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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.
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Aromatic Whites -
December 23, 2009 |
We tasted last night (1/13/10) Some Pinot Noirs:
- We tried last week (12/23/09) some Aromatic Whites:
1. MokelumneGlenVnyds Lodi Bacchus Dry (12.1%; Riesling/Sylvaner hybrid X Muller-Thurgau;
www.MokelumneGlen.com) 2008: Very pale color/near colorless; attractive floral slight piney/spicy nose;
soft pleasant floral/spicy slight tangy/minerally bit lush/pineapple flavor; light some spicy/piney/floral
finish; a bit dilute & soft & needs acid but some interesting things therein. $14.00
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2. AlpenCllrs TrinityLakes TrinityCnty WhiteRiesling (12%; EB) KeithGrover/TrinityCenter 2006: Pale yellow
color; very attractive pineapply/piney/JR slight valve oil interesting nose; soft/fat rather sweet (2%?)
piney/pineapply/JR fairly rich flavor; long soft/fat sweet pineapply/floral finish; seems about a
Spatlese level; needs more acid but good/true JR character. $13.00
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3. Chien Edelzwicker SBC (45% PinotBlanc/40% Riesling/15% GWT; 14.1%) 2008: Pale gold color; attractive
floral/perfumed bit earthy/stoney some fragrant/pineapply bit minerally attractive AlsatianPB-like nose;
tart rich/lush very floral/pineapply slight minerally/stoney flavor; very long floral/pineapply slight
minerally/stoney finish; very much like an AlsatianPB but richer & lusher; a lovely wine. $25.00
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4. SanMichele All'Adige DOC: Trentino Riesling (13%) EdmundMach 2007: Light gold color; lovely Mosel valve oil
slatey bit stoney/minerally some floral/perfumed/JR very interesting nose; very tart/lean some Mosel
valve oil/petrol some earthy/stoney light floral/JR flavor; long some valve oil/petrol fairly stoney/
minerally lean/austere finish; some nice Mosel character buut a strong AltoAdige stoney character;
quite a nice if overpriced wine. $31.00
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5. Weingut TheoMinges Muskateller BurrweilerSchlossgarten Spatlese trocken (A.P.Nr.50250662309;
12.5%) Flemingen/Pfalz 2008: Light gold color; quite fragrant muscatty/perfumed/floral slight stoney very
strong muscatty nose; soft lush some muscatty/floral/pineapply light stoney/earthy lovely rich flavor;
very long lush/rich low-key/muscatty/floral/pineapply finish; more subtle/elegant and not as intensely
muscatty as Alsatian versions; a really lovely low-key Muscat at a great price. $23.00
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6. Weingut TheoMinges Riesling Buntsandstein Spatlese trocken (A.P.Nr. 5 025 066 26 09; 12%) 2008: Light
gold color; lovely floral/JR/pineapply/mango slight Mosel valve oil slight piney very attractive nose;tart
fairly rich/lush floral/pineapple/mango/JR slight petrol/valve oil very balanced flavor; long floral/
mango/pineapply/JR slight petrol/valve oil finish; rich/lush but a nice bracing acidity to carry it
off; needs 4-10 yrs. Great value at $25.00
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7. PacherHof Kerner DOC: AltoAdige/ValleIsarco (13,5%) 2008: Pale gold color; attractive floral/fragrant bit
piney rather pretty nose; soft rich/lush rather floral/fragrant slight earthy/piney attractive flavor;
med.long floral/fragrant slight piney/PineSol bit soft finish; a pretty wine but doesn't quite deliver
on the palate. $22.00
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8. WilliSchaefer GraacherDomprobst Riesling Kabinett (A.P.Nr. 2 583 154 02 09; 7.5%) 2008: Light gold color;
slight pineapply/JR/perfumed talc very light piney/Mosel valve oil attractive nose; soft perfumed talc/
pineapply/ripe/JR slight piney bit simple flavor; med.long soft/fat lush/ripe/pineapply/floral/perfumed
talc finish; a bit simple and ripe and only slight Mosel character; overpriced at $26.00
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9. Geil Riesling Feinherb Spatlese Bechtheimer Geyersberg (EB; 11.5%; A.P.Nr.42570781409) 2008: Light gold
