ALL we sell, with tasting notes for mostSearch our web site by keyword. Includes the Usenet Wine FAQALL we sell, with tasting notes for mostSome of our favorite linksHow to get here from there. Highway condition links.An archive of the Santa Barbara Independent's own GRAPEVINE local wine columnWining, dining, touring, weather and more. The Definitive Guide to Tasting Wine in Santa Barbara County. Complete list of wineriesOur own great Emporium events as well as links to local area wine eventsOur line-up of spirits, definition of word related to spirits, information on producers and more Wines, wine tastings, history, neat info on wineries and winemakers and more The Los Olivos Wine & Spirits Emporium. Experts in County of Santa Barbara Wine and Central Coast Wine
 
Clickable Image  

The Tom Hill Archives

The Los Olivos Wine & Spirits Emporium presents the musings and reflections of Tom Hill. We think it's great that Tom, who has sampled so many wines, has shared his tasting notes with us. We do have, or have had for sale a few of the wines Tom writes about, and we include a link to our stock page whenever it is a producer we carry (but since the stock page is kept up-to-date and the wines are sold, don't expect any but the newest of wines to show up in our stock!). Mostly though, since we specialize in County of Santa Barbara Wine and Central Coast Wine, we don't carry a lot of the wines Tom writes about. But we think it is important that you be able to have an idea what they're like in case you are planning to buy some somewhere, or have them in your own collection. Enjoy.

Here are Tom's notes from April 21, 1999:

