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.

 
1. Syrah
   Tasted a killer set of Syrahs last night:
   David Bruce Petit Syrah (15.5% alc) '71: Dark color w/ little browning; old wine/tobaccoy/pencilly light ripe fruit nose changes in the glass to a lovely strawberry fragrant floral pencilly oaked complex nose; tart rather hot alcoholic pencilly/cedary complex flavor; med.long hot/alcoholic light strawberry very cedary/pencilly/oaked finish w/ light tannins; probably going downhill but in pretty good shape; the alcohol is really obtrusive; some very interesting things therein.
   Guigal Cote-Rotie '88: Med.dark color; bit stinky horsecollar/bretty nose clears to fragrant light smokey/roasted C-R nose; fairly rich dusty roasted Syrah fruit some taosty oaked light horsecollar flavor; long light roasted coffee smokey C-R finish w/ some tannins; not that intense but nice low-key roasted C-R character.
   Qupe Central Coast Syrah (Bob's cannonical 12.5% alc) '94: Dark color; deep blackberry Syrah some roasted pungent Rhone-like nose; rich bit tart/sour spicy blackberry dusty flavor; med.long spicy dusty blackberry light roasted finish w/ light tannins; really changed a lot in the last yr from a big blackberry wine into a much more interesting rather Rhone-like Syrah, probably from the Paso Robles component. Delicious wine.
   Qupe Central Coast Syrah (12.5%!!) '95: Very dark color; lush blackberry Syrah slight roasted/pungent/smokey nose; soft rich lush blackberry light roasted flavor; long very spicy blackberry bit dusty/smokey/pungent finish w/ some tannins; much like the '94 was a yr ago but a bit harder & leaner & less of a fruit bomb. A steal @ $12.
   Andrew Murray Santa Barbara County Esperance (Grenache,Mourvedre+Syrah,Viognier, Roussanne) '94: Black color; lush intense fruit rather minty/menthol/oaked very fragrant nose; rich tart spicy/strawberry rather minty/menthol oaked bit hard flavor; very long rather tannic spicy/strawberry fairly minty/ menthol oaked finish; needs 2-6 yrs; very much a Calif style but a delicious red wine that should age very well.
   Edmunds St. John Les Cotes Sauvage (Mourvedre,Grenache,Cinsault,Syrah,Carignan; 13.7% alc) '94: Very dark color; deep earthy plummy complex spicy licorice blackcherry slight earthy/dusty nose; soft ripe plummy/Mourvedre very spicy complex blackcherry/licorice flavor; very long spicy plummy licorice complex finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; lots of plummy Mourvedre and very interesting Rhone character; Steve's LCS have tended to be a bit on the funky side, this one is very well made & complex.
   Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Syrah (Thompson Vnyd; 13% alc) '94: Very dark color; intense pungent black cherry cough syrup smokey oaked spicy nose; tart rich tannic intense black cherry cough syrup/framboise bit dusty/toasty oaked flavor; very long tannic rough black cherry cough syrup pungent tart dusty finish; needs 3-8 yrs; a rather tart rough angular wine but will be a great one w/ age.
   Bedford Thompson Santa Barbara County Syrah RTW '94: Black color; very intense blackberry/boysenberry some minty/menthol oaked nose; tannic intense black- berry/boysenberry pungent licorice flavor; very long tannic very intense blackberry/boysenberry licorice finish; needs much age but packed w/ Syrah fruit. A steal @ $20.
   Edmunds St. John California Syrah (13%) '94: Dark color; intense Syrah blackberry pungent smokey very Rhone-like nose; tart strong Syrah/blackberry smokey/ pungent very Rhone-like flavor; long bit tannic pungent smokey Rhone-like finish; can use a yr or two; one of the most Rhone-like Calif Syrahs yet; some like Reynaud's Fonsallette Syrah in a lesser yr; a steal at $10.75.
   Edmunds St. John Durrell Vineyard Syrah (13.6%) '94: Black color; intense raw meat blackberry smokey bit toasty/oaked complex nose; intense very tannic extracted some blackberry/dusty/earthy pungent flavor; very long extracted tannic pungent raw meat licorice blackberry finish; needs 4-10 yrs; not as lush Calif blackberry/Syrah fruit & more extracted & bit more Rhonish than previous ones; will be a great one.
   Swanson Napa Valley Syrah (13.5%) '94: Black color; classic Swanson lots of minty/menthol/vanilla oak intense blackberry/licorice/cough syrup nose; intense tannic extracted licorice/blackberry dusty bit closed flavor; very long intense tannic pungent menthol/oaked blackberry finish; big & extracted but a bit more approachable than the '92; another Marcco winner.
   Swanson Napa Valley Syrah (14.0%) '92: Very black color; very intense black- berry Syrah dusty/roasted some complex nose; very intense tannic dusty pungent astringent blackberry some toasty/oaked flavor; very long very tannic astringent extracted some blackberry fruit finish; needs 4-12 yrs; seems a bit closed & dumb from a yr or so ago; will be a killer.
   Renwood Amador County Syrah (14.1%) '94: Black color; beautiful intense oaked/ blackberry/Amador briary some minty/oaked bit alcoholic nose; tart tannic Amador briary/blackberry some oaked bit alcoholic flavor; very long tannic Amador briary/blackberry tannic finish; needs 3-8 yrs; not quite as lush as the '93 was; lots of Amador blackberry character but a bit alcoholic/hot.
   Andrew Murray Santa Barbara County Syrah (13.5%) '94: Very black color; beautiful intense loads of lush blackberry Syrah licorice pungent smokey nose; very intense blackberry/framboise perfumed spicy tannic tart flavor; very long extracted blackberry/pungent/smokey licorice spicy tannic finish; needs 4-15 yrs; a pretty hard & extracted wine but will be a great one.
   Qupe Santa Barbara County Bien Nacido Reserve Syrah '94: Very dark color; beautiful roasted smokey aromatic very perfumed complex blackberry Syarh very spicy nose; rich mouthfilling oaked pungent smokey roasted very spicy bit herbal espresso flavor; extremely long pungent roasted toasty blackberry Syrah bit dusty finish w/ fair tannins; needs 2-6 yrs; lots of roasted CoteRotie/Rhone character; the Hillside component really shows in this wine; it's dishonest to buy a wine this good so cheap @ $20.
   Qupe Santa Barbara County Bien Nacido Hillside Select Syrah '94: Very black color; extremely intense pungent roasted smokey raw meat espresso dusty blackberry Syrah almost herbal nose; rich extracted tannic blackberry pungent roasted smokey complex flavor; extremely long tannic roasted/herbal espresso pungent toasty blackberry complex finish; needs 3-10 yrs; probably the best Syrah ever made in Calif; LaLandonne/LaMouline quality lots of roasted Cote-Rotie character. And only $30.
   
