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.

 

Syrahs/ Aussie Shiraz
Tasted a few Calif Syrahs/ Aussie Shiraz last week:
Rosemount GSM (Grenache/Syrah/Mourvedre) '94: Deep fragrant berry/cassis/ oaked/dusty nose; soft very lush ripe strawberry/berry/cassis/earthy flavor; long lush spicy/berry/cassis/strawberry light oaked finish w/ light tannins; a really nice drinking interesting Grenache.
Penfolds Bin 389 SA Cabernet/Shiraz '94: Rather herbal/very dusty/earthy oaked licorice nose; soft rather herbal/dusty Cab fairly Am.oaked flavor; long very herbal/dusty Cab oaked finish w/ some tannins, needs several yrs; quite herbal & dusty but interesting.
Dehlinger Russian River Valley Syrah '94: Very fragrant some Syrah blackberry some toasty Fr. oaked nose; soft bit tannic light fragrant blackberry/Syrah toasty oaked very spicy flavor; long rather tannic very aromatic spicy toasty Fr. oaked light blackberry finish; needs 2-6 yrs; a wonderful aromatic spicy racy sort of Syrah.
Truchard Carneros Syrah '95: Intense pungent smokey bit H2S/sewer gas/stinky strong licorice/Syrah/blackberry nose; rich pungent very smokey charred oak toasty blackberry Syrah bit earthy/fecal flavor; long very charred oak/toasty pungent smokey bit earthy ripe blackberry finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-5 yrs; a bit stinky but big & rich; best Truchard Syrah yet.
Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna SA Shiraz '94: Strong dill/aromatic/toasty/vanilla/ licorice smokey complex light fruit nose; soft fat rich toasty pungent very vanilla/oaked smokey/chocolaty/licorice flavor; long fat soft licorice smokey oaked dusty/earthy finish w/ light tannins; pretty nice & interesting but just that; doesn't seem as good as the '93.
Penfolds Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz '94: Very strong Am.oaked spicy bit more subtle very peppery/Shiraz nose; bit leaner & more spicy/peppery/tarter rather aromatic/oaked flavor; med. long tarter very spicy/peppery some Shiraz/berry finish w/ light tannins; less porky & more zippy than the Kalimna.
Penfolds St. Henri SA Shiraz '93: Intense pungent chocolaty oaked peppery/ smokey blackberry nose; very rich/peppery/blackberry licorice/oaked very spicy/perfumey flavor; very long lush blackberry/smokey/peppery/oaky pungent Shiraz very spicy finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-6 yrs; a big rich soft pungent Aussie Shiraz; best of these Penfolds.
Bonny Doon Santa Cruz Moutain Syrah (Last Crop) '94: Very dusty/walnutty/smokey/ pungent low fruit rather strange/salt marsh nose; tart very walnutty/very dusty some salt marsh/earthy/truffly tannic flavor; long very dusty/walnutty earthy/SCM rough tannic finish w/ ample tannins; needs 4-8 yrs; very strange stuff w/ little Syrah fruit but a very interesting SCM/rustic wine.
Rosemount McLaren Vale Reserve Shiraz '94: Intense fragrant berry/Shiraz licorice bright aromatic classic Rosemount nose; tart spicy raspberry/ fragrant blackberry zippy flavor; med.long very bright raspberry Shiraz finish w/ light tannins; a bright spicy berry aromatic Syrah but lacks depth and not terrible profound.
Rosemount Mountain Blue Mudgee Shiraz/CS '94: Deep blackberry chocolaty very ripe more complex/chocolaty blackberry/Zin-like some oaked nose; tart rich ripe blackberry some dusty old vines chocolaty light oaked flavor; long ripe blackberry licorice tannic oaked finish; needs 3-8 yrs; a classic bright rich ripe aromatic aromatic Rosemount but w/ good structure; not as deep & profound as the Balmoral but very very good.
Tria Sonoma County Syrah '95: Fragrant very spicy some pungent/licorice rather spicy/ Burgundian-like cinammon nose; tart very spicy rich blackberry Fr.oaked taosty flavor; long tart spicy bright blackberry minty/menthol oaked bit Zinberry finish w/ light tannins; a rather Burgundian-style aromatic bit lean rather zippy Syrah.
Edmunds St. John California Syrah (Durrell/Sonoma + ElDorado grapes) '95: Black color; beautiful lush licorice/blackberry oaked Rhone-like bit roasted/ pungent/leathery nose; rich full mouthfilling pungent espresso coffee smokey menthol oaked deep blackberry dusty flavor; very long pungent smokey dusty blackberry/Syrah espresso coffee spicy finish w/ some tannins; needs a few yrs; a big deep complex interesting Syrah w/ good Rhone character; a classic Steve Edmunds Syrah and worth every bit of $16.
Bonny Doon Santa Barbara County Bien Nacido Vineyard Syrah '95: Black color; intense pungent roasted C-R-like dusty/cassis/blackberry aromatic smokey very intense Syrah nose; tart rich intense blackberry/Syrah some dusty/toasty oaked bit roasted/earthy flavor; very long lush ripe blackberry/dusty/very spicy toasty oaked pungent tannic finish; needs 5-15 yrs; stunning stuff w/ loads of blackberry Syrah fruit; in the class of the Qupe Hillside and Ojai Bien Nacido Syrahs; probably Randall's best red wine ever made.
Qupe Santa Barbara County Bien Nacido Reserve Syrah '95: Very dark color; slight dishwater/pungent clears to intense blackberry Syrah/perfumed aromatic light menthol/oaked/roasted nose; tart rich extracted intense blackberry/Syrah some smokey/roasted/menthol oaked flavor; very long lingering intense blackberry Syrah loads of fruit light dusty/roasted finish w/ fair tannins; needs 3-10 yrs; the best BN Reserve Syrah from Bob yet; run don't walk to your nearest Rhonish merchant & scarf this up at $25.
Robert Michelas Cornas Les Murettes '90: Beautiful roasted/C-R/Northern Rhone very roasted/espresso/ cigar smoke/pungent nose; lean mature bacon fat roasted/espresso/burnt sealing wax/gamey/ dusty northern Rhone flavor; very long roasted pungent burnt sealing wax bacon fat finish w/ light tannins; very atypival Cornas & more like a mature C-R; a steal at $16.50
Wynn's Coonawarra Estate Michael Shiraz Limited Release '94: Black color; very intense eucalyptus/menthol/minty oaked/Cheracol/black cherry cola/ cough syrup nose; soft intense cough syrup/very intense eucalyptus/menthol oaked ripe lush blackberry flavor; very long lush intense minty/menthol/ eucalyptus oaked ripe blackberry finish w/ fair tannins; a classic Aussie Shiraz maybe a bit overdone onthe eucalyptus/oak; a Grange wannabe; too bad about the price; better than the new Balmoral.

