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.

 

California Zinfandels
Tasted last night some New (Mostly) Zins:

King Estate Oregon Zinfandel (14.5%) '94: Med.color; rather musty/corked light berry/ dusty nose; tart light berry/dusty almost Pinot-like slight musty flavor; med. tart light berry/dusty/earthy slight musty/corked finish w/ light tannins; bit too corked to tell much.
Ravenswood Sonoma County Zinfandel (14.5%) '96: Med.light color; pleasant fragrant/berry raspberry spicy light oak nose; tart spicy light raspberry/Zinberry light oak flavor; med.long spicy/berry finish w/ light tannins; a pleasant simple nicely- done DryCreek-style Zin.
Makor Paso Robles West Side Zinfandel (15.5%) '96: Med.dark color; lush ripe jammy/ blackberry some dusty/old vines nose; soft rich blackberry/jammy/licorice bit dusty slight off-dry(?) very ripe flavor; long soft lush blackberry/jammy/ licorice some dusty/old vine finish w/ light tannins; very ripe blackberry/ jammy Zin but not overripe or raisened; best Makor Zin yet.
Dark Star Cellars Paso Robles Zinfandel (14.5%) '96: Med.dark color; deep toasty/Fr.oak spicy blackberry/PR Zin bit herbal/lean nose; rich very spicy/blackberry rather toasty/Fr.oaked polished flavor; med.long very spicy/blackberry/licorice some Fr.oaked/toasty/pungent finish w/ light tannins; a very polished well-made ripe PR Zin w/ lots of Fr.oak.
Rosenblum Cellars Napa Valley Ballentine Vineyard Zinfandel (14.8%) '96: Med.dark color; attractive berry/blackberry light spicy nose; soft light bright berry/Zinberry bit sour some oaked flavor; med. attractive bright berry/Zinberry bit funky/ sour finish w/ light tannins; a pleasant bright simple lush Zin w/ a bit of funkiness in the background.
JC Cellars Redwood Valley Rhodes Vineyard (15.3%) Zinfandel '96: Dark color; deep toasty/smokey Fr.oaked ripe lush blackberry/Zin rather dusty/old vine nose; tart strong vanilla/toasty/Fr.oaked very spicy/blackberry/boysenberry rather dusty/old vine flavor; very long ripe blackberry/boysenberry toasty/Fr.oak very spicy/ripe rather dusty/old vine finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; lots of toasty Fr.oak but good structure & balance to carry it; great debut wine some like the early Ravenswoods rather than Rosenblums.
Ravenswood Dickerson Vineyard Napa Valley (14.5%) Zinfandel '96: Med.color; bright spicy very minty/menthol/eucalyptus spicy/raspberry bit oak nose; tart very spicy/ raspberry/minty/menthol oaked flavor; med.long spicy/raspberry rather minty/ menthol finish w/ light tannins; need a yr or two; a bright very spicy Zin w/ that classic minty/menthol Dickerson character.
Ravenswood Monte Rosso Vineyard (15.0%) Sonoma Valley Zinfandel '96: Med.color; attractive raspberry/spicy some dusty/old vine bit stemmy oaked nose; tart fairly rich very spicy/raspberry/dusty/old vine light oaked flavor; med.long bright spicy/ raspberry some dusty/old vine/oaked light earthy finish w/ light tannins; needs yr or two; a bright spicy polished Zin.
Ravenswood Kunde Vineyard Sonoma Valley Zinfandel (15.1%) '96: Med.color; strong blackberry/ dusty/old vine/boysenberry some oaked nose; soft buttery ripe blackberry/ raspberry vanilla/oak clean bit simple flavor; med.long simple bright blackberry raspberry spicy light oak finish w/ light tannins; a nicely done but bit simple Zin.
Ravenswood Wood Road/Belloni Russian River Valley Zinfandel (14.9%) '96: Med.dark color; deep rich blackberry/boysenberry toasted/pungent/oaked complex rather dusty/ old vine nose; soft rich lush ripe blackberry/boysenberry very dusty/old vine some toasty/pungent oaked flavor; very long soft rich blackberry/boysenberry dusty/old vine some toasty/pungent/complex finish w/ fair tannins; needs 2-5 yrs; best of these Ravenswoods.
Ridge Calif Alicante Bouschet Pagani (75% Alicante, 25% Zin; 13.7%) '96: Black color; very strong gamey/dusty/old vine funky/earthy licorice/pungent complex nose; tart dusty/earthy/licorice pungent/smokey some blackberry complex flavor; long licorice/dusty/old vine pungent/rustic/ earthy/bit funky low fruit finish w/ some tannins; not as big & extracted & coarse as previous ones; a really delicious interesting wine; more like a Ridge red than Alicante/coarse.
Ridge Calif Alicante Pagani Vineyard (77% Alicante, 23% Zin; 13.5%) '94: Black color; bit stinky/H2S/reduced nose clears to oaked very pungent/licorice/smokey bit brett complex nose; hard tannic rustic pungent dusty/old vine/licorice smokey lean & hard flavor; very long hard/tannic pungent/smokey/licorice/dusty old vine finish w/ ample tannins; a rather clunky/rustic very interesting red that's not developing very much.
Mayacamas Late Harvest Zin (17.5%; Baldinelli Vineyard, Shenandoah Valley) '72: Med.dark color w/ little browning; intense jammy/blackberry/plummy very ripe complex some pungent/pencilly bit overripe nose; soft off-dry very plummy/blackberry/ briary/jammy licorice complex pencilly flavor; bit hot/alcoholic long complex jammy/blackberry/briary very ripe bit dried out/tannic/hot finish; lots of very ripe Amador Zin character & drying out a bit but still doing fine.
Sea Ridge Winery Private Selection Zinfandel (Occidental/Morelli Vineyard; 13.5%) '91: Badly ullaged onto the shoulder; black color; very intense blackberry/boysen- berry dusty/old vine/complex pungent/smokey bit stemmy nose; very acid/tart very intense blackberry/boysenberry bit bretty/funky very dusty/old vine hard/ tannic/complex/pungent stemmy flavor; very long hard/tannic very acid intense boysenberry/blackberry/licorice very dusty/old vine finish; loads of acid & needs lots of age but very intense Zin.
Rafanelli Dry Creek Valley Sonoma County (13.8%) Zinfandel '91: Dark color; very strong blackberry/pungent very dusty/old vine licorice/pungent/black cherry some complex nose; tart bit lean/hot/drying out dusty/old vine bit bretty light black cherry/blackberry flavor; long some bretty bit dried out rather dusty/ old vine light black cherry fruit finish w/ some tannins; great complex nose but drying out a bit on the palate.
Greenwood Ridge Vineyards Anderson Valley White Riesling Late Harvest (SaH: 33oBrix; RS: 12.1%; Alc: 10.5%; TA: 1.02) '95: Bright golden color; beautiful intense botrytis/peachy/aromatic bit volatile/EA nose; very sweet tart rich intense peachy/botrytis bright zippy Riesling floral flavor; very long lingering sweet JR/flowery/bright some peachy/botrytis finish; a beautiful bright zippy botrytis Riesling w/ loads of fruit; very well made; Howard's wine.

