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 the other night (11/7/07) some New Rhones :

1. AlainGraillot Crozes-Hermitage Blanc (13%) 2006: Med.gold color; rather strong appley/Marsanne slight floral rather cracked white pepper slight earthy nose; tart/rich/lush slight minerally/appley/Marsanne slight metallic flavor; long appley/Marsanne delicate floral/perfumed talc finish; speaks mostly of Marsanne; a lovel Crozes Blanc that can use another couple of yrs. $30.95
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2. Etienne Pochon AC: Crozes-Hermitage Blanc (12.5%) 2005: Med.gold color; slight gunpowder/used fireworks slight appley/earthy/fruity nose; soft/lush/ripe/ glycerined light fruity/ appley slight metallic/earthy flavor; med. soft/lush/ripe slight appley/earthy finish; a bit low on fruit but pleasant drinking at a fair price. $23.00
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3. Ch. Saint Esteve d'Uchaux AC: CdR Blanc(www.Chateau-Saint-Esteve-d-Uchaux.com; 12%; MeBaC) Gerard & Marc Francois 2002: Light gold color; very attractive perfumed/floral/Viognier slight Condrieu/minerally lovely nose; soft bit stoney/minerally light floral/pear/Viognier flavor; short light earthy/minerally finish; a pleasant CdR Blanc w/ a nice touch of minerality; speaks mostly of Viognier. $18.00
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4. Dom.Bernard Gripa AC: St.Joseph Blanc (13%) 2005: Light gold color; beautiful fragrant/perfumed/floral/peachy very Condrieu/minerally stunning nose; soft very lush/ripe/floral/honeysuckle some minerally/earthy lovely flavor; very long lush/ripe floral/honeysuckle slight minerally finish; a beautiful Blanc w/ nice minerality. $36.00
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5. Laurent Miquel Nord Sud Viognier Vin de Pays d'Oc (13.5%) 2006: Light gold color; very attractive fragrant/pear/peach/Viognier slight minerally nose; tart bit lean light pear/Viognier/floral bit simple flavor; med.short light floral/pear/ Viognier/peach finish; a pleasant Viognier for Pd'Oc; palate doesn't quite deliver on what the nose promises. $18.00
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6. Casa Barranca Viognier WulfVnyd/Madera (14.8%) M from Organic Grown grapes by William Moses/Ojai 2006: Med.gold color; huge bannana oil/CircusPeanuts very ripe/ overripe/fruit little fruit nose; very soft/fat very bannana oil/overripe rotted peaches bit alcoholic flavor; very ripe/ overripe soft/fat bannana oil finish; rather on the overripe/porky side but good considering it's Madera Viognier; can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear. $20.00
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7. ClarendonHills OldVines Grenache HiggenbothamVnyd/ClarendonHills (14.5%) 2001: Med.color; rather bright/raspberry/strawberry light toasty/Fr.oak some buttery/perfumed nose; rather hard/tannic bit dried out strawberry/raspberry/ Grenache bit perfumed loads of Fr.oak flavor; long hard/tannic bright strawberry/ Grenache pretty toasty/oak finish; lovely Grenache nose but rather hard/tannic/dried out on the palate; not going to go anywhere.
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8. Matariki Syrah GimblettRd/HawkesBay/NZ (13.0%) 1999: Med.dark color; very spicy cracked black pepper slightly unclean/funky some blackberry/Syrah interesting nose; tart slight cracked black pepper some unclean/funky/brett slight blackberry/Syrah flavor; med. some cracked black pepper bit funky some blackberry/Syrah rather hard/tannic finish; lovely/complex nose w/ cracked black pepper but a bit hard/austere on the palate; interesting NZ Syrah but just that. $20.00 (CB)
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9. MarcSorrel Crozes-Hermitage (12.5%) 2005: Med.dark color; some blackberry/Syrah slight peppery/roasted/classic NR attractive nose; tart bit lean/hard some peppery/roasted light blackberry/Syrah bit tannic flavor; med.long light roasted/peppery/NR light blackberry/Syrah finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; a pleasant light- weight NR but a bit disappointing. $29.00
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10. AlainGraillot St.Joseph (13%) 2005: Very dark color; rather reduced very strong roasted/ charred/peppery slight herbal some blackberry/Syrah lovely/ classic/NR nose; tart very roasted/ charred/smokey/peppery slight herbal/ blackberry/Syrah classic NR flavor; very long roasted/ charred/smokey/pungent some herbal/blac(LCSWS)
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11. Dom.Lagueans AstrologySeries Syrah ElDoradoCnty (14%; www.DomaineLaguens.com)ZodiacCllrs/Sebastopol 2004: Very dark/black color; very ripe/overripe bit earthy/mushroomy/ Eldorado little fruit nose; rather dusty/earthy/mushroomy some blueberry/Syrah bit funky rather hard/tannic some overripe flavor; med. very ripe/overripe dusty/earthy/mushroomy rather Am.oak/buttery low fruit finish; big/hard/tannic and pretty funky/overripe ElDorado Syrah; overpriced at $19.00
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12. WineSmith Calif Roman Syrah (14.1%; www.GrapeCraft.com; no sulfer?high Sierras?)WineSmithCllrs/Sebastopol 2004: Med.dark color; very funky/bretty/barnyardy/horsecollar little fruit nose; soft overripe/pruney/raisened little fruit rather bretty/horsecollar/barnyardy very unclean flavor; med.long very unclean/bretty/horsecollar raisined/pruney finish w/ some tannins; way too unclean for my tastes. $30.00
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13. Jaffurs Syrah SantaBarbaraCnty (14.9%) 2006: Black color; big/huge/intense blackberry/ Syrah/boysenberry some toasty/Fr.oak bit peppery nose;tart intense blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah light toasty/oak ripe/lush flavor; very long ripe/lush/intense boysenberry/blackberry/Syrah light toasty/oak w/ some tannins; a terrific almost Oz-style Syrah w/ huge Syrah fruit character at a great price; worth buying in quantitity; maybe the best Jaffurs SBC Syrah yet. $26.00
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14. Jaffurs ThompsonVnyd Syrah (14.9%) 2000: Very dark/black color; strong peppery/toasty/ smokey/pungent rather spicy/blackberry/Syrah some toasty/oak some complex nose;tart rather tannic strong toasty/oak/smokey/pungent some blackberry/spicy/Syrah rather rich very structured flavor; very long rather toasty/smokey/oak very spicy/blackberry/Syrah fairly tannic finish; classic Thompson Syrah that still needs time. Larry's mystery wine.
    
    

1. Jaffurs Syrah: My group was mightly impressed w/ the newest Jaffurs SBC Syrah. Big/huge Syrah fruit; maybe the best Jaffurs SBC Syrah yet, at a very/very good price.
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2. WineSmith Syrah: This is a wine made by Clark Smith, owner/head honcho of Vinovation in Sebastopol, the outfit that does RO and micro-bullage for all sorts of clients. The WebSite sorta implies it was made w/o sulfite additions and states it has "incredibly intricate aromatics full of mystery and soul". I guess. But I found it was so loaded w/ brett and uncleaness that it would do a Coturri wine proud. For such a high-tech guy as Clark, I was pretty disappointed in this wine. It had lots of overripe character that suggests, given the alcohol level, it was RO'd.

TomHill