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.

 

California Rhones
Tasted some new California Rhones this week (4/28/98):
Navarro Mendocino Mourvedre (13.8%) '95: Med.color; raspberry fragrant light plummy licorice perfumed talc Fr.oaked nose; plummy/raspberry/licorice bit sour fragrant Burgundian Fr.oak flavor; med.long fragrant floral raspberry bit perfumed finish w/ light tannins; a nice drinking red but not much Mourvedre character.
Navarro Mendocino Petite Sirah (13.8%) '94: Med.dark color; deeper earthy/mushroomy pencilly Fr.oaked some fragrant nose; hard some tannic pungent low fruit bit licorice/Fr.oaked flavor; med.long hard tannic bit sour low fruit earthy/mushroomy finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; bit hard & lean; elegant/less clunky style of PS.
DeLoach Russian River Valley Petite Sirah Flagstaff Ranch (14.5%) '95: Dark color; very spicy fragrant blackberry toasty oaked rather Zin-like nose; tart spicy blackberry/ peppery toasty oak fragrant/aromatic flavor; long toasty/oaked buttery/milky very spicy blackberry/raspberry some dusty tannic finish; needs 2-5 yrs; lots of perfume and fragrance for PS; more Zin-like than PS. Good value at $18.00
Madrigal Napa Valley Petite Sirah (14%) '95: Black color; classic PS/peppery/earthy very dusty/old vines licorice/oaked nose; soft fat low fruit peppery/earthy quite tannic flavor; med.long very tannic peppery/PS low fruit finish; needs 3-8 yrs of age; a big fairly classic low fruit fat clunky PS.
Cristopher Creek Russian River Valley Petite Sirah (13.5%) '95: Very dark color; pungent burnt rubber bit stinky smokey/earthy nose; very soft fat rather pungent charred oak low fruit dusty flavor; med.short soft fat tannic earthy/pungent low fruit finish; needs age but probably going nowhere.
Collezione De Marchi L'Ermo Isole Olena Syrah Tuscan RTW (12.5%) '91: Very dark color; very strong corked nose; dusty earthy tannic musty very corked flavor; much too corked to tell anything.
Sobon Estate Calif Shenandoah Valley Syrah (13.5%) '96: Med.color; fragrant licorice oaked slight briary/Amador nose; tart light spicy bit licorice attractive fruity light briary flavor; med. spicy briary attractive fruity/licorice some oaked finish w/ light tannins; not very intense nor a lot of Syrah character but a pleasant attractive good drinking red. Good value at $8.60.
Navarro Mendocino Syrah (13.7%) '95: Med.dark color; fragrant raspberry Fr.toasty oaked/Burgundian nose; soft fragrant perfumed talc very spicy Fr.toasty oaked flavor; med.long spicy fragrant Burgundian/Fr.oaked raspberry finish w/ light tannins; nice drinking red; more Pinot than Syrah like. Good value; $14.00
Columbia Crest Columbia Valley Syrah Reserve (13.0%) '95: Med.dark color; fragrant dusty smokey pungent oaked some gamey/bacon fat nose; tart bit chocolaty/blueberry spicy oaked smokey bit herbal/gamey flavor; med.long spicy blueberry/chocolaty slight gamey/Syrah finish w/ light tannins; not a lot of Syrah nor WashState character but an interesting red; not worth $17.00
Meridian Vineyards Paso Robles Syrah (13.2%) '96: Dark color; fairly strong blackberry/ Syrah plummy fragrant fruit bit gamey/licorice nose; soft blackberry/Syrah licorice lush slight earthy flavor; med.long lush Syrah/blackberry chocolaty plummy slight gamey finish w/ some tannins; needs a yr or two of age; great value for $10.80.
Renard Napa Valley Syrah Arroyo Vineyard (13.7%) '95: Very dark color; some bretty/horse collar dusty strong blackberry/Syrah menthol/oaked complex nose; tart ripe rather strong horsecollar/bretty/unclean dusty some blackberry/Syrah flavor; med.long fairly intense blackberry/Syrah very bretty/horsecollar/unclean finish w/ some tannins; bit too bretty & unclean but will get better w/ some 3-6 yrs of age; a very interesting Syrah from a new producer.
Turnbull Napa Valley Oakville Syrah (14%) '95: Dark color; intense menthol licorice chocolaty smokey/pungent/oaked dusty blackberry/Syrah complex nose; soft rich mouthfilling chocolaty smokey/menthol/pungent oaked dusty ripe blackberry/Syrah flavor; very long dusty menthol/toasty/oaked smokey/pungent strong blackberry/Syrah finish w/ fair tannins; needs 3-7 yrs; loads of new Fr.oak & lots of rich Syrah flavor; will be a great Syrah w/ age.
Truchard Carneros NapaValley Syrah (14.3%) '96: Very dark color; intense blackberry/ Syrah licorice/grapey bit dusty/oaked nose; tart fairly rich dusty blackberry/Syrah some pencilly/toasty/oak flavor; long tart blackberry/Syrah dusty rather tannic light toasty/oaked finish; needs 2-6 yrs; another very good Truchard.
Neyers Napa Valley Syrah Lee Hudson Vnyd (14.4%) '96: Black color; very fragrant blackberry/Syrah intense licorice gamey/Syrah very pungent/smokey/Fr.oaked complex nose; tart rich mouthfilling very intense blackberry/blueberry/Syrah roasted/charred toasty/oak bit gamey/complex/espresso/dusty huge flavor; very long some menthol very charred/toasty/pungent/oaked dusty intense blackberry/Syrah tannic complex finish; needs 4-12 yrs; bigger & richer but less hard/tannic than the '95; a killer Syrah; fairly priced at $31.50
River Run Monterey County Ventana Vineyard (12.6%) Syrah '95: Very dark color w/ a strange blue/grey cast to it; intense walnutty dusty earthy herbal some smokey/espresso roasted very charred/oak bit vegetal/brussel sprout nose; very tart herbal intense charred/oak roasted espresso walnutty bit CoteRotie-like some vegetal/eccentric flavor; long very dusty/walnutty very charred/oaked espresso/roasted herbal/vegetal finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-5 yrs age; a very eccentric Syrah that most people disliked but I found some rather interesting things in this wine and sort of liked the stuff for its weirdness.
Glass Mountain Napa Valley Petite Sirah '90: Black color; strong dusty/earthy some licorice/ pungent bit volatile nose; soft fat tannic earthy/dusty little fruit slight black cherry rather oaked flavor; med.short tannic dusty/earthy low fruit slight licorice/ hot finish; a rather clunky PS that's drying out some; good value