And the usual tripe from the bloody pulpit:

The '96 Ravenswoods seem to show more the alleged "lightness" of the '96 vintage than, say, the Ridges or the Rosenblums have. Only the WoodRd/Belloni showed the richness & depth of the previous few vintages. They are hardly "light" wines, but more towards the complex/elegant part of the Zin spectrum (which is NOT a polite euphanism for "light"); well-made Zin more for the short term. It's nice to see the Dickerson back; this is the finest one such after two relative weaker efforts, for whatever reason I don't know.
The JC Cellars Zin is the debut wine of Jeff Cohn, the winemaker at Rosenblum Cellars, and a great debut it is. It doesn't have that effusive lush fruitiness of the Rosenblums, lots more oak, but more structure & tannins than the Rosenblums tend to have. He has a Syrah in the works ('97) that one should keep your eye out for
Really liked the Ridge Alicantes a lot. It is cleary the primary component that give both the Geyserville and the Pagani that certain funkiness that I very much like in those wines. This is definitely a varietal that calls in all of Paul Draper's tannin management skills & he does it very well.... best Alicante made in the world!!
The Mayacamas '72 Late Harvest: Last time I had this about 5-6 yrs ago, I thought it was drying out badly & showing very hot & alcohoic. This bottle, though definitely a very ripe Amador Zin, was hanging in there quite well. Only two bottles left now.
The Sea Ridge '91: This is a wine that my group has used repeatedly to heap scorn, ridicule, and abuse upon me (they LOVE doing that!). I was blown away by the wine when I first had it; huge intense extracted Zin that I recommended my people buy up. We got some 4-5 cases worth. The wine has been very variable. Some have done an ML in the bottle and been rather fizzy. Some have been quite funky & unclean. This bottle was one of the better ones. The very high acid (characteristic of Morelli Vineyard/Occidental) probably will give this Zin a very long life.... or, at least, an excuse for them to abuse me far into the future. This is the same vnyd that Eric-Ross now makes their Occidental Zin from & they do a terrific job with it. Ridge made some absolutely stunning Zins from this vnyd back in the early '70's; the Ridge Occidental '70 one of the greatest Zins ever made.