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.

 

Red Rhones
Tasted a few Red Rhones last night:
Dom. St.Laurent CdR Cuvee de la Tamardiere '90: Dusty earthy meaty Rhone nose; soft earthy dusty bit roasted bit metallic Rhone flavor; med.long bit unclean/bretty rather earthy/dusty finish w/ light tannins; a rather interesting tasty CdR w/ some character.
La Plaiade CdR (Reynaud) '94: Med.light color; light fragrant strawberry/ Grenache light oak nose; light tart simple strawberry/Grenache flavor; short tart simple strawberry finish w/ little tannins; a rather light simple fruity Grenach; disappointing for $18.
Dom. de Fontenille Cotes du Luberon '93: Strong roasted smokey sausage complex Rhone bit plummy nose; soft bit dilute light roasted Rhone flavor; short soft bit washed out plummy/roasted Rhone finish w/ little tannins; beautiful nose but not much on the palate.
Dom. La Bouissiere Gigondas (Faraval) '91: Rather deep fragrant smokey deep fruit plummy nose; soft rich meaty dusty/earthy light roasted flavor; long dusty/earthy soft fat smokey finish w/ light tannins; pretty nice drinking Rhone.
La Chasseliere Crozes-Hermitage (Robt.Michelas) '91: Attractive roasted smokey Rhone bit blackberry fruit nose; soft strong pungent roasted vanilla/ oaked dusty flavor; med.long light roasted dusty pungent licorice smokey finish w/ light tannins. Very attractive Rhone for $13.
Paul Jaboulet Crozes Hermitage Dom. de Thalabert '94: Rather funky-stinky- bit fecal pungent some fruity nose; soft earthy meaty dusty bit thin flavor; med.long bit unclean earthy/dusty bit stinky finish w/ light tannins; some interesting character but not worth the Wine Spectator writeup.
Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage '94: Very dark color; deep pungent smokey roasted Rhone Cote-Rotie-like toasty oaked nose; tart very smokey toasty oak roasted bit thin good C-R-like flavor; med.long smooth smokey pungent roasted finish w/ light tannins; great nose more like C-R than Hermitage but a bit light on the palate. Great value @ $16.
Trollat Raymond St. Joseph '91: Dark color; earthy dusty charred herbal chamisa/cat pee almost plastic/hybridy nose; tart herbal metallic plastic strange thin lean flavor; tart metallic plastic finish w/ dreadful wet dog fur/oxidation finish; very strange very un-Rhonish stuff.
Lyliane Saugere Hermitage Les Cotes des Signeurs '90: Very dark color; deep earthy dusty raw meat some roasted classic Hermitage nose; soft rich bit roasted earthy smokey flavor; long smokey earthy pungent classic Hermitage finish w/ light tannins; pretty drinkable; a beautiful Hermitage nose but not quite the punch on the palate.
Ferraton La Cuvee des Miaux Hermitage '90: Dark color; very very dusty rather earthy little fruit nose; soft bit thin dusty roasted smokey meaty flavor; very long very dusty/walnutty rather roasted bit thin finish w/ light tannins; rather lacking fruit but rather interesting. Not worth the $45.
Paul Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle '94: Very dark color; beautiful meaty pungent some roasted Rhone some oaked rather lush fruity nose; soft rich lush fruit spicy meaty pungent smooth round bit tannic flavor; very long meaty blackberry Syrah lush pungent some oaked finish w/ some tannins; needs some 3-6 yrs; very Calif in style; good stuff but not worth $52.
Ch. Rayas Chat du Pape '94: Med.dark color; rather dusty light smokey earthy pungent some oaked nose; tart spicy fragrant light forward fruity light oaked flavor; med.long tart very spicy fragrant light smokey finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; nicly done interesting CdP but way overpriced at $69. The wine of a genuis?..... don't think so!!
Jasmin Cote-Rotie '94: Dark color; rather dusty some roasted smokey spicy oaked nose; soft light spicy light roasted C-R flavor; very short spicy oaked light roasted finish w/ little tannins; overpriced @ $33.
Daniel & Roland Vernay Grand Place Cote-Rotie '94: Very dark color; deep smokey roasted some pungent complex fairly classic C-R nose; soft lush spicy bit tannic light roasted-smokey flavor; med.long tannic some smokey raisted pungent finish; very nice fairly classic C-R nose but lacks omphh on the palate; disappointing for $36.

The '94 vintage is being given good marks, folowwing two pretty grim yrs, in the Rhone. This bunch of wines, including some of the heavy hitters, certainly didn't show that, Some very nice noses, but they lacked much structure or impact on the palate. We'll try some more.
Some pretty good wines here, but any number of Calif Syrahs would have blown them away, not to mention some of the Aussie Shirazs. Recently had the Edmunds St.John Durell '95 Syrah & it's a killer, his best one yet I would guess. A Fall release around $25-$30. 3. Santa Barbara Syrahs next week.
TomHill (heretic on the Rhone/Syrah kick)







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