color; lovely floral/aromatic/perfumed/JR/mango rather spicy slight valve oil/petrol nose; tart off-dry
lovely floral/perfumed/JR/ripe some spicy/piney/earthy light petrol flavor; long tart off-dry very floral/
perfumed/JR/mango finish w/ slight petrol character; good acidity to balance the RS; great value at $19.00
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10. Jakoby pur. KinheimerRosenberg Riesling Auslese "Eulenlay" (EA; A.P.Nt. 2 587 178 12 08; 9.0%;
www.Jakobypur.De) 2007: Med.gold color; ripe/lush/pineapple/mango/JR/floral slight Mosel valve oil/petrol
some complex very interesting nose; fairly sweet lush/ripe/floral/pineapple/JR light petrol flavor w/ great
balancing acidity; very long lush/floral/pineapple/JR/mango light valve oil some complex finish; fairly
sweet but great balancing acidity; needs 2-10 yrs; a beautiful MoselAuslese at a great price. $25.00
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11. Gritsch 1000-Eimerberg Riesling Federspiel (1000 BucketMtn; 12%; EB) 2007: Light gold color; lovely
floral/JR/spicy slight herbal/earthy rather complex very interesting nose; tart bit metallic rich/JR/
floral/lush/spicy slight herbal/new mown hay light earthy flavor; med.long slight metallic rather lush/
floral/JR light earthy finish; a very attractive Austrian JR but a bit pricey.$27.00
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11a. Weingut Meulenhof ErdenerPralat Auslese Riesling (A.P.Nr.2 582 038 10 91) 1990: Dark gold color;
beautiful complex buttery some botrytis/butterscotchy slight floral old German very complex nose; tart
slightly sweet botrytis/peachy/butterscotchy slight floral/mango old German complex flavor; very long/
lingering off-dry strong botrytis/peachy/butterscotchy slight floral/petrol finish; a wonderful example
of an old German Auslese.
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12. MokelumneGlenVnyds Lodi Kerner LateHrvst (12.7%; Riesling X Trollinger [SchiavaGrossa];
SaH: 25.5 Brix; RS: 3.2 gm/100 ml) 2008: Pale near colorless; pleasant floral/perfumed bit earthy/dusty
nice nose; very soft/dilute/watery light floral/pineapple almost sugar-water flavor; med.short somewhat
sweet light floral/perfumed talc finish; a pleasant nose but rather dilute/sugar-water on the palate;
needs acidity and more flavor. $15.00
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13. MokelumneGlenVnyds Lodi Reserve LateHrvst Dreirebe (12.4%; SaH:33.3 Brix; RS:
11.6 gm/100 ml) 2008: Light yellow color; strong/ripe floral/grapey/pineapply rather spicy/hand lotion/
lanolin slight medicinal rather interesting/strong nose; very sweet ripe/lush/pineapply/sugary slight
floral/spicy/pepperminty rather soft/fat flavor; med.long rich/lush very sweet somewhat pineapply/floral
rather soft/fat finish; lots of lushness but lacking a bit in flavor and a lot in acidity. $20.00
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And the usual stuff from the BloodyPulpit:
1. MokelumneGlen: I've been very impressed by many of the recent wines coming out of Lodi. Some of the whites
from the EasternFoothills have been as good as any in Calif. As I was browsing thru Lodi, I came across
MokelumneGlen and took a look/see. The WebSite noted that they specialized in German varieties. In Lodi??
That's not an obvious choice. The vnyd is owned by the Koth family and located along the Mokelumne river
just to the East and slightly North of the town of Lodi. So I ordered a selection for my group to try.
I really wanted to like these wines (whites only). They were pleasant enough and certainly reasonably
priced. But I found them to be badly lacking in acid (not unexpected, being from Lodi) and they seemed
to be lacking in flavor, as if made from grapes that lacked physiological maturity. They just seemed
rather flat and unexciting, especially on the palate. Maybe it's not the right place to be growing
German white varieties. Maybe GrunerVeltliner would be a better choice?
I hold more hope for their reds, which we have not yet tried. Dornfelder and Lemberger/Blaufrankisch.
I would think those varieties would be more suited to that area.
