
intense black pepper/blackberry loads of PS fruit/spicy slight minty/menthol slight bretty nose; big/tannic/huge PS/peppery/blackberry slight charred/oak very slight minty flavor; very long intense/extracted peppery/blackberry slight charred/oak slight minty finish w/ample tannins; needs much age; a pretty serious/Sirius PS; terrific wine.
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14. EaglepointRanchWnry MendocinoCnty Syrah (13.9%; www.EaglepointRanch.com) 2001: Black
color; beautiful blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah lovely/fragrant/perfumed/aromatic slight oak nose; tart very spicy/blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry/ripe light toasty/oak slight earthy/pungent/roasted flavor; very long ripe/blackberry/boysenberry/spicy/Syrah slight pungent/oak finish; a dynamite Syrah now.
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15. LVC ClarkVnyd PetiteSirah LivermoreVlly (15.88%) 2002: Black color; very intense
blackberry/boysenberry/jammy/peppery/licorice/juicy Paso-like Am.oak/vanilla slightoverripe/ alcoholic nose; soft/fat/lush blueberry/boysenberry/jammy/juicy some peppery/licorice loads of vanilla/Am.oak flavor; med.long ripe/overripe jammy/licorice/blueberry very vanilla/Am.oak slight licorice/charred finish w/ light tannins; a huge jammy/licorice wine but lack structure for long aging. Kevin's mystery. $18.00

1. All the Thackrey were given to us to try by Casey Hartlip, owner/farmer of EaglePoint
Ranch. Sean's WebSite should have the prices.
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2. Sangio: These two Thackreys were easily the best Calif Sangios I've had outside, maybe,
the Palminas. Loads of deep/dark black cherry fruit w/o the hard/lean/tannic/acid edge
that many Calif Sangios show on the palate. Not quite that bright/vibrant/cherry
character I associate w/ Sangio, but absolutey killer wines.
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3. EaglePoint Syrah: We had this wine not long after release and I liked it then. But I was
amazed how well it has developed & evolved over the last few yrs. I put it somewhere
between the Carlisle and Copain in both quality & style. Think it's still available.
And I'm sure the price is reasonable. One of the best Mendocino Syrahs I've had.
TomHill