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. California Roussanne
   Tasted a few Calif Roussannes last night:
   Market White Central Coast Roussanne (Alc:14%); P&B for LosOlivos Wine& Spirits Emporium by Alban Vnyds; '94: Med. dark gold color; very strong toasty smokey pungent gunpowder; rich toasty oaked pungent smokey lush glycerined ripe fruit complex flavor; very long smokey pungent toasty oaked lush ripe mouthfilling finish; not unlike an old Chave Hermitage Blanc; a bit close to oxidized & pushed to the brink by heavy toasted charred oak; like some of the old (ca. 1970) David Bruce Chards & Rieslings; a bit eccentric but very interesting wine that I liked a lot; well priced at $15... if you like it.
   Alban Vineyards Edna Valley Alban Estate Roussanne (Alc:13%) '95: Med. dark gold color; very intense pungent charred oak smokey bit skunky/H2S nose; tart rich very pungent charred/toasty oaked very ripe fruit slightly bitter flavor; very long lingering glycerined smokey charred toasty oaked pungent spicy cinammon & cloves lush fruit finish; needs several yrs of age; again much like an old Chave Hermitage; a wine pushed to the brink; some were put off by the smells of a very annoyed skunk in the nose but I didn't find it offensive & suspect it will diminish with some bottle age; again a very interesting complex wine; pricey at $32.
   Qupe Edna Valley Alban Vineyard Roussanne (Alc: Bob's usual 12.5%!!) '95: Med. gold color; beautiful fragrant aromatic smokey very spicy-spicy sausage complex slight gunpowder nose; intense very rich lush pungent cloves very spicy exotic aromatic flavor; very long lush very spicy complex some smokey pungent light oaked very lingering finish; wonderful exotic stuff.
   Andrew Murray Vineyards Santa Barbara County (Alc:13.5%) Roussanne '95: Med. gold color; incredible very aromatic very spicy slight Viognier/peachy some smokey/ PinotGris perfumy nose; tart rich intense very perfumed very spicy exotic light smokey peachy/grapefruity slightly bitter flavor; very long lingering pungent smokey light peachy aromatic very ripe mouthfilling very glycerined finish; bit tarter & leaner than the Qupe; incredible wine.
   
   Musings.
   The two Alban-made wines were wines pushed to the limit, some thought over the edge. They reminded me a lot of the David Bruce Chards & Rieslings of the late '60's & early '70's that were very heavily oaked and borderline oxidized, sorta old before their time, but that actually lasted well for 10-15 yrs and were extraordinarily interesting & exotic, nay bizarre wines. Some would say the Albans are too heavily oaked & the Roussanne fruit is obliterated by the toasty/charred oak. I thought they were extremely interesting wines and not unlike some of the old Chave Hermitage Blancs I've had, but much more ripe fruit & w/o that underlying earthy/stoney character the Chaves seem to have. In general, I've been finding the Alban wines keep getting better & better the last few yrs.
   The Qupe & Andrew Murray wines were incredible exotic stuff. Both very intense, as one would expect from the '95 vintage in SantaBarbara Cnty, where the yields were pitifully small. They have a very light hand w/ the oak but seem to have an inherrent smokey/pungent quality, not unlike some Alsatian PinotGris. Loaded with exotic perfumey fruit, but with the acidity & structure that will probably allow them to age for 10-15 yrs, perhaps.
   So....... Calif Roussanne, what is it? Many of the ones released thus far have had other varieties blended in (Bonny Doon LeSophiste) are seemed to be from over-yielded crops. These 4 were the first Calif Roussannes that really impressed me.... and they were mind-boggling. They seem to have many of the same exotic aromatics of Viognier but w/o the blatant, blowsey, Dolly Parton-like character of Viognier. And they have the richness & texture & structure of great Chard that will permit them to age well. Jancis Robinson's new Grape Varieties book label Roussanne as a variety that often needs some age to show well. Probably she's right.
   Some of the Calif Marsannes have been pretty nice wines; particularly the Qupes seem to keep getting better, but they have thus far struck me as a bit clunky & not that much different from Chard. Many of the Calif Viogniers have been very exotic-perfumy wines but often a bit erratic in character & often lacking structure. I would go out on a limb & claim that Roussanne is another variety that will someday make great/ world-class white wine in Calif. Unfortunately, it will probably only remain a niche market because there is no Burgundy/Bordeaux counterpart to attract the Wine Spectator's bleating flock of sheep. Who know's, maybe the WS will even discover Roussanne, annoint as Calif next great wine, in a few yrs, and a market may develop.
   
   
   
   
   
   
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