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 Wines
We tasted last night a few Rhone wines:
Alain Graillot Crozes Hermitage Blanc (12.5%) '96: Med.gold color; stoney/earthy slight hazelnutts/fragrant/oaked nose; tart stoney/lean/earthy slight hazelnutty some metallic flavor; med.long tart stoney/earthy hazelnuts rather metallic finish; a rather austere lean stony white that probably needs a few yrs to show much.
Hug Cellars Central Coast Roussanne Alban Vineyard (15%) '96: Med.dark gold color; beautiful fragrant floral aromatic perfumy rather peachy/pear Viognier-like nose; soft fat glycerined spicy Viognier-like/pears strong tobaccoy/charred/oak slight bitter very lush/floral flavor; very long smokey/charred/toasty/oak very strong floral/perfumed/aromatic Viognier-like huge lush very glycerined slightly bitter finish that goes on and on; a bit alcoholic as it warms but a huge rich powerful floral Roussanne; almost Zind-Humbrecht in style; noticable charred oak but not out of balance w/ the powerful flavors; one of the best Roussannes I've had; not as minerally/complex as the Albans.
Tablas Hills Paso Robles White Wine Cuvee Blanc (Viognier/Roussanne; 13.5%; Frmtd in 3yr old Seguin-Moreau oak from '93 Beaucastel Roussanne) '96: Med. yellow/gold color; fragrant peachy/pears/Viognier bit minerally light oak nose; soft lush glycerined/minerally light peachy/Viognier flavor; med.short minerally/peachy/ Viognier light oaked earthy floral finish; lots of attractive Viognier character; very nicely made wine w/ nice touch of oak.
Tablas Hills Paso Robles Red Wine Cuvee Rouge (Grenache/Syrah/Mourvedre; 14.2%) '95: Med.color; bit smokey licorice spicy some plummy/black cherry rather CdR-like nose; tart lean hard astringent bit plummy/smokey flavor; med.short hard lean astringent low fruit/earthy finish; not enough fruit to age; a very interesting Rhone-like nose but unattractive on the palate..
Kalinda Mendocino Syrah Reserve '95: Med.dark color; med.strong blackberry/Syrah bit gamey/dusty/earthy Southern Rhone slight volatile nose; rather sour bretty earthy low fruit slight gamey/blackberry flavor; med.short astringent tannic quite sour some earthy/dusty finish; an OK nose but very unattractive on the palate; not worth even the $13.
Chapoutier La Bernardine Chateauneuf du Pape (13.8%) '95: Med.light color; light fragrant Grenache/strawberry slight earthy/roasted nose; soft light fragrant strawberry/Grenache bit roasted flavor; med.long light soft strawberry/Grenache some dusty/roasted/Southern Rhone finish w/ no tannins; a pretty little wine w/ some Rhone/roasted character, but just that. Not worth the $24.
Wynns Coonawarra Estate Coonawarra Shiraz Michael Lmtd.Release (13.0%) '93: Very dark color; very intense milky/Am.oaked plummy/minty/licorice intense blackberry/ Syrah pencilly/oak nose; intense blackberry/Syrah vanilla/milky/Am.oak/pencilly minty/licorice complex/structured/peppery flavor; very long hard tannic very intense blackberry/Syrah very vanilla/milky/Am.oak dusty/pencilly/peppery complex finish; loads of intense Shiraz & loads of intense Am.oak but lots of other things & good structure for aging for 5-15 yrs; some like the '95 Balmoral but more complex & structured. Easily worth the $35.
Chante-Perdrix St. Joseph La Madone '95: Dark color; very strong dusty/raosted Rhone peppery/spicy low fruit nose; tart rich dusty/earthy strong roasted/Rhone low fruit flavor; very long hard tannic dusty/roasted Rhone finish; needs 3-8 yrs; not a lot of fruit but lots of roasted/Rhone character; should develop into quite a good Rhone; worth $20.
