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.

We tasted last night (2/2/05)Some Roussannes & Mostly Napa Syrahs:

1. Curtis SantaBarbaraCnty Roussanne (15.0%; www.CurtisWinery.com) 2003: Med.gold color;
light toasty/oak fragrant/floral/honeysuckle/Roussanne spicy lovely nose; tart very rich/lush very strong floral/honeysuckle/spicy/gardenia/Roussanne flavor; very long/ lingering very floral/ honeysuckle light toasty finish; a beautiful white loaded w/ pure Roussanne fruit. $14.50
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2. Truchard Roussanne Carneros/NapaVlly (14.1%) 2002: Med.gold color; stromg toasty/charred/
oak/perfumed talc slight sauerkraut/nutty/pungent bit floral nose; soft/fat bit citric/tangy toasty/ charred/oak some floral/honeysuckl/Roussanne flavor; med.long toasty/oak slight floral finish; rather on the porky side and the fruit pretty much slammed into submission by the oak. $25.00
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5. Tulocay ElDorado/SierraOaksVnyd Syrah (14.6%) 2002: Dark color; some buttery/oak bit earthy/dusty/mushroomy slight funky nose w/ precious little fruir; tart/lean/austere/acidic rather dusty/earthy/ElDorado slight black cherry flavor; short hard/lean/austere finish w/ some tannins & little fruit; best of the Tulocays but a pretty eviscerated wine. Disappointing. $24.00
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6. Tulocay ElDorado/SierraOaksVnyd Syrah (12.5%) 2001: Med.color; earthy some Zin-like
simple earthy/dusty nose; tart/lean/austere earthy/dusty little fruit flavor; rather on the simple/dull/insipid side w/ little interest. $24.00
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7. Tulocay ElDorado Syrah (13.4%) 2000: Med.dark color; some dusty/earthy rather Cab-like
little fruit slight menthol no Syrah nose; tart/lean/austere slight licorice/dusty/earthy flavor w/ some hard tannins; no Syrah character to speak of; hard and unforgiving on the palate. $24.00
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8. Barrel 27 PasoRobles Syrah (14.5%) HermanStoryWines/SantaMaria 2003: Dark color; very
strong burnt/charred/toasty bit herbal/vegetal some boysenberry/ripe/Syrah nose; tart/citric/ schreechy soft very ripe/blackberry/Syrah some herbal strong burnt/charred/oak flavor; med.short acidified/schreechy very charred/oak/burnt finish; smells/tastes like EastSide Paso grapes from Fralich or somewhere grapes. Unthrilling. $17.00
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9. Ager-MartucciVnyds NapaVlly Syrah (13.8%; www.Arger-MartucciVineyards.com) 2002: Very
dark color; some blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah slight gamey/toasty/smokey somewhat interesting nose; soft light blackberry/Syrah some taosty/Fr.oak slight gamey flavor; med. light/blackberry/ Syrah light toasty/pencilly/oak finish w/ some tannins; a pleasant enough wine but just that. $26.00
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10. Livingston Moffett MitchelVnyd NapaVlly Syrah (??%; 5% Viognier) 2001: Very dark color;
rather blackcurranty/Cab-like slight blackberry/Syrah slight gamey/meaty bit licorice/cabbage/ herbal nose; soft/simple light blackberry/Syrah bit Cabish slight licorice/toasty flavor; med. simple/blackberry/black curranty rather tannic/hard finish; needs some age but doubt the potential future; bit underwhelming. $26.50
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11. RoccaFamilyVnyds Yountville/NapaVlly Syrah CrossRoadVnyd (14.5%; www.RoccaWines.com) 2001: Very dark color; strong lush/blackberry/Syrah quite spicy/fragrant slight licorice/smokey/ pungent nose; tart rich/spicy strong blackberry/Syrah/blueberry/ licorice slight peppery/pungent complex/spicy slight toasty/oak flavor; long lush/very spicy/ blackberry/blueberry/Syrah/licorice finish w/ fair tannins; needs 2-5 yrs of age; quite interesting & spicy Syrah. $43.00
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12. Lagier-Meredith Syrah MtVeeder/NapaVlly (14.7%; 550 cs; www.LagierMeredith.com)
2002: Black color; beautiful blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry quite spicy/perfumed light
pencilly/oak slight pungent/licorice/smokey complex/perfumed nose; rich lush/blackberry/Syrah slight ripe/boysenberry light pencilly/toasty/Fr.oak extracted but balanced very Mt.Veeder/spicy flavor; very long/lingering pretty tannic intense blackberry/Syrah/ripe very spicy light toasty/ pencilly slight licorice/pungent finish; needs some age yet;beautiful spicy Syrah wine. $52.50
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13. ThreeRiversWnry of WallaWalla YakimaVlly Syrah BousheyVnyd (14.5%; 300 cs;
www.3RiversWinery.com) 2001: Black color; intense minerally/boysenberry/Syrah ripe/very ripe some roasted/minerally/terroir-driven complex nose; tart intense/extracted black-berry/blueberry/ very ripe/Syrah some toasted/roasted rather minerally complex flavor; very long blueberry/ blackberry/Syrah extracted rich/lush light roasted/pungent finish; a lovely/classic WashState Syrah; not as good as the McCrea but close. $43.00
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14. Neyers NapaVlly Syrah Cuvee d'Honneur (14.9%; www.NeyersVineyards.com) 2002: Near black color; beautiful/intense roasted/smoky/coffee/espresso very NorthernRhone rather Syrah/
blackberry very complex nose; soft very intense NorthernRhone/smokey/roasted/espresso
intense blackberry/Syrah slight minerally flavor; very long/lingering intense coffee/
espresso/NorthernRhone intense blackberry/Syrah finish w/ fair tannins; needs more age;
probably the most NorthernRhone Syrah made in Calif; doesn't have the Cote-Rotie
minerality, but more like Cornas in character; stunning stuff. $48.00

