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.

 

Bob: Lindquist: Qupe & Routas
Bob Lindquist and Louisa Sawyer did a Qupe/Routas dinner last night at Lambert's of Taos:
Qupe Ibarra-Young Vnyd Marsanne '97: Light yellow color; light attractive appley bit earthy light smokey nose; very tart lean austere light appley spicy earthy flavor; med. tart lean light appley finish. Classic young Marsanne w/o much character; needs 2-6 yrs age.
Qupe Marsanne '88: Med.gold color; strange canned creamed corn some smokey/ pungent slight oaked some old/Chard/oxidized complex nose; soft rich lush bit nutty/oxidized/smokey/pungent/marzipan flavor; very long soft lush nutty/ caramel bit oxidized rather complex finish; very interesting mature wine.
Ch.Routas Coquelicot (60% Chard, 40% Viognier) '97: Light gold color; rather strong dusty/earthy light fragrant/floral nose; tart/lemony/citrusy lean some dusty/earthy mostly Chard flavor; tart/lean/hard spicy/dusty/stoney light finish; pleasant floral clean lean wine.
Qupe Bien Nacido Cuvee (67% Chard, 33% Viognier) '97: Light yellow color; beautiful/fragrant/aromatic Viognier/tropical fruit light oaked/butterscotchy nose; soft rich lush light butterscotchy/oak very fragrant/aromatic some bannana oil/tropical/floral flavor; very long lush/ripe aromatic tropical fruit/bannana oil/floral Viognier light oaked finish; a very exotic/perfumed floral wine; maybe his best BNCuvee yet; maybe a bit pushing the volatility/ EA limits.
Qupe Viognier '93: Med.light gold color; attractive/complex bit earthy light oaked slight volatile/floral; soft some cinammon/cloves spicy rather pear/light Viognier/floral flavor; med.long lush/complex light spicy/cinnamon finish; lost much of that intense floral/Viognier character but a complex/interesting white wine.
Qupe Viognier '90: Med.gold color; slight oxidized/wet dog fur dusty/pear/ subtle/complex nose; beautiful peach/pear/spicy soft/smooth complex slight earthy slight pungent/smokey flavor; very long complex delicate/pear/peach spicy finish; slight funky nose but a wonderful/elegant wine on the palate.
Qupe Bien Nacido Reserve Syrah '96: Dark color; lush toasty/oaked ripe black- berry bit smokey/gamey nose; fairly rich lush blackberry/gamey/Syrah rather toasty/oaked/pungent/smokey flavor; long toasty/pungent/smokey/oaked ripe blackberry/Syrah/gamey finish w/ some tannins; not as big & extracted as the previous two vintages but still a classic ReserveSyrah; needs 2-6 yrs; noticible oak but just about the right level.
Chateau Routas Cyrano Syrah '96: Dark color; strong earthy/dusty/Rhonish shy blackberry/fruit nose; hard/lean dusty/earthy fairly tannic light Syrah/ gamey flavor; hard/lean dusty/earthy some pungent/Syrah/fruit finish w/ fair tannins; not a lot of fruit but seems structured enough to age well; needs 3-7 yrs; hard to tell where this wine will go.
Qupe Bien Nacido Reserve Syrah '92: Dark color; beautiful fragrant/pungent/oaked/ pencilly blackberry/Syrah/gamey slight herbal nose; soft slight herbal lush blueberry/blackberry/Syrah pencilly/toasty/oaked/pungent flavor; very long blackberry/blueberry/gamey/Syrah some pencilly/toasty/oak finish w/ some tannins; needs another few yrs & will last; terrific Reserve.
Qupe Los Olivos Cuvee '91: Dark color; beautiful pungent/licorice/plummy/ Mourvedre/chocolaty sligt volatile/aromatic light oaked/pungent nose; soft rich lush very plummy/licorice/dusty/chocolaty some toasty/pungent/oaked fairly complex flavor; very long soft/plummy/dusty/chocolaty/licorice finish w/ light tannins; a beautiful mature Rhone blend ready to drink; one of the best Rhone blends I've had; has really come together well.

And another bloody pulpit:
Marsanne & Age: I'd not seen much to get excited about in the Qupe Marsannes I had tasted upon their release. They reminded me a bit of a rather lean appely sort of green wine, a Chardonnay wannabe. At Raisin'Rhones last summer, I had a revelation when Bob Lindquist poured his '89 and '92 Marsannes. They had developed into beautiful complex lovely slight nutty/ oxidized wines, much like some of the older Chave Hermitage Blancs I'd had. This '88 was much in the same vein... very interesting/complex/mature white. In '88, Bob was making his wine at three different facilities whilst the Millers were building the winery at BienNacido. This wine was made at Byron winery; shoehorning his use of their equiptment around the Byron production schedule. He had only the overnight use of one stainless steel tank to settle the Marsanne juice off the gross lees before a barrel fermentation. According to Bob, a complete settling is very important for Marsanne. Otherwise, it picks up a canned corn character from the gross lees. Though some of that was present, I didn't find it at all unattractive and thought this '88 was a wonderful wine on the palate. Who woulda thought?
Viognier & Age: The folklore is that Viogniers don't age. To that I say nonsense. Viognier seems to lose that intense/floral/fragrant/perfumy character it has when young fairly rapidly in the bottle. If great Viognier/Condrieu is defined as that intense/floral wine; then the answer is yes. But I find they evolve into lovely/mature/complex/elegant/delicate kind of white wine. They don't seem to develop that hard/bitter character that old Chards aquire. Old Viognier/Condrieu is fine by me.
As most people know; Bob Lindquist, in addition to being his own winemaker at Qupe; is also the winemaker at Chateau Routas. His wife, Louisa Sawyer, is US Marketing Director for Routas. Hence the joint appearance here. It must make for a pretty hectic Fall for Bob; not to mention the long-distance phone bill!! In the Coteaux de Varois (location of Routas) in Provence; the weather conditions are not very good & they have a struggle to ripen the grapes up to the 12%-13% alcohol level. Thus the wines have this lean & hard character. Bob's desire is to get more lushness & fruit in the wines; hard task given the growing conditions. Although they (Routas) certainly don't have the lushness of Bob's Qupes; the wines, I think, have improved a great deal since Bob's been making them. Like many Italian wines; they're rather hard to taste, but they make great food wines. Definitely a work in progress; if'n he can survive all the travelling.
Central Coast Syrah: The Qupe Central Coast Syrah has always been one of my favorite Calif Syrahs, and a real bargin to boot. When the '97 CC Syrah came out last Fall, I was rather disappointed in in & thought it lacked the bright blackberry/Syrah fruit the previous ones did. Bob confirmed my suspicion that it had less SantaBarbara Syrah in it than previous ones. It has more Paso Robles Syrah since the French Camp Syrah plantings are coming on line. In addition, it has a small amount of Lodi Old Vine Carignane and Zin in it. Bob said there has been a pretty big jump in Syrah grape prices and using less of the expensive SantaBarbara Syrah fruit is necessary to maintain the low price. So I expect the '97 CC Syrah represents a stylistic change in that wine from the last 4-6 yrs. Actually, as I've retasted that wine some 7-10 times since last Fall, I'm starting to like it more and more as I change my expectations (always a sensible thing to do). It actually reminds me more and more of his first Syrahs that he made in the early/mid-'80's, when he was using mostly PasoRobles/EstrellaRiver fruit. Ya live & learn (one hopes).