   Musings.
   1. Wow..... what an incredible tasting of wines, probably the best one I've had this year. If there is any doubt that Calif is making world-class Syrahs of LaLandonne/LaMouline/Grange calibre; these wines should dispell those doubts. They're getting to be expensive, but their price/quality ratio versus their French/Aussie counterparts make them relative bargins. Why spend the $$$$ for GraceFamily/Opus/CaymusSpecRes Cabs when you can buy better wines in Syrah at half the price. Drink those Cabs if you're a wuss; real men drink Syrah.
   2. A bunch of newcomers (Andrew Murray, Jaffurs, Bedford-Thompson) are coming out of the starting block awfully fast. Names to watch. Some of the relative newcomers (Swanson, Alban Vnyds) keep getting better & better. But of the original Rhone-Rangers, Steve Edmunds and Bob Lindquist (Qupe) have pretty much left everyone in the dust. Four to six yrs ago, the Edmunds St.Johns often tended to be a little funky, a bit on the unclean and rustic side. But the last 3-4 yrs, his wines have been right on the money.
   And they just don't get any better than the Qupe. Not only does Bob Lindquist have great sources of grapes, he seems to have a better understanding of how to make these Rhone wines than anybody. It's sorta like looking at a fine piece of furniture; you can just tell when there is a fine craftsman behind it. The Hillside Syrah is pretty incredible stuff, but the BienNacidoReserve in no slouch of a wine either. Most of his BN Syrah comes from the main block down on the benchlands above the river. This new Hillside block comes from new plantings up on the brow of a hill southwest of the winery, probably some 300'-500' above the benchlands. Tough place to grow grapes but the quality of this wine convinced them to plant more and other varieties up there on the ridges. It will be exciting as these new vnyds come online. And to watch what he does w/ Ch. Routas.
   Other terrific Syrah producers are Truchard, Havens, Jade Mtn, Eberle, Zaca Mesa, Renwood. As more of their Sonoma vnyds come online, I expect good things from Cline. And Sean Thackery, in his own bizarre/eccentric style is still awfully good. Too bad Randal Graham, the original Rhone Ranger, doesn't have access to a good, sizeable source of Syrah.
   TomHill (ready to resign from ZAP and start up SAP!!)
   
   
   
   
   
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