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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 August 19, 1996: 

Italian and California Sangiovese

Tasted a few Italian & Calif Sangioveses last week: 
 
 
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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. 
  9. 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.
  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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. 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. 

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.

TomHill (wine git like Roger)

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