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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 March 3, 2003:

Semillon

Served to my Santa Fe Wine Group the other day some Semillons:  
      
  1. Rosemont Estate Semillon (EB; 12.0%) 2001: Pale yellow color; clean slight herbal bit waxy/ floral/honeysuckle nose; tart bit thin/lean very citric/grapefruity/metallic hard flavor; a lean/crisp/hard/screechy wine much in a NZ-SauvignonBlanc style. Fairly priced, good food wine.  $8.00.
  2. Simon Hackett BrightView Vineyard Barossa Valley Semillon (12.5%) 2000: Med.light yellow color; more  fragrant some oaked spicy/floral/waxy nose; tart/rich some pencilly/oak fairly lush/spicy/ floral flavor; long lush tart spicy/floral light vanilla/oak finish; seems like a long arger; quite tart but has a richness to it.
  3. L'Ecole No.41 SevenHills Vineyard WallaWalla Valley Estate Semillon (14.2%; BrrlFrmtd) 2000: Pale yellow color; rather herbal/sauerkrauty/reduced almost Bourbon-like/toasty/smokey/oak light floral/spicy nose; tart toasty/coconutty/oaked very lush/ripe slight herbal/floral/earthy smokey/pungent flavor; long/ripe bit herbal/earthy rather toasty/coconuty/oak finish; almost like a WhiteBurg; interesting wine that should age well.
  4. Stanley Brothers Barossa Valley Full-Sister Semillon (12.5%) 1999: Med.yellow color; rather toasty/ smokey/pungent/complex/toasted coconut slight eggy/H2S some floral/waxy nose; tart very  toasty/Fr.oak/pungent lush some waxy/olive/floral flavor; med.long waxy/floral/olive some smokey/toasty/Fr.oak finish; quite rich and needs age.
  5. Penfolds Adelaide Hills Semillon Trial Bin (13.5%) 1996: Med.gold color; very pungent/metallic bit smokey/forest fire/toasty/coconutty some reduced/H2S complex nose; very tart/hard/austere toasty/pungent/smokey bit reduced/stinky slight green olive flavor; long pungent/smokey/ burnt finish; not a lot of fruit; a hard/austere oaked complex Semillon that needs much age; will be a good one down the road.
  6. Stevens Aged Hunter Semillon Reserve (10.7%; www.tyrrells.com.au) 1998: Pale yellow color; very  fragrant/perfumed/aromatic/very flowery spicy slight wet dog fur nose; very tart/citric/acid clean flowery/floral/honeysuckle/honeyed flavor; med.long lean/acid/citric floral/honeyed finish; almost like a GruVee or R; badly needs age.
  7. Tyrrell's Wines Hunter Valley Reserve HVD Semillon (Hunter ValleyDistillery Vineyard; Planted: 1908) (11.0%; NoOak) 1995: Med.gold color; beautiful/complex gardenia/floral almost evergreen/PineSol  smokey/pungent some waxy/figgy nose; tart bit metallic gardenia/floral lemony/spicy some pungent/ toasty/coconutty flavor; very long pungent/smokey lovely floral/gardenia/perfumed finish; some complexity showing but needs much age; will be a great one.
  8. Harbor Winery Livermore Valley Semillon (13.6%) 1989: Med.gold color; rather oxidized some toasty/ coconutty/pungent some sherry-like little fruit nose; soft/fat/flat rather oxidized/sherry  pungent/smokey/coconutty flavor; bit too sherry/oxidized for my taste.
  9. Kalin Livermore Valley Semillon (12.5%); P&B by KalinCllrs, Novato 1992: Light gold color; slight reduced/stinky rather waxy/figgy some floral/honey light toasty/smokey/oak nose; tart bit toasty/smokey/pungent green olive/spicy/floral/figgy some complex flavor; very long light toasty/tobaccoy/pungent figgy/waxy/floral finish; shows some complexity but needs much more age.
  10. Kalin Livermore Valley Semillon (12.5%) 1988: Light gold color; some more toasty/pungent/tobaccoy/ oak very perfumed/fragrant/spicy/olive complex nose; tart/acid/austere light toasty/pungent/ tobaccoy/smokey figgy/waxy/olive very spicy complex flavor; very long/lingering pungent/ toasty/tobaccoy very spicy/fragrant/waxy/figgy finish; very interesting/complex Semillon that  needs more age.
  11. McWilliams Mount Pleasant Elizabeth (Semillon; 11.0%) 1990: Med.dark gold color; strong pungent/ tobaccoy waxy/figgy/celery/floral some gout de petrol bit old Sauternes complex nose; tart rather  pungent/gout de petrol figgy/waxy/old Sauternes complex flavor; very long/lingering gout de  petrol figgy/waxy tobaccoy/pungent complex finish; showing a bit of old Sauternes/Ygrec character; lovely complex wine that needs more age; great value at $16.00 
  12. McWilliams Mount Pleasant Individial Vineyard Lovedale Vineyard Semillon (11.0%) 1986: Med.gold color; lovely/complex smokey/tobaccoy/pungent rather old Sauternes some waxy/figgy/green olive very complex nose; tart lush/figgy/waxy pungent/tobaccoy old Sauternes/complex flavor; very long/ lingering complex/old Sauternes hard/acid quite lush/figgy finish; a beautiful/complex Semillon that can still age longer; lovely Semillon.
  13. Comtesse Durieu de Lacarelle nee Lur Saluces Chateau Filhot Sauternes 1975: Med.dark gold color; rather lean some cement vat/musty (not corked) slight herbal/grassy some earthy slight petroly little botrytis bit complex nose; off-dry tart/hard/austere bit earthy/wet cement slight caramel/butterscotchy flavor; med.short hard/austere bit musty/wet pavement/earthy slight botrytis finish; little complexity or old Sauternes character; perhaps needs more age but not sure where it's going; unthrilling Sauternes, lacks richness or lushness.
And the usual bloody pulpit:
  1. Semillon varietal character: Still am struggling to identify varietal character in Semillon. Must be that damned terroir thing getting in the way all the time. Many from Calif I've had  have that herbal/SauvBlanc-like character to them. Many seem to show a floral/waxy/olive character. What strikes me about the variety is that even when harvested fully ripe and the wine is up 13% alc and the wine has a lot of lushness on the palate, it still has this bracing/hard  acidity to it. Sort of like the Barbera of the white wine world. A quality that bodes well for its ageibility. All in all, an intriguing white variety I wish I understood better. I've had some very old Oz Semillons (25-30 yrs of age) with Darrell Corti that are amazing/complex wines. Some of these I expect to become like those.
TomHill
 

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