Lots to say but nothing profound from today's bloody pulpit:
The Neyers Syrah '96 is a killer Syrah. Definitely moves Bruce Neyers/Ehren Jordan up into the top tier of Calif Rhone producers. I liked the '95 a lot but thought it rather hard & tannic & a bit lean & a bit low on Syrah fruit. This '96 has it all; huge structure but loads of intense Syrah fruit to carry it for the long term.
The Truchard Syrah '96..... back much more to the form of the '93-'94 Truchards, w/ perhaps a bit more fruit. The '95 Truchard was their intensest yet and had a smack o' the brett in it that made it a very interesting Syrah; my favorite Syrah from Truchard thus far. I was surprised to not find the brett in the '96, so not as interesting to me, but still great up-front Syrah. Another Truchard winner.
Carneros Syrah..... this is Pinot/Chardonnay/Riesling country and the traditional folklore would have it that it's too cool for a warm variety like Syrah. Fortunately grapegrowers are a lot like teenage daughters & don't listen to nooone. The Syrah coming out of Carneros (Truchard, Durell,Hudson vnyds) is producing some pretty interesting & stunning wines. I spent over an hour a few weeks ago visiting w/ Bruce Neyers, mostly on Rhone stuff, both Calif & French. He described Lee Hudson as a bit of a maverick, hence the Syrah he's growing. He also has some Mourvedre & Grenache in the works, plus some Viognier & Rousanne, too. A vnyd that's worth watching. Doug Danilac (sp??) at Jade Mtn also makes Syrah from Hudson Vnyd. His '95 is not as big & extracted as Bruce Neyers was, but nonetheless quite good. Their '96 Syrah has not yet been released.
The Navarro Rhones..... this is Ted Bennett's first real foray into the Rhone field. They are nicely done reds at very reasonable prices. They don't speak much of the varieties themselves but more of the Navarro winemaking style; very Pinot Noir like more elegant style than big rich extracted Rhone style. Good wines of that style.
The Meridian Syrah '96..... this would be the first crop from the original Estrella River Vnyds site that had to be replanted due to phyloxera. Good Syrah character, nothing profound, great drinking.... and a very very good price. Those folks at Meridian (Chuck Ortman) do a really good job in their market niche.
Petite Sirah...... still doesn't jazz me as a varietal. The DeLoach was unusually fragrant for PS. The David Cofarros are always very fragrant aromatic ones, but w/ lots of other stuff therein. PS on its own just simply doesn't have the fruit to go w/ all the color and tannins. Needs to be blended or co-fermented w/ something more aromatic. I would think PS and Sangiovese would be very complementary... but it'd drive the marketing folks off-scale.