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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 28, 2004:

Mostly White Rhones

We tried last night mostly White Rhones: 
 
  1. La Conrevia d'Scala Dei Les Brugueres Priorat ViBlanc (14%; GrenacheBlanc) 2000: Med.color w/ slight copper tinge; beautiful/fragrant floral/honeysuckle/gooseberry FralichViognier- like complex nose; soft/fat/underacid very lush/floral/honeysuckle slight earthy/stoney very exotic/floral flavor; very long floral/honeysuckle/Sprite/7Up soft/fat finish; very exotic/perfumey wine but on the soft/porky side. From 100+ yr old vines. $25.00
  2. Andrew Murray Vnyds Santa Ynez Valley Enchante (60% Roussanne, 40% Marsanne; 14%) 2002: Med.gold color; beautiful/fragrant/perfumed/honeysuckle rather peachy/Viognier-like nose; very soft/ fat/flat floral/peachy/Viognier-like slighht buttery/oak flavor; med. lush/floral/peachy/ honeysuckle finish; more like Viognier than Roussanne; beautiful floral nose but rather soft & porky on the palate. $22.00
  3. Westerly Vnyds Santa Ynez Valley Viognier (EG; www.WesterlyVineyards.com; 15.2%) 2001:Pale yellow color; very fragrant/perfumed/Viognier/pear pure Viognierr varietal nose; soft/lush/ rich very strong Viognier/pear some monerally/Condrieu-like flavor; long pure/Viognier/ pear ripe/lush slight minerally finish; very clean/pure/varietal Viognier. $32.00
  4. Garretson Viognier Rozet Vnyd/Paso Robles "The Duine" (14.9%; black stripe) 2003: Med.yellow color; very fragrant very strong peach/Viognier slight toasty bit alcoholic slight toasty/ oak nose; very soft/lush/rich very ripe/peachy/Viognier/rotted peach flavor; very long soft/rich very peachy/rotted peach/Viognier/bit pineapply finish; lots of very ripe/peach/ Viognier character. $nc
  5. Garretson Viognier Central Coast "The Chumbra" (15.2%; RS: hint; 300 cs) 2003: Med.gold color; very ripe/peachy/Viognier quite perfumed/fragrant/aromatic slight minerally nose; soft/lush off-dry very lush/ripe/peachy/Viognier slight minerally almost botrytis-like flavor; very long very rich/lush intense/ripe/peachy/Viognier off-dry finish; loads of very ripe/pure/ Viognier character; great Viognier for the price. $nc/$20
  6. Failla Viognier Alban Vnyd Edna Valley (14.8%) 2002: Light yellow/gold color; very light toasty/ oak rather minerally quite spicy/perfumed some complex/aromatic nose; tart very spicy/ minerally perfumed/aromatic/floral/pear slight toasty/oak flavor; very long very spicy/ very minerally light oak finish; not much like Calif Viognier but more like a Rhone Roussanne; some like an Alban Viognier w/o the charred oak; very interesting Viognier that needs some age. $39.00
  7. Yves Cuilleron Condrieu Petite La Cote (13.5%) 2002: Light yellow color; beautiful/classic/ textbook minerally/Condrieu/Viognier/pear fragrant/perfumed/complex nose; tart bit thin/lean/ pinched rather minerally/Condrieu slight earthy/pear/peach slight herbal flavor; med. classic Condrieu/minerally/pear/herbal finish; a beautiful/classic Condrieu nose but a bit tight/ pinched on the palate; a good Condrieu experience at a very good price. $20.00
  8. Philippe Faury Condrieu (14%) 2000: Med.yellow color; strong ripe/grapey very ripe like Lodi Viognier w/ no/little Condrieu minerality; very soft/fat slight earthy very ripe/grapey/porky no Condrieu/Viognier flavor; very short/fat/ very grapey/ripe/Chard-like finish; totally devoid of Condrieu character; more like an R.H.Phillips Viognier; a big/fat St.Bernard planting this sloppy/wet kiss to the chops; way overpriced. $56.00
  9. Garretson Carolina Cuvee Central Coast White Wine (16.2%; 200 cs) 2003: Med.gold color; very strong perfumed very floral/honeysuckle very ripe/peachy lovely/aromatic slight volatile nose; tart very rich/lush intense/floral/honeysuckle off-dry huge/ripe flavor; very long/tart floral/honeysuckle finish; lots of very ripe character but tart & zingy on the palate. $nc
  10. Turley The White Coat San Luis Obispo Cnty (Roussanne; 15.6%) 2002: Med.gold color; bit reduced/ stinky strong toasty/oak/butterscotchy slight floral/pear nose; very tart/hard/lean strong toasty/charred/butterscotchy/oak slight floral/pear flavor; med.long tart/lean/hard very charred/toasty/oak slight pear/honeysuckle finish; needs some age but not that much fruit lurking under there; hard to tell where this will go. $39.00
  11. Louis Bernard Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc (13%) 1999: Med.gold color; very strong pencilly/oak fragrant/grapey almost Chard-like nose; soft/smooth bit celery seed/grapey some butterscotchy/ oak slight nutty/aged/stony flavor; med.short soft/appley/grapey/celery/herbal strong caramel/ butterscotchy/oak finish; interesting wine but getting a bit shakey. Steve's mystery.
  12. J.L.Chave Hermitage 1983: Dark gold color; rather nutty/oxidized slight maderized toasty/smoky/ oak bit botrytis/complex/ripe almost Ygrec-like nose; smooth/round/soft/lush slight nutty/ oxidized/honeyed/stoney/earthy bit toasty/oak slight stony/metallic flavor; long rather nutty/oxidized toasty/caramel finish; a classic old HermitageBlanc w/ just enough nutty/ oxidized character to make it interesting. Blair's mystery.