Foxen Santa Ynez Valley Mourvedre RothbergVineyard (13.4%) '96: Med.dark color; very strong smokey/toasty/oaked dusty some plummy/black cherry/Mourvedre nose; tart hard strong toasty/pungent/smokey Fr.oaked some plummy/Mourvedre some Languedoc-like bit bretty/horsecollar flavor; long hard lean tannic very toasty/pungent/charred/oak some plummy/herbal/Mourvedre finish; needs 3-6 yrs; lots of taosty/oak and not a lot of fruit but has the structure to age.
Kynsi San Luis Obispo County Syrah (75% Lohr/SouthRidge PasoRobles, 25% Tepesquet/ Santa Maria Valley; 13.8%) '95: Dark color; bit toasty/oaked very fragrant peppery/ perfumed talc/spicy dusty some blackberry/Syrah nose; tart bit peppery/licorice/ pungent toasted/oak very spicy dusty complex flavor; very long hard tannic bit lean rather pungent/toasty/oak very peppery/spicy finish; needs 3-6 yrs; some like a Paso Syrah w/ structure; more Mozart & less Wagner character for Syrah; a very interesting unusual Syrah; great first effort; impressive; good value at $20.
Hug Cellars Central Coast Syrah (13%) '96: Med.dark color; rather skunky/burnt rubber pungent some smokey/gamey Syrah herbal nose clears some to a black cherry/ pungent/gamey Syrah nose; soft some black cherry/herbal rather pungent gamey spicy light oaked dusty flavor; med.long black cherry/herbal light Syrah fruit pungent finish w/ some tannins; a bit stinky but some interesting things therein; a rather peculiar rendition of Syrah some like a more intense McDowell Estate '95. Priced accordingly at $15.
Hug Cllrs Edna Valley Alban Vineyard Syrah (TW) '94: Very dark/black color; very intense pungent/smokey/charred oak rather bretty/horsecollar very gamey very intense blackberry/Syrah fruit dusty/smokey complex nose; very intense tannic pungent smokey pretty bretty/horsecollar/barnyardy very intense blackberry/Syrah smokey/ toasty flavor; very long intense blackberry/Syrah bretty/horsecollar/gamey pungent smokey finish; needs 5-15 yrs; lots of brett but that should eventually go away; loads & loads of intense blackberry/Syrah fruit; killer Syrah. This is how Beaucastel w/ make a CdP Syrah if they could.
Domaine Clavel La Copa Santa Coteaux du Languedoc (13%) '95: Very dark color; strong dusty/earthy some horsecollar/bretty low fruit nose; hard tannic dusty low fruit bit pungent flavor; med.long dusty/earthy rather bretty/horsecollar finish w/ ample tannins; a hard tannic austere Languedoc wine that needs age.
Edmunds St. John Sonoma Valley Syrah (12.5%) '89: Med.dark color; very spicy complex pungent/toasty/smokey oaked very peppery roasted burnt sealing wax licorice nose; tart bit lean beautiful complex peppery/pencilly/pungent/toasted Fr.oak licorice spicy/licorice complex flavor; very long lingering toasty/pungent/smokey Fr.oak very spicy peppery complex bit lean & drying out finish; probably ready to drink and as good as it's going to get; a beautiful complex oaked Syrah; really marvelous Syrah.
Neyers Napa Valley Syrah Hudson Vineyard/Carneros (14.4%) '95: Black color; intense earthy/plummy some dusty/blackberry/Syrah loads of toasty/Fr,oak licorice nose; hard tannic pungent licorice dusty bit gamey/blackberry/Syrah intense toasty/ pungent/smokey Fr.oak flavor; very long hard tannic licorice/pungent/smokey Fr.oak licorice/some blackberry/Syrah dusty/earthy finish; needs 4-10 yrs; a very classic Ehren Jordan style wine w/ lots of ripeness & lots of toasty Fr.oak.