But the wines were of sufficient interest that I'd like to try them again in a few yrs to see what
they're doing with them. Certainly, I applaud their intentions.
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2. Chien: This Edelzwicker was an Alsatian style wine made by DonSchroeder, winemaker at SeaSmoke, and
son of Peter&Becky Work. This is exactly the style of wine I'd like to see more of coming out of
SantaBarbara. Back in the early days of SantaBarbara wines, there was a fair amount of Riesling &
German varieties put into the ground. BrianBabcock's original goal was to make great Alsatian-style
wines in SantaBarbara. Alas, the realities of the marketplace drove those follies from the minds of
the SantaBarbara vintners. Save for Claibourne&Churchill, which as persisted and done fairly well up
in the EdnaVlly. But there now seems to be a small/tiny groundswell in SantaBarbara to revisit these
varieties. Bout time I'd say. Don will be releasing also a GrunerVeltliner this Spring that I'm eager
to try and if this blend is an example, it should be mighty fine wine.
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And the usual stuff from TheBloodyPulpit: |
1. Some of these wines were given to us to try, so don't know the price on all of them.
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2. VinoV: These wines are made by MichaelMeagher. He was formerly winemaker w/ AdamTolmach/OjaiVnyds before striking out on his own. He makes his wine at the OldCreekRanch, near OjaiVnyd, where he's also the winemaker. Michael & I go way back to his early days at Ojai.
I've tried his VinoV wines in the past, sorta on a hit or miss basis. So when Michael offered his current wines to try, plus the vertical of his WhiteHawk Syrah, I jumped at the chance. The Chard was a lovely/interesting Chard; one of the better ones I've had this year. The Pinot was
not nearly as thrilling. Of the Syrahs; the '04 seemed to have a slight funk to it and seemed a bit ragged at the edges; as if it was not evolving gracefully in the btl. Hard to tell where it will be going. The '05 was a good/solid classic SantaBarbara Syrah. But the '06 I thought was absolutely first-rate; as good as any from SantaBarbara, and probably the best I've from WhiteHawk. Terrific job I thought.
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3. SolomonHills Pinot: I've not had many SantaMaria Pinots from this side of the river that have really hit my sweet spot. Most seem to have a somewhat earthy/Burgundy character to them and lack the bright cherry/Pinot fruit you find in the BienNacido Pinots. Also owned by the Miller brothers. It is one of the coolest & westernmost vnyds in the SantaMariaVlly. The soil appears very sandy in character, in stark contrast to very stoney/gravelly BienNacido soils.
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4. ShakeRidgeVnyd: When I was researching HdR, I noted a new wnry, Yorba. This is NapaVlly wine made by KenBernards. The grapes are grown by highly-regarded viticulturist AnnKraemer in her ShakeRidge vnyd up in AmadorCnty. This vnyd is up in the Sierra foothills; east of SutterCreek and south of the ShenandoahVlly. Ann has a lot of interesting stuff planted there in a rather complicated vnyd. The wines did not strike me as typical AmadorCnty/ShenandoahVlly wines. They did not have that strong briary/blackberry/ripe component typical signature of ShenandoahVlly. They seemed much more akin to the wines from the Fiddletown area, just east of the ShenandoahVlly and slightly higher elevation. They did not show that earthy/mushroomy character you typically find in the ElDorado reds. They did not have a ton of lush/opulent fruit but showed more restraint and all very structured for aging. Stylistically, I found a lot of similarity in these wines, but still very much varietally correct. Definitely a wnry/vnyd to watch in the future. I was impressed by my first test drive of Ann's wines.
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5. OldBlackMagic: I didn't find much in this wine to excite me. It reminded me some of a middling Cotes du Rhone, not one of my favorite genres. However, like the Rocks&Gravel, Steve's wines have this way of rising up and biting you on the a$$ with some age. I would guess that this OBM is one of those wines. Sometimes you just gotta believe.
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6. NovySyrah: This was SteveCostigan's mystery wine. On release; it had big boysenberry fruit w/ strong herbal character typical of SLH. This wine has since developed a strong cracked black pepper character and in a very good place for drinking right now.
TomHill
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[Additional Wine Reviews from Tom Hill] |
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Updated 5.29.10
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