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 Wine
Had a meeting last week in LasVegas so thought it would be a good chance to hook up w/ Jim Cross (Vegas Jim) and meet some of the Las Vegas wine people that hang out on the 'Net. Plus a couple from my LosAlamos group had recently moved out there & it would be a good chance to hook them into the LV wine scene. Since I had met Jim in RealSpace at this summer's Raisin' Rhones Festival, the theme of French/Calif Rhones seemed a natural so Jim & I jointly organized such a tasting from our respective collections. But when some of my LosAlamos group who were attending the meeting, they also wanted to join us. That was fortunate, since the LasVegas contingent was sadly underrepresented. The chance to meet Dan Zurcher in RealSpace was another delight of this tasting.
Many thanks to Jim for doing all the legwork in organizing the tasting. We were hosted at Lee's Discount Liquor by Alan Seely, who also threw in a few very outstanding Fench Rhones, thereby saving the day for the froggies! Also many thanks to Mike & Debbie Payne (my LA transplants to LV) for lining up the wine glasses.

So the wines we tasted:

Zaca Mesa Santa Barbara County Zaca Estate (13.5%) Roussanne '95: I believe their first commercial Roussanne release; med.gold color; light oaked rather pleasant light flowery more Chard-like nose than anything; slight oaked bit nutty slight oxidized light lean floral flavor; med.short light Fr.oaked/pencilly light flowery bit simple slight nutty/oxidized finish; more like a light/oaked Chard & only slight Roussanne character; getting a bit gray around the edges but actually rather interesting as an aged Chard.
Bonny Doon Calif Roussanne (14.5%) '97: Light gold color; intense floral intense aromatic Roussanne slight smokey nose; big rich lush floral/ aromatic/perfumed/Roussanne light stoney/metallic flavor; very long rich lush floral/perfumed/Roussanne slight metallic/stony finish that goes on & on; a big rich powerful white some like a Zind-Humbrecht Tokay/ Pinot Gris; has an underlying structure that probably will allow it to last for 10 yrs or more but a huge opulent wine now. Good price @ $16.50
Jaboulet Hermitage Blanc Chevalier de Stirimberg (50% Marsanne, 50% Roussanne) '96: Beautiful complex/baked apple/spicy/cinammon some butter- scotchy/nutty/oxidized very aromatic/perfumed nose; big rich stoney/ earthy lush floral/appley/caramel slight nutty/oxidized flavor; very long stoney/earthy/baked apples/spicy/cinammon bit nutty/oxidized finish; big & rich w/ an underlying stoney/metallic/lean character that will carry this for many yrs; a classic slightly oxidized Hermitage. $35.00 contributed by Alan.
Domaine du Pesquier Gigondas (Boutiere) '93: Med.color; med.strong SouthernRhone/roasted bit smokey/pungent light nose; slight metallic/ earthy/dusty light roasted/pungent flavor; med.short light pungent/ smokey/roasted finish w/ light tannins; pleasant light Southern Rhone but seems to be fading a bit from what I'd expect.
Domaine de Piaugier (13.4%) Gigondas (Autran) '93: Med.dark color; fairly strong SouthernRhone/roasted/smokey/toasted fairly lush plummy fruit nose; strong forward raspberry/plummy/fruity lush spicy light roasted flavor; med.long lush raspberry/fruity some roasted/pungent finish w/ light tannins; seems lots of Grenache/Mourvedre character more in a Calif style; probably near its peak.
Edmunds St. John Les Cotes Sauvages (13.7%) '94: Med.dark color; beautiful smokey/pungent oak lush/aromatic rather strawberry/Grenache complex nose; bit lean/tannic rich smokey/pungent some strawberry/Grenache plummy light smokey/toasty/oak flavor; long ripe strawberry/Grenache smokey/pungent light toasty/oak finish w/ some tannins; lovely complex red that seems to be drying out slightly.
Edmunds St.John Les Cotes Sauvages (14.5%) '96: Dark color; strong aromatic strawberry/Grenache/licorice very lush/perfumed nose; soft forward rich lush spicy/bright/strawberry/Grenache light pungent flavor; med.long bright lush strawberry/Grenache very spicy finish w/ light tannins; lots of spicy/Grenache character; very nice drinking but not a long ager.
Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf du Pape '95: Very dark color; strong smokey/ pungent slight bretty/fecal/funky fairly fragrant nose; rich lush licorice Mourvedre/plummy dusty/earthy light roasted classic CdP flavor; long smokey/dusty/pungent/earthy plummy/Mourvedre some bretty/funky finish w/ fair tannins; rather Calif in style w/ some Rhone/funkiness; needs 3-6 yrs; very good CdP.
Ojai Vineyards Calif Syrah (14%) '96: Black color; big rich pungent licorice complex smokey dusty some blackberry/Syrah nose; big huge intense tannic smokey/dusty/licorice pungent/blackberry flavor; long hard tannic dusty/ smokey pungent/licorice some toasty/oak ripe blackberry finish w/ fair tannins; seems to be shutting down a bit in the nose but a terrific Syrah at a great price; needs 2-6 yrs.
Qupe Bien Nacido Reserve Syrah (13.8%) '96: Very dark color; rather oaked/ toasty licorice/pungent lusg blackberry/black cherry bit volatile/EA/ aromatic complex nose; rich high-toned blackberry/Syrah/black cherry some oaked/toasty pungent flavor; very long ripe Syrah/blackberry some toasty/oak lush bit hot/alcoholic finish w/ fair tannins; needs 3-6 yrs yet; not as big & rich as previous ones but very good Calif Syrah.
Alban Vineyards Edna Valley Syrah-Reva (14.1%) '95: Black color; intense licorice/blackberry/boysenberry very lush some gamey/smokey/minty rather Aussie-style nose; big rich lush intense blackberry/boysenberry some smokey/toasty/pungent/oak licorice minty flavor; very long intense lush blackberry/boysenberry/licorice gamey/minty finish w/ fair tannins; loads of lush Syrah fruit but the structure for aging 3-8 yrs; really showing lots of Aussie character.
Andrew Murray Santa Barbara Cnty Syrah (13.5%) '95: Black color; strong vanilla/oaked intense blackberry/boysenberry some toasty/oaked nose; big ripe hard/tannic vanilla/toasty/oak some blackberry/Syrah dusty flavor; med.long hard/tannic some blackberry/Syrah toasty/vanilla/oak finish; seems a bit closed right now; loads of tannin & needs age.
Qupe Bien Nacido Hillside Estate Syrah (13.8%) '96: Black color; very strong blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry rather gamey/licorice some toasty/oak nose; hard tannic bit lean rich blackberry/Syrah some gamey/dusty light toasty/oaked flavor; very long rich ripe blackberry/Syrah licorice/black olive some toasty/oaked smokey/pungent finish w/ ample tannins; a bit harder & leaner & not quite as rich as the '95 but terrific Syrah.
Qupe Bien Nacido Hillside Estate Syrah (13.5%) '95: Black color; intense blackberry/Syrah licorice/pungent lush coffee/toasted/oak rather gamey/ smokey nose; very intense lush blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah pungent/ toasty/oak licorice/gamey complex flavor; very long rich blackberry/Syrah pungent/toasty/oaked rather gamey/complex/licorice finish w/ ample tannins; needs 4-10 yrs; bigger more lush fruit richer more complex/gamey than the '96; a classic great Calif Syrah.
Chapoutier La Sizeranne Hermitage '96: Very dark color; very intense roasted/smokey/coffee/espresso classic complex/NorthernRhone nose; hard tannic beautiful complex/roasted/espresso/toasty some Syrah/blackberry/ gamey flavor; very long hard tannic lean lovely complex/roasted/espresso/ coffee/gamey finish w/ fair tannins; needs 3-8 yrs; a classic roasted NorthernRhone. $??? contributed by Alan.
Jaboulet Hermitage LaChapelle '96: Black color; rather funky/wet-wool some bretty/horsecollar some licorice/pungent nose; hard tannic funky/ wet-wool bretty/fecal licorice pungent flavor; med.long hard/lean/tannic wet-wool/funky/bretty/horsecollar licorice/pungent light roasted/espresso finish; bit funky & unclean; disappointing after the great '95 version. $?? contributed by Alan.

