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 Calif Rhones w/ my SantaFe tasting group Monday at Larry Archibald's:

Qupe Los Olivos Cuvee (60% Syrah, 40% Mourvedre) '89: Med.color; ripe Pinot-like cherry fragrant bit dusty/earthy slight bretty nose; tart bit earthy/dusty light cherry flavor; med.long cherry/earthy/dusty some bretty finish; very much like a mature French redburg w/ lots of cherry tones; in great shape and fully mature.
Qupe Los Olivos Cuvee '91: Med.dark color; fragrant black cherry/pencilly/toasty oak slight earthy/mushroomy nose; soft cherry/pencilly/toasty oak flavor; long pencilly/toasty bright cherry finish w/ light tannins; a very elegant fragrant wine much like an oaked Russian River Valley Pinot; lovely wine.
Qupe Central Coast Syrah '95: Med.dark color; dusty/earthy some blackberry/ black cherry bit funky nose; tart spicy black cherry/blackberry some earthy/ dusty flavor; long light blackberry/black cherry dusty/earthy/funky finish w/ light tannin; interesting Syrah but fruit has slipped into the background from a yr ago.
Qupe Central Coast Syrah '92: Dark color; strong toasty/Fr.oak black cherry dusty fairly complex nose; tart slight dusty/earthy toasty/Fr.oak some black cherry/blackberry mushroomy flavor; long tart light blackberry rather toasty/ Fr.oak dusty finish w/ light tannins; still a good solid tasty Syrah & no signs of fading at all.
Ojai Santa Barbara County Bien Nacido (HillSide block) Syrah '95: Black color; very intense/extracted blackberry/black cherry/Syrah bit stemmy/dusty nose; hard tannic rich mouthfilling/extracted very blackberry/Syrah some toasty/oaked flavor; very long extracted/tannic huge blackberry/black cherry very spicy toasty/oaked finish w/ ample tannins; this wine has gone NOWHERE in the last yr; a huge extracted Syrah that needs much age.
Henschke Mt. Eddlestone Keystone Shiraz '92: Very dark color; very intense toasty/pencilly/ minty/menthol oaked rather dusty/ripe black cherry/cherry cola nose; soft tannic very ripe very toasty/pencilly/milky/Am.oaked blackberry/ dusty/old vines flavor; very long very toasty/pungent/Am.oaked finish w/ ample tannins; very ripe & loaded w/ oak but a solid core of Shiraz fruit.
Qupe Bien Nacido Reserve Syrah '95: Med.dark color; intense black cherry rather toasty/Fr.oaked dusty nose; fairly rich hard dusty intense blackberry/Syrah/ black cherry pretty toasty/Fr.oaked flavor; very long tannic/hard strong blackberry/black cherry/Syrah very toasty/Fr.oaked finish w/ ample tannins; still a big rich Syrah that needs another 3-8 yrs; young wine.
Qupe Bien Nacido Reserve Syrah '94: Very dark color; intense black cherry/black berry/Syrah fairly oaky/toasty/Fr.oaked rather spicy/peppery nose; rather hard tannic black cherry/blackberry/dusty spicy/gamey/peppery toasty/smokey/pungent/ Fr.oaked flavor; very long toasty/smokey/Fr.oaked strong black cherry/Syrah finish w/ fair tannins; bit more complex/spicy but still a young Syrah.
Albert Bell Hermitage '90: Dark color; strong toasty/smokey/pungent/roasted/ dusty/earthy bit Syrah/blackberry nose; tart lean toasty/pungent/roasted/smokey some bretty/funky some blackberry/Syrah flavor; long hard/lean strong roasted/ toasty/pungent/oaked earthy/dusty bit funky/bretty finish w/ fair tannins; good complexity & Rhone/roasted character; needs more time.
Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle '90: Dark color; strong dusty/earthy/roasted pungent/smokey strong blackberry/black cherry/Syrah complex nose; big rich hard/lean strong toasty/roasted/pungent/smokey complex gamey/Syrah/blackberry rather tannic flavor; very long complex/roasted/pungent/smokey dusty strong blackberry/gamey/Syrah finish w/ ample tannins; still a youngster; loads of roasted/pungent character w/ ample fruit & complexity.
Qupe Bien Nacido Reserve Syrah '91: Very dark color; strong toasty/smokey/ pungent/Fr.oaked some blackberry/dusty/Syrah spicy fragrant nose; fairly big/ rich toasty/Fr.oaked/pungent strong blackberry/black cherry/Syrah some complex flavor; very long strong toasty/pungent/Fr.oaked strong blackberry/Syrah spicy/peppery/cracked pepper finish w/ some tannins; good complexity & going strong; no signs of drying out or falling apart.


And the usual, uncharacteristically brief, rant from the bloody pulpit:
Larry did this tasting blind and, even w/ my feeling up the bottles (correctly identified the Ojai bottle), I was on a Pinot Noir track at the start w/ a lot of fragrant black cherry character in the wines. I did pretty much home in on the Santa Barbara character in the wines but was getting a lot of toasty/Fr. oak in the wines which led me to believe they were a collection of Au Bon Climat Pinots (since they and the Qupes are made in the same winery; I should get partial credit here, I feel). Only in the latter wines did that gamey/Syrah character start to show but, by then, I was hopelessly locked into Calif Pinot. Humbled again by a blind tasting..... need to taste lots more wines so's I don't look so dumb!!
The wines of Bob Lindquist have already received much praise from my usual florid prose in the past, so would be redundant here. All of these wines were in terrific shape w/ none seeming to be ready to expire. I was surprised how well the Los Olivos Cuvees had developed. I had regarded them as sort of clunky wines in their youth. They have evolved into really fragrant/aromatic Pinot-like wines. All of the BNReserve Syrahs were still young vigorous wines. The Fr.oak seemed to stand out more than I recall upon their release, but they all had a solid core of Syrah fruit in them. Definitely one of Calif's great red wines.
TomHill (contrite & humbled.... for now. Hate those blind tastings!!)