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.

 

Rhone/Syrah
Tasted some Rhone/Syrahs:
Domaine Vieux Telegraphe CD Pinot Blanc (14%) '95: Med.gold color; fragrant honey- suckle/almondy bit smokey/pungent/earthy nose; soft fat bit sour/earthy/ metallic low fruit slight stoney/Chablis-like flavor; long lean metallic bit sour stoney/earthy finish; very attractive nose but not a whole lot of flavor on the palate.
Chapoutier Chante-Aloutte Hermitage (13.8%; 100% Marsanne) '95: Med.gold color; really lovely fragrant aromatic Viognier-like spicy bit bacon fat nose soft rich very lush/glycerined spicy/aromatic perfumed/earthy floral flavor; very long lingering very glycerined buttery floral/aromatic bit stoney finish that goes on and on; a beautiful aromatic Marsanne.
Qupe Edna Valley Alban Vineyard Rousanne (14.3%) '96: Med.gold color; very aromatic perfumed Viognier-like very spicy toasty Fr.oaked bit volatile nose; soft toasty Fr.oaked very floral/perfumed aromatic slightly hot flavor; very long Fr.oaked/toasty very floral/aromatic/spicy perfumed bit hot finish; much like his Chard but w/ a very exotic spicy/floral character.
Edmunds St John Les Cotes Sauvages California RTW (14.2%; Grenache & Syrah from Sonoma & Mendocino, Mourvedre from Mayacamas Hills in Napa) '95: Dark color; strong smokey pungent dusty toasty Fr.oaked plummy/earthy some strawberry fragrant nose; tart spicy/dusty/earthy/pungent bit plummy smokey toasty Fr. oaked spicy flavor; med.long pungent/toasty dusty/plummy Mourvedre smokey bit alcoholic finish w/ some tannins; a very interesting very spicy blend w/ lots of Rhone character; needs a yr or two.
Chapoutier Gigondas (13.5%) '95: Med.dark color; fragrant aromatic very strawberry Grenache dusty bit roasted Southern Rhone nose; tart rich dusty roasted pungent licorice SouthernRhone some strawberry flavor; med.short dusty/pungent smokey/Rhone some strawberry finish w/ light tannins; a nice drinking Southern Rhone example.
Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe (14%) '95: Dark color; very strong aromatic very strawberry/Grenache floral very fruity slight dusty some oaked nose; soft lush floral/strawberry Grenache very spicy bit dusty flavor; med.long soft lush dusty Grenache/strawberry earthy finish w/ light tannins; a very Calif style of CdP w/ lots of Grenache fruit & not much structure.
Qupe Central Coast Syrah (12.5%) '95: Med.color; lovely ripe blackberry/Syrah strong pencilly/oaked raw meat spicy pungent some roasted nose; soft rich pungent dusty pencilly/oaked very spicy blackberry/black cherry cola almost Burgundian flavor; very long pungent/toasty pencilly oaked blackberry/cola finish w/ some tannins; really nice drinking w/ some BienNacido Reserve character.
Qupe Central Coast Syrah (13.3%) '96: Med.dark color; lush ripe strong black- berry Syrah some pencilly/toasty oaked nose; tarter spicy blackberry/Syrah black cherry cola lots of fruit bit lighter/simpler flavor; med.long lush spicy blackberry/Syrah black cherry ripe slight toasty/oaked finish w/ light tannins; lots of Syrah fruit; bit lighter than the '95 was at this point.
Elyse Napa Valley Syrah (12.9%) '94: Very dark color; very intense dill/Am.oak some licorice/pungent Syrah nose; soft intense dill/Am.oaked lush licorice slight blackberry/Syrah flavor; long soft very strong Am.oaked/dill some licorice/pungent finish w/ light tannins; lots of oak that overwhelms the fruit; more like Zin than Syrah.
Havens Carneros Syrah (13.8%) '95: Black color; intense blackberry Syrah some toasty/Fr.oaked slight bretty/unclean/horse collar nose; soft rich pungent blackberry/Syrah loads of fruit toast/oaked bit brett/unclean flavor; very long ripe blackberry Syrah some dusty/toasty oaked some bretty/unclean finish w/ fair tannins; needs several yrs; bit unclean but just enough to make it interesting/bit Rhonish.
Chapoutier Cornas (12.7%) '95: Dark color; very strong roasted/Rhone/ espresso pungent/smokey nose; tart lighter very strong pungent very roasted NorthernRhone pungent flavor; very long very roasted/espresso light tannic finish; lots of roasted/NorthernRhone character but a bit on light side.
Ojai Vineyard Santa Barbara County Bien Nacido Vineyard Syrah (13%) '95: Black color; very intense essence of blackberry Syrah pungent toasty licorice cassis almost young Port-like (but not alcoholic) nose; rich mouthfilling very intense cassis/ essence of blackberry/Syrah pungent/dusty/licorice tannic flavor; very long lingering very intense tannic extracted mouthfilling blackberry/cassis dusty/pungent bit roasted finish; a huge extracted essence of Syrah almost bizarre wine; will last 10-20 yrs; lots of character like a young Porto w/o the alcohol; incredible wine; $24.50
Qupe Santa Barbara County Bien Nacido Hillside Estate Syrah (13.5%) '95: Near black color; very intense blackberry/Syrah some roasted/pungent/pencilly oaked slight herbal/volatile nose; rich tannic intense blackberry strong pungent/toasty pencilly Fr.oaked bit roasted some herbal flavor; very long lingering intense blackberry/Syrah toasty/pungent bit roasted pencilly/oaked bit herbal finish w/ ample tannins; needs 5-15 yrs; not quite as intense as the '94 & a bit more oak; incredible stuff.
Edmunds St. John Sonoma Valley Durell Vineyard Syrah (14.4%) '95: Black color; very intense very pungent smokey toasted oaked intense blackberry licorice dusty some roasted/Rhone nose; very intense tannic dusty/roasted/pungent toasty Fr.oak earthy rather Rhone-like flavor; very long very intense blackberry/ Syrah toasty/pungent slight roasted/Rhone dusty/earthy finish w/ample tannins; needs 10-20 yrs; wowser!!