And a bloody pulpit, starting w/ a bit of a curmudgeonly rant:
Of the 7-8 times I've been to LasVegas, I've always been disappointed w/ the quality of food for such a large city. Before, I'd been to both the CoyoteCafe outpost and Wolfgang Puck's pizza place in the MGMGrand and found them pretty disappointing. The Il Forniao in Providence, R.I. is one of the USofA's great Italian restaurants. The Il Forniao outpost in LasVegas at NewYorkNewYork is a..... fraud!! The Pappa al Pomodoro (Italian Tomatoe/Bread soup) is supposed to have the bread added towards the end, so that it has some texture in the soup. This version obviously had the bread hanging out there in the soup for its entire lifetime (no telling how long THAT was) with a texture near to Gerber's strained tomatoes. The Endive/Frisee Salad w/ Roasted Walnuts: the walnuts had never seen an oven in their life, obviously straight from the package. But the greens WERE fresh & crisp. The Calzone: the Mozarella tasted like the same stringy/flavorless stuff that PizzaHut uses; the mushrooms appeared to be canned button mushrooms w/ no texture nor flavor (hey... portabellos are not THAT rare!); and the "proscuitto"..... chopped ham!! (Jeez, gimmee a break!). The pizzas and calzones are supposedly done in a wood-fired oven. When I walked in into a nearly full restaurant, there were a few burning sticks in the back of the oven.... but nothing cooking in the oven itself. Same story when I left. The calzone I had had absolutely NO flavor that I get from other restaurant's wood-fired oven pizzas. So... the "wood-fired" oven is probably fired by gas and there apparently only for show and antmosphere is my guess. The Ciabiatta bread WAS good & had great texture.... but not coming from the wood-fired oven. The wine list was decent, but just that; nothing that really jazzed me. Next night, at Pardise (Grill?), another Italian restaurant. OssoBuco on Risotto: probably was a veal shank, but a big slice cooked exactly like my Mom's Swiss Steak (sorry, Mom.... hope you're not on the 'Net tonight!!), not a compliment. The waiter told me Risotto is Italian for "rice" and used the "finest" aborio rice. It was pretty long-grained for aborio and had clearly been cooked in water and then molded into a cup & dumped on the plate..... nothing like any risotto I've ever made. The tiramisu (which the waiter assured me was a classic Italian dessert that stood for "give Me a Lift"... got that one right, at least) was merely whipped cream atwixt sponge cake slices.... definitely NO mascarpone and no espresso, or even stale coffee, that I could see. Sad! The visit wasn't a total loss. I had two really good meals at the Gordon Biersch Brewery.... pretty decent beer and basic, pretty interesting pub-type fair... not "gourmet", but at least honest.... a commodity that appears extremely scarce in LasVegas restaurants. The menu at the LV Spago looked fairly interesting; so perhaps I'll try that when I'm out there in early January. But it seems like the thing to do is that an important food personage opens a version of his/her famous restaurant in LasVegas and, like many other LasVegas "things"; it's all smoke & mirrors & silicone!! It would seem that it wouldn't be THAT difficult to have a simple basic trattoria/bistro like Oliveto or Prima or Fringale or Bistro 315 in LasVegas.... unless, of course, canned button mushrooms are ALL that's available there!! Surely there are enough people in LasVegas that truly know what GOOD food is? End of tiresome rant! Sorry, had to get it off my chest.
The Qupe Bien Nacido Hillside Estates I thought were pretty outstanding; big rich extracted & gamey. A few people whose palates I highly respect simply do not like this wine at all. Go figure!!
The Alban Reva '95 was pretty stunning Syrah; is starting to show some development now. The '96 Reva is out & around & worth scarfing up some at a great price ($21). The Lorraine Syrah '96 has just been released and, though I've not tasted it yet, I fully expect it to be equally stunning. At a reasonable price of $28.00
This was a pretty terrific showing of Calif Rhones. Especially after a bunch of them had spent a bunch of hours being cuffed around & abused by SouthWest Airlines baggage handlers a few days before.