And the usual pompous pronouncements from the bloody pulpit:
The Edmunds St. John was a terrific mature Calif Syrah; in great shape for a pretty dismal vintage. I recall this wine as being pretty unclean/horsecollar/barnyardy/ bretty when it was young; typical of Steve Edmunds wines then. No sign of that character remains in this wine.
Foxen & Mourvedre.... the Foxen winemaking style is sort of to obliterate the varietal & vnyd character and impose to Foxen style on the wines.... a style that I happen to like. But the Mourvedre character was pretty low key in this wine. But some of the Mourvedre character did come thru. What was interesting is that this wine came from the Rothberg Vnyd, just west of Buelton, a very cool growing area for Mourvedre. Much of the Calif Mourvedre thus far has come from Cline/Oakley area and displays a soft fatness character typical of wines from that area. As more and more Mourvedre plantings come on line from different and cooler areas, I think we're going to see some pretty exciting and interesting wines from this grape. This Foxen is one of those. Stay tuned.
Augie Hug.... met Augie at my visit to John Alban a month ago. He tasted us on the '94 Syrah & the '96 Roussanne. Both I liked a lot then.... but then you usually DO like a wine when you taste it w/ the winemaker.... so I was eager to try them, and the '96 Syrah, on my home turf. They did not disappoint.... in fact, tasted even better. The Roussanne is a killer white, a huge wine. Don't know how it will evolve in the bottle, but it's a killer now. A better Viognier than most other folks actual Viognier. As I've proclaimed before, Calif Roussanne is a grape to watch... especially if you like Zind-Humbrecht style of wines. And the '94 Syrah..... lots of brett in it... a character I kinda of like in Beaucastel as an interesting feature... but there's seldom the fruit to go along with it as in this '94. A few of my tasters grumbled a bit about the brett, but most found so much other stuff going on in this wine that they didn't mind. This too is a big huge extracted Syrah and, I expect, 10 yrs down the road is going to be a killer Syrah. We shall see. And the '96 Syrah.... Augie warned me that it was a much lighter Syrah than the '94; didn't seem to encourage me to try it. But I bought a bottle anyway. It's a bit on the unusal/strange side and a bit of stinky character to it; but I found some pretty interesting things in it. It'll be interesting to see how it ages; I expect the smells to go away. Most of the people in my tasting were not so forgiving of this wine; but I kanda liked it for its eccentricity.
The Kynsi Syrah was an impressive debut vintage; an unusual variation on Syrah that I really liked a lot, maybe a bit like some of the Eberle Fralich Syrah w/ more blackberry fruit to it. A new winery by a guy named Dan Othman up in Arroyo Grande, who invented a "Bullfrog" pump that is used to gently pump Pinot Noir (the mention of which launched this very spirited discussion on syphons, gravitational fields, and the like in the middle of the tasting.... only ONLY in Los Alamos (NM) .... where everyone's an expert on everything.... whether they know anything about the subject or not!!!!). He also has a Sanford & Benedict Chard that I tasted w/ Bob Senn last month and liked quite a great deal. A winery to watch.
The Tablas Hills pair.... these are the wines from the Perrin/Beaucastel folks up on the West Side in Paso Robles. The first releases a yr ago, under an Adelaida Hills label, were pretty unthrilling. These are much better wines, especially the Blanc. They seem to really be dragging their feet on the winery part of their operation up there. And I keep looking for the brett, but it's not there (yet). 6. One thing that really struck me, and several others about this tasting is that we're starting to see a real variety and spectrum of styles in Syrahs and Rhones from California. Styles from various regions and styles from different winemakers. This is why the California/Rhone are some of the most exciting wines around these days. And the WS and Parker are totally clueless to that fact!! Several yrs ago, I had a real problem trying to get my folks to come to a Calif Syrah/Rhone tasting I'd have to throw in some of the French stuff to entice them. Now, they seem to be more excited to taste Calif Rhones than Zinfandel... the times they are a changin'.