And from the bloody pulpit:
The last 3 Syrahs are pretty incredible Syrahs... truly world-class wines that are of the quality (but different) to La Landonne/La Mouline and Grange and La Chappelle. There was no consensus among my people which was the best of the three. Many preferred the Ojai but I thought it was so intense Syrah fruit and exotic that it bordered on the bizarre (but NOT over the edge). The resemblance between the Ojai & the Qupe was obvious; the Qupe seemed to have a bit more monkeying around in the cellar with it than the Ojai. I slightly preferred the EdStJ Durell because it had a bit more roasted/Rhonish character to it. But choosing atwixt the three was a futile effort; I rated them all a perfect 10/10. And, of course, my people were all lamenting the fact they didn't buy more.
The Qupe Central Coast Syrahs are such beautiful wines and a real steal in the $10-$14 price range (as is the Ojai Calif). They seem to change a lot in the first yr after their release & start to show more of their PasoRobles fruit and more pungency. And they actually age quite well for 5-8-10 yrs in my experience.
Syrah is supposed to be a warm-climate grape; but it seems to do extra- ordinaly well in cool climate areas, like BienNacido (Pinot/Chard country) and the Carneros. I'm continually impressed by the Carneros ones (where Durell Vnyd is located). The Havens '95 is easily their best one yet; some found it a bit bretty, but I thought it at a low enough level that it gave it an interesting/Rhonish (and brett is, of course, why we all like Rhone wines!!) character.
The Chapoutier Chante-Alouette is a most lovely fragrant aromatic wine, one of the best Hermitage Blancs I've had. And at 100% Marsanne, gives me some hope for that grape in Calif. Most of the ones I've had (Qupe probably being the best of them) have been a bit on the clunky and Chard wannabe side. I expect they'll figure it out out there. The Calif Rousannes have been quite impressive; very fragrant aromatic whites. The Qupe has been more Viognier-like than his Viognier is to me. A grape w/ a lot of potential out there.
It's tastings like these that's exactly the reason I'm bailing out of the Zin market (I know.... heresy!!) w/ such fervor. To pay for nice Zins in the $40 price range (we should break the $50/btl barrier in '98 I predict) when you can get truly world-class Syrah... truly great wines that will age... is.... well, sorta stupid!! I hope they won't revoke my ZAP member- ship for this.
A round of the clap to Steve Edmunds, Bob Lindquist, Adam Tolmach for making such stunning wines. And a special thanks to Gary Eberle for getting this all started up at Estrella River. He does not get the credit he deserves for mnaking the first truly good Syrah in Calif. Joseph Phelps was there first, but it took them some 10 yrs to really figure it out.