  13. Garretson "The Celeidh" Paso Robles Rose Wine (14.2%; 425 cs) 2003: Light red color; very strong strawberry/cranberry/peppery/spicy slight reduced/gunpowder nose; dry/tart/lean/crisp bright cranberry/spicy/strawberry slight earthy flavor; med.long lean/tart/zingy/crisp bright/spicy/ strawberry/cranberry slight earthy finish; a bright/zingy Provencal-like rose; great drinking. $nc/$18.00
  14. Domaine de la Janasse Vin de Pays de la Principaute d'Orange RTW (14%; Syrah/Merlot) 2000: Med.color; almost Italian/grapey/Merlot rather earthy no Syrah rustic/earthy nose; very hard/tannic/lean earthy/dusty little fruit flavor w/ a nasty acidic streak; short earthy/hard/lean finish; more like a nasty Italian wine than a Rhone; skip at any price. $9.00
  15. Fabrice Rousset Domaine du Chateau Vieux St.Joseph (12.5%) 1999: Med.color; bit corked earthy/charred slight roasted/pungent/toasty nose; tart/lean/hard no fruit no Syrah flavor; a mean hard little wine that may or may-not be due to the slight corkiness. $20.00
  16. Les Vins de Vienne Cuilleron-Gaillard-Villard Cornas Les Barcillants (13%) 2000: Dark color; loads of intense/new/Fr.oak/toasty quite bretty/horsecollar rather violets/lilacs/fragrant slight roasted/espresso nose; very bretty/unclean/horsecollar slight roasted/coffee rather strong toasty/charred/new Fr.oak slight floral/violets flavor; med.long very bretty/unclean intense toasty/Frr.oak/burnt finish w/ fair tannins; totally obliteratec by the charred/oak and bretty/unclean character; way overpriced. $40.00
And the usual/rambling monologue from the Bloody Pulpit:
  1. Grenache Blanc: The third most widely planted white variety in France. Its tendency is to produce soft/under-acid wines; though the TablasCreek Site asserts crisp/acidic ones. Usually used in blends, the RayasBlanc is supposedly 100% GrenacheBlanc. The ones from Rayas I've had have been good, but not spectacular. This Priorat one was. I understand TablasCreek also has one for their WineClub. This exact wine was just reviewed by Arpy (89...if you must have the #) who spectulated it would have a short life because of the golden color. He's probably right for the wrong reason; the low acidity will probably kill off the wine is my guess. Anyway...GrenacheBlanc....we should see more of that variety.
  2. Garretson wines: These were all a gift to us to try from MatGarretson during his visit to NM a month ago. Prices are indicated when they're known from the futures offering.
  3. The Chave '83 was pretty much where you'd expect that wine to be. That nutty/slightly oxidized character of old Rhone whites is a bit of an aquired taste that many don't like, but I find to be absolutely fascinating. Were this a Chard, it would be dismissed out-of-hand as oxidized & over-the-hill.
And a coupla dessert wines:
  1. Walter Filiputti Dai Vigneti Dell'Abbazia di Rosazzo Monasterium Rosarum Picolit  ColliOrientali del Friuli (13%) 1999: Med.gold color; quite perfumed/fragrant very ripe bit botrytis/peachy very lush rather volatile/EA almost Sauternes-like clean rather complex nose; slightly sweet lovely/peachy/pineapply/very ripe/spicy soft/grapey/elegant bit hot/ volatile fairly complex flavor; very long/lingering slightly sweet light peachy/botrytis/ pineapply quite elegant/perfumed finish; best Picolit I've ever had; about German Spatlese level in character; lovely dessert or cheese wine. $51.30/500ml
  2. Garretson The Berwyn Roussanne VinDouxNatural RozetVnyd/PasoRobles (17.1%; SaH: 40 Brix; RS: 4.94gm/100ml) 2001: Med.dark gold color; very ripe/rotted peaches very perfumed/honeysuckle/floral very fragrant/aromatic/grapey slight butterscotchy complex nose; quite sweet very ripe/passito-like honeyed/floral/honeysuckle very honeyed bit butterscotchy slightly hot/alcoholic flavor; very long/lingering very sweet intense floral/ honeysuckle/grapey some creme caramel/honeyed/rotted peaches/butterscotchy finish; a bit of alcoholic heat but a lovely example of a passito-style dessert wine.  $30/hlf
A wee Bloody Pulpit:
  1. Picolit: A legendary grape of the ColliOrientali/Friuli region in Italy. It was once thought to be afflicted by a "malady" termed "floral abortion", according to all the references on Italian wines. The "disease" was characterized by a very poor set, flowers that drop off resulting in bunches with very few grapes and uneconomically low yields. These sparse crops were then allowed to ripen to high sugar levels. I once did a Wines&Vines article on the grape. After conferring w/ ?? (Olmo I think) at UC/Davis; I found out that this "malady" was no such a thing. It was merely that Picolit is a sterile grape variety and relies on wind-borne pollen to polinate the flowers. Thus, interplanting Picolit w/ varieties like Verduzzo is the solution to this "disease" and allows for more reasonable yields. I try virtually every Picolit I come across, for intellectual reasons mostly. Of the 10-12 I've had, most have seemed to be on the clumsy/clunky side w/ often a bit of oxidation in them. This Filiputti was easily the best one I've yet had.
  2. The Berwyn: This was a gift from Mat Garretson from his recent visit for us to try. Passito wines are a genre that I think should be pursued a whole lot more in Calif. In particular, Roussanne seems to be well-suited for this style of wine, maybe even more so than Viognier. This Berwyn is one of the better examples I've had from Calif.
TomHill
 

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