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. Italian and California Sangiovese
   Tasted a few Italian & Calif Sangioveses last week:
   Conti Contini Sangiovese di Toscano '93: Fragrant spicy Sangiovese light oaked clean fruity nose; soft lush spicy bit metallic fragrant fruity flavor; med.long spicy Sangiovese light oaked finish w/ light tannins; a nicely made clean forward fruity varietal Sangiovese. Good value at $9.
   Antinori Peppoli Chianti Classico '85: The first release of Peppoli; attractive spicy cedary cigar box perfumed talc nose; tart bit aged rather cigar box perfumed talc light earthy flavor; lean bit metallic spicy cigar box cedary finish w/ light tannins; starting to show a few gray hairs but a nice mature clean Chianti.
   Fontodi Flaccianello della Pieve di Panzano '85: Bit stink pungent smokey slight horsecollar/Italian/unclean/bretty nose; bit oaked dusty earthy smokey tannic flavor; long tannic rather dusty earthy oaky low fruit horsecollar/ unclean finish; rather on the unclean/bretty side but not too offensive; needs more age but drying out some.
   Bosco Brunello di Montalcino '74: Slight browning color; light rather smokey pungent toasty cedary aged nose; sour pungent smokey dusty tannic flavor; long pungent very smokey roasted pretty tannic finish; still holding in there but awfully tannic & drying out; not my cup of tea.
   Antinori Tignanello '71: The first release of this wine (more or less); rather brown color; old tired smokey cigar box earthy nose; tart rather dried out smokey pungent bit unclean flavor; dusty dried out tannic earthy smokey pungent finish; a dying wine that's going nowhere but down.
   Noceto Shenandoah Valley Sangiovese '94: Lovely lush spicy Sangiovese slight Amador briary bit smokey nose; soft very spicy lush violets Amador berry light oaked flavor; long lush blackberry spicy violets floral light oaked finish w/ light tannins; needs several yrs; more Amador briary than varietal Sangiovese; Jim & Suzy's best Noceto yet; great value @ $9.50.
   Il Soldaccio '85: Strong violets floral fragrant vanilla oaked nose; soft rich very violets floral Fr.oaked minty menthol flavor; soft lush floral menthol oaked finish w/ light tanins; very nice drinkable Calif style wine.
   Bonny Doon Ca'del Solo Il Fiasco (Sangiovese + others) '93: Rather oaked earthy smokey violets plummy interesting nose; tart spicy violets plummy rip light oaked flavor; long plummy tart violets floral finish w/ light tannins; very nice nose but drying out a bit in the mouth.
   Pietra Santa Sangiovese Sassolino (14% Cabernet) '93: Strong plummy pungent chocolaty toasty oaked nose; soft bit light plummy smokey toasty oaked flavor; long very spicy plummy oaked chocolaty finish; more Rhone like than Sangiovese but very good drinking and great buy at $10.
   Pietra Santa San Benito County Sangiovese '93: More intense plummy chocolaty dusty nose; soft rich plummy dusty very spicy light oaked flavor; long plummy spicy dusty light oaked finish w/ some tannins; very good drinking wine; more SanBenito plummy than Sangiovese.
   Brindiamo Calif Gioveto (70% Sang, 15% Cab, 5% Merlot) South Coast (Temecula '93: Strong herbal bit vegetal rather oaked nose; dusty rather herbal oaked hard lean flavor; med.long herbal dusty light finish w/ light tannins; bit too much on the herbal/near vegetal side.
   Altamura Napa Valley Sangiovese '93: Deep chocolaty very ripe fruit vanilla Fr.oaked very spicy nose; soft rich lush very spicy vanilla/oaked dusty mouthfilling tannic flavor; very long dusty tannic ripe very spicy strong vanilla/oaked finish; big rich ripe lush oaked rather tannic wine; needs 3-6 yrs.
   Phoenix Vnyds Blood of Jupiter Napa (75% Sang, 25% Nebbiolo Fino) '93: Strong rich plummy chocolaty black cherry floral violets peppery nose; bit tannic hard very floral spicy Fr.oaked plummy flavor; very long plummy Fr.oaked chocolaty floral finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-5 yrs; the Nebbiolo gives it an interesting underlying hardness.
   La Sirena Napa Valley Sangiovese '94: Heide Peterson's first Sangiovese; lovely fragrant Fr.oaked very spicy beautiful Sangiovese/cherry/black cherry nose; tart very spicy Fr.oaked bright cherry lovely fragrant flavor; very long tart Fr.oaked/vanilla bright fragrant spicy/cherry light tannic finish; needs a yr or two; a beautiful very well-made wine; most Sangiovese/varietal yet from Calif; great rec from Margaux/All-Seasons.
   
   Musings
   Finally, at long last, the Calif Sangiovese are starting to show their pontential for great wines. When Sangiovese id fermenting, it has this incredible fragrant cherry/black cherry/floral smell that fills the winery. Often that doesn't seem to get carried over into the bottle. Certainly it has in Heidi's La Sirena. If I were the Tuscans, I'd start to worry a bit about the competition. None yet seem to have the depth or concentration or intensity of the super Tuscans; but we already know that when it comes to concentrated fruit, Calif is hard to beat; so they'll get there.
2. I would think that Sangiovese would be a great blending wine in Calif. It tends to have this strong fragrance and an underlying tartness & hardness on the palate. It would seem to work with varietals that have gaps in this area; like Petite Sirah & Mourvedre & Carignane.
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