1. CurtisRoussanne: This is a wine I got from BernieRoth from the WineCaskFutures program.
Bernie...he done good this time. One of the loviest Roussannes I've had. Curtis is
owned by the FirestoneWnry folks. Chuck Carson has really been upgrading the quality
of the Curtis wines over the last few yrs. This may be his best one yet.
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2. TulocaySyrahs: I've followed Bill Cadman's wines from the very start; the '76 Amador
Zin. I was hoping to like these wines a lot and was interested in what he could do with
this variety. Although thay showed much of that ElDorado dusty/earthy/mushroomy
character; they were greatly lacking in Syrah fruit and hard a hard meaness on the
palate that was kind of hurtey. Maybe the wines would have benefited from a bit more
ripeness in the grapes. Quite disappointing from a producer I generally like a lot.
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3. Arger-Martucci: This is a new label from two Reno guys who own vnyds in the NapaVlly.
They bought the old VillaHelena wnry and are making their wines there. This wines was
not a bad wine, just a bit underwhelming given the price.
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4. NapaVlly Syrahs: I'm not quite sure why, but I am not terribly impressed with the Syrahs
that come from the NapaVlly, IN GENERAL. The Lagier-Meredith, Rocca, JadeMtn Paras,
Neyers, Konsgaard are every bit the equal of any other Syrahs in Calif I think. And
then there are a lot of high-priced ones (Shafer, Lewis for example) who all taste like
Syrah made by a Cabernet producer. Producers like Nocy and Failla, I find their non-
Napa Syrahs far better than their Napa ones. Down SantaBarbara way, it's hard NOT to find
a good/great Syrah. Up in Napa, though, you really have to pick and choose and know
what ones to buy. It's not that NapaVlly is not suited to Syrah I think. It's just
that making great Cabernet does not guarantee you can make great Syrah. Those who
have a passion for Syrah seem to shine thru.
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5. Rocca: I've followed the wines of Mary Rocca and Eric Grigsby from the very start; when
they first showed their wines at HdR some 4 yrs ago. They seemed to be very much on the
right track with their Syrah, make a very attractive Amador Zin, and I'll forgice them
for making Cabernet as an abberation.
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6. Lagier-Meredith: Also have followed Steve Lagier & Carole Meredith's Syrah from the very
start; though I dwaddled around and durn missed out on the first vintage. It's a Syrah
that my group will buy sight-untasted... a no-brainer. It is, to my mind, one of the
most interesting and pure expressions of Syrah that you can find...Napa or otherwise.
They should have their own seminar session at HdR someday. I'd go.
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7. NeyersSyrah: No surprise...followed the Neyers Syrahs from the very start. I've always
like their HudsonVnyd Syrah and have thought Ehren Jordan has done more w/ those grapes
than anyone. His Cd'H, this being the 3rd or 4th year of it, has always struck me by
its uncanny resemblance to NorthernRhone Syrah w/ its roasted/espresso character. I've
always associated that character w/ terroir in NorthernRhone. How Ehren achieves it
in this wine is a puzzle to me. Some winemakers try for a NorthernRhone character in
their Syrah by use of heavily charred barrels; but it always has a bit of an ersatz
Rhone character. Ehren seems to consistently achieve it in this wine. Steve Edmunds
seems to achieve it often in his wines. It's magic & witchcraft...these guys are not
to be trusted under a full moon.
TomHill