A few comments from the soapbox:
An absolutely killer tasting. The perfect example of why Calif/Aussie/Rhone Syrah/Shiraz is where it's at these days. Big rich profound wines ageable wines at what I consider emminently fair prices for this quality. Sorry, but this is a market that Zin can no longer compete with.
Steve Edmunds, Bob Lindquist, and Adam & Helen Tolmach are clearly the masters of Syrah in Calif. World class winemakers. Robert Parker would label them "genuis" winemakers, if'n he had a clue about them. The Edmunds St.John Calif '95 is terrific stuff & a real value. His '95 Durrell will be out this Fall & it's a killer. The Qupe BN Reserve '95 is probably Bob's best one yet. A bit toned down on the oak from previous yrs & more of the roasted/smokey Rhone character than ever before. His Calif Syrah '95 at $12.... well it's dishonest to by that wine at that price!! And his Hillside Select '95 this Fall may, again, be Calif's best Syrah yet.
The Bonny Doon BN Syrah '95 is stunning stuff. It's great to see Randall back amongst the great Syrah producers in Calif. Hopefully, he'll get more BN Syrah in the future. There was only a tiny tiny amount of this that never made it beyound the DEWN program. Alas & alack... I squandered my only bottle on my tasting group!! :-)
The Dehlinger Syrah '94 was wonderful stuff, probably their best one yet... and the recent '95 is supposedly even better. Their Syrahs in the past have seemed to taste like a Pinot producer monkeying around w/ Syrah. This wine indicates they've figured it all out.
NB: The Viognier Guild will be doing their (5'th?) Festival July 19 at Eberle Wnry this yr. Brochures should be out any day now (right... Matt?). I understand that they have broadened to scopy this yr to include more than just Viognier, but more Rhone-style wines. Call Matt Garettson at Eberle Wnry (805/238-9607) for a brochure. It promises to be a great event. I plan to be there, for what that's worth!
Tom Hill (preping for to try his Turleys tomorrow)