Old Rhones

Len Meltzer was in SantaFe last week for a conference so he was interested in tasting some Rhones from the Archives (4/21/99):
  1. Domaine de l'Espigouette Vieilles Vignes Cotes du Rhone '95: Med.light color; attractive earthy/Grenache/strawberry some roasted/toasty nose; tart/spicy Grenache/ strawberry bit metallic spicy flavor; med.long spicy/Grenache/strawberry finish w/ light tannins; a nice/pleasant/drinking CdR.
  2. Domaine Bois de Boursan Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee des Felix '95: Med.dark color; lovely roasted/toasted/smokey bit bretty some complex/earthy nose; soft round light roasted/spicy bit Grenache/strawberry slight bretty/funky/meaty/sausage/earthy flavor; long soft/round meaty/spicy/sausage bit bretty/horsecollar slight roasted/ dusty finish w/ light tannins; an interesting drinkable mainstream CdP.
  3. Edmunds St.John Port O'Call Brand New World Red Authentic Calif TW (12.8%; 50% Zin, 25% Mourvedre, 25% Charbono) '89: Med.dark color; rather bretty/horsecollar some smokey/oaked low fruit rather spicy/tobaccoy/old Zin some complex nose; soft light rather bretty/horsecollar/funky light strawberry tobaccoy/pencilly/old Zin complex flavor; soft/smooth light strawberry/spicy rather bretty/horsecollar pencilly/ tobaccoy/old Zin finish w/ little tannins; rather bretty/funky & lots of tobaccoy/ old Zin character.
  4. Bonny Doon Le Cigare Volant (86.7% Grenache, 10.5% Mourvedre, 2% Syrah, 8% Cinsault) Calif RTW '86: Med.light color w/ slight browning; rather tired/musty faded rose petal light strawberry some complex nose; soft light strawberry bit faded rose petal slightly tired flavor; med.short soft light strawberry faded rose petal finish w/ no tannins; a bit on the tired side & fading.
  5. Qupe Los Olivos Cuvee Santa Barbara Cnty (67% Syrah, 33% Mourvedre; 12.5%) '93: Med. dark color; lovely strawberry fragrant very spicy bit meaty/Syrah rather complex nose; soft smooth spicy licorice/strawberry/Syrah bit earthy/plummy complex flavor; med.long spicy/meaty/Syrah/licorice/plummy/strawberry very spicy light pencilly/oaked finish w/ light tannins; just a really lovely/spicy great drinking red.
  6. Pascal Perrier Domaine de Gachon St.Joseph '91: Med.dark color; some strawberry slight roasted/smokey/spicy mature/complex nose; rather tart/citric bit lean/tight some spicy/roasted/smokey/meaty flavor; med.short tart/lean/tight some spicy/roasted/ toasty/dusty finish w/ light tannins; nice roasted/complexity but a bit tight & lean on the palate.
  7. Jacqueline Durbach Domaine de trevallon Coteaux d'Aix en Provence Les Baux (60% CS, 40% Syrah) '89: Med.dark color; strong oaked/smokey/earthy/dusty/pungent some herbal/Bordeaux/earthy complex slight bretty nose; tart rich earthy/dusty/pungent some horsecollar/bretty spicy/complex flavor; long slight bretty/horsecollar earthy/dusty/herbal/Cab pungent/earthy some smokey/oaked finish w/ some tannins; still needs a few yrs; dominated by the Cabernet.
  8. Columbia Yakima Valley Washington Syrah Red Willow Vnyd (13.6%) '90: Very dark color; some herbal/complex/blackberry/black cherry/black cherry soda/chocolaty very spicy/ perfumed/aromatic/complex nose; rich very spicy/blackberry/black cherry/soda/herbal some toasty/pungent/oaked complex flavor;very long aromatic blackberry/black cherry soda pungent/toasty/oaked dusty complex finish w/ light tannins; nearing its peak; a stunning perfumed/aromatic example of WashState Syrah.
  9. Eberle Paso Robles Frahlich Vnyd Syrah (12.6%) '91: Med.dark color; slight burnt rubber/skunky nose clears to wet pavement/dusty tobaccoy/smokey/coffee toasty/oak slight strawberry/Syrah nose; tart bit lean very spicy/smokey/toasty/coffee/espresso pungent light strawberry/Syrah/aromatic flavor; med.long spicy/coffee/pungent/ toasty finish w/ light tannins; ready to drink; lots of roasted/coffee character but not the classic roasted/CoteRotie character; wonderfully developed Syrah.
  10. Sierra Vista El Dorado 5* Reserve Syrah (12.5%) '89: Med.light color; strong dusty/ earthy/mushroomy/meaty complex some roasted/Rhonish nose; soft smooth round dusty/ mushroomy/truffly spicy/cranberry complex flavor; very long soft/round/smooth dusty/roasted/pungent/mushroomy complex cranberry/meaty/Syrah finish w/ light tannins; a beautiful complex mature Calif Syrah in wonderful condition w/ a nice Rhone-like/ pungent character.
  11. Ridge York Creek Petite Sirah (13.5%) '84: Very dark color; rather strong oaked bit meaty/blackberry/iodine/strawberry/perfumed vanilla/Am.oak very spicy nose; slight horsecollar/bretty very spicy/meaty/dusty vanilla/Am.oaked perfumed/complex bit strawberry flavor; very long peppery/meaty rather bretty/horsecollar vanilla/Am. oaked light strawberry finish w/ some tannins; still can go another 3-6 yrs; not the typical clunky/PS character.
  12. Michel Ogier La Rosine Syrah Vin de Pays Des Collines Rhodaniennes (12%) '91: Med. dark color; lovely roasted/smokey/espresso/toasty/classic C-R/oaked nose; tart bit lean/earthy strong toasty/roasted/espresso/smokey/spicy/oaked low fruit flavor; med.long tart/lean strong toasty/roasted/espresso/smokey/pungent finish w/ light tannins; lots a C-R like nose but bit thin & lean on the palate; terrific Syrah from a very-much lesser region.
  13. Domaine de Fauterie St.Joseph (12%) '90: Dark color; beautiful roasted/espresso/ coffee/toffee/butterscotchy/bacon fat/dusty/ complex slightherbal/olive nose; soft bit herbal/green bean very toffee/roasted/smokey/pungent/bacon fat/espresso spicy complex flavor; long soft round roasted/espresso/toasty/bacon fat/smokey bit herbal/ green bean/olive/SBCnty Syrah finish w/ light tannins; a slight green/underripe character but loads of roasted/NorthernRhone character.
  14. Ojai Vnyd Calif Syrah (13%) Ojai Vnyd '91: Med.dark color; strong toasty/Fr.oak/ smokey/pungent very spicy slight roasted more Pinot/RedBurg nose; tart bit lean pungent/smokey/toasty/Fr.oaked spicy/dusty/earthy flavor; med.long spicy toasty/ pencilly/Fr.oaked very spicy slight dusty/earthy finish w/ light tannins; lots of spicy character more like Calif Pinot than Syrah; wonderful spicy mature complex Syrah ready to drink.
  15. Qupe Santa Barbara Cnty Syrah Bien Nacido Reserve (12%) '92: Dark color; intense blueberry/blackberry/pungent/plummy some toasty/oaked classic BN/black cherry nose; soft rich lush classic BN/black cherry some plummy/blueberry/blackberry light toasty/oaked flavor; very long bit valve oil/pungent/petroly complex lovely BN/ black cherry plummy/blackberry some complex finish w/ some tannins; really developing into a lovely Syrah w/ loads of BienNacido character; should go another 2-6 yrs I would guess.
And the usual prattle of an intellect in idle from the bloody pulpit:
  1. Qupe Los Olivos Cuvee: This is Bob Lindquist's Chateauneuf blend and varies from yr to yr. This '93 version was a beautiful smooth great drinking red. Though the style changes a bit from yr to yr, this is a wine I've always liked. I've also been impressed at how well the wine ages. It remains one of the real bargins in the Calif/Rhone world.
  2. The Ridge York Creek was Howard & Rhoda's mystery wine. It totally threw me. Because of all the American oak, I guessed it to be an Aussie Shiraz, probably from somewhere like Victoria, of the '93-'95 vintages. Howard&Rho's mystery wines are always useful for making me look like a total wine klutz. And then Howard gloats over it!!
  3. Ojai Syrahs: I've followed Adam & Helen Tolmach's Syrahs from the very start & still have most of them in my cellar. But I've been very negligent in going back to revisit them, so was looking forward to trying this '91. His early Syrahs (back when Bernie was still in grade school) had a lot of toasty French oak in them and they reminded me more of Calif Pinot than anything (but, then, there were no truly GREAT Calif Syrahs back then, either). It was only in the more recent yrs that Adam has been making the big extracted style of Syrah. This '91 was probably about his last Syrah from his home vnyd there in OakView afore it succumbed totally to Pierce's disease. It's a marvelous/complex Pinot-like wine still in great shape.
  4. One of the great things about WCWDG/WLDG boards is the opportunity to meet fellow wine lovers who share their passions w/ the rest of us. So it was indeed a pleasure to have Len Meltzer take time out to come up to LosAlamos and taste with us. The group was in rare form that night & I'm sure Len would be glad to describe the fawning, obsequious, adulatory manner in which they treat their esteemed leader!! The first two wines, ones which I'd never had tried before, were Len's contributions, brought all the way from Ann Arbor. I was particularly impressed by the CdR for such a cheap price (high QPR I believe it's called).
TomHill

Return to the Tom Hill Archive Index