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 last night some Calif/Rhones:
Ojai Vineyard Calif Viognier Roll Ranch Vnyd (13%) '98: Med.gold color; beautiful/intense honeysuckle/floral/spicy/cinammon/aromatic/peachy/Viognier some minerally/smokey incredible nose; tart rich/huge/intense/oily/floral/honeysuckle/pear/Viognier bit smoky/oak rather minerally/Condrieu-like flavor; very long/lingering very intense floral/honeysuckle/peach/Viognier ratherr smokey/minerally finish that goes on and on; incredible Viognier.
Donnole Hanno Travasato Il Mio Vino Paso Robles Syrah (14.x%) '97: Med.dark color; strong chocolaty/pruney/plummy some blackberry/Syrah bit smokey/coffee/pungent/ pencilly/oak very ripe interesting nose; tart plummy/some blackberry/Syrah rather buttery/oak some toasty/charred/pencilly/oak very ripe flavor; med.long soft very ripe buttery coffee/toasty/charred/oaked plummy/blackberry/Syrah w/ light tannins; a very interesting maybe eccentric almost Rhonish Syrah, much better than the J.Lohr Paso Robles Syrah.
Andrew Murray Calif Syrah Tous Les Jours (85% Syrah, 5% Grenache, 5% Carignane, 5% Mourvedre; 50 yr old Carignane from Sonoma, 75 yr old Syrah & Grenache from Central Vlly; 13.5%) '98: Med.dark color; fragrant strawberry/cherry rather earthy/mushroomy/ Lodi spicy very slight dill/pickle juice nose; soft light bright cherry/strawberry rather earthy/mushroomy/funky/Lodi flavor; med. bright cherry/strawberry rather earthy/Lodi/mushroomy finish w/ light tannins; interesting wine w/ a slightly funky/Rhonish character; great price at $14.00
El Chaparral de Vega Sindoa Old Vines Grenache Navarra (13%) '98: Med.light color; rather earthy/dusty/salty weak strawberry/Grenache nose; tart thin earthy/dusty low strawberry fruit rather Languedoc-like flavor; tart earthy/dusty weak Grenache/ strawberry finish w/ little tannins; interesting wine but rather thin & earthy w/ little intensity.
Alban Vineyards Edna Vlly Alban Estate Vnyd Grenache (13%) '97: Black color; intense chocolaty/blackberry/Grenache very spicy some peppery/pungent/smokey loads of fruit nose; soft big/intense blackberry/chocolaty/black cherry cough syrup very spicy some pungent/peppery/oak flavor; very long soft ripe intense blackberry/boysenberry/ licorice/black cherry cough syrup/strawberry essence light toasty/pungent/peppery finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-5 yrs; loads of intense Grenache fruit.
Hermitage Road South Australia Shiraz (14%) '98: Med.dark color; fragrant/aromatic blackberry/Syrah bit meaty/smokey/gamey/dusty nose; soft somewhat meaty/gamey pungent/blackberry/Syrah rather milky/Am.oaked flavor; med.long bit tarry/gamey/ smokey strong blackberry/Syrah rather milky/Am.oaked finish w/ light tannins; a terrific Shiraz at $8.77 from Prima IlConsorzio
Callaghan Cochise Cnty Arizona Syrah Spirited Cuvee (18%) '97: Very dark color; very strong plummy/pruney/overripe/late harvesty/blackberry/Syrah slight herbal/ stemmy dusty nose; soft off-dry very ripe/overripe/late harvesty plummy/licorice/ blackberry/pruney alcoholic/hot/fumey bit stemmy/dusty flavor; rather hot/alcoholic/ pruney/late harvesty/raisened off dry blackberry finish w/ light tannins; a dead ringer for the DavidBruce LateHarvest Essence '70 & '71. $17.00
Qupe Santa Barbara Cnty Syrah Bien Nacido Hillside Estate (13.8%) '96: Very dark coler; beautiful smokey/toasty/pencilly/Fr.oaked meaty/gamey blackberry/Syrah/ plummy/black cherry BN/very spicy some complex nose; rich BN black cherry/blackberry/ Syrah very spicy bit funky/smokey/gamey some pencilly/toasty/Fr.oaked flavor; very long smokey/gamey/very spicy black cherry BN/blackberry/Syrah slight funky/ brett/horsecollar bit pungent/pencilly/oak finish w/ some tannins; more balance & less extraction than the other Syrahs; lovely complex Syrah.
Ojai Vineyard Santa Barbara County Syrah Bien Nacido Vnyd (15.0%) '97: Black color; very intense blackberry/black cherry smokey/meaty/licorice/pungent/toasty bit stemmy complex nose; big very intense/extracted blackberry/Syrah/BN black cherry/licorice bit toasty/pungent/oaked tannic flavor; very long toasty/oaked black cherry BN/ blackberry/Syrah bit dusty some toasty/pungent/smoky/oaked finish w/ ample tannins; needs 3-8 yrs; not quite as big & extracted as the '96 but still a huge wine.
Andrew Murray Santa Barbara County Syrah HillSide Reserve (13.5%) '97: Black color; beautiful very intense blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah/Dr.Pepper light smokey/gamey slight volatile/aromatic spicy nose; huge/extracted loads of blackberry/boysenberry/ Syrah/fruit/licorice bit alcoholic/fumey slight smokey/gamey/pungent/brett flavor; very long intense fruit/blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry/Dr.Pepper/chocolaty slight bretty/funky light toasty/charred/oak finish w/ fair tannins; needs 2-6 yrs; a big/huge extracted Syrah but a bit lighter than the '96.
Andrew Murray Santa Barbara County Syrah HillSide Reserve (13.5%) '96: Black color; bit reduced/stinky nose clears to very intense/blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry/licorice/ perfumed very spicy bit toasty/Fr.oak some complex/dusty nose; huge intense extracted blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry bit gamey very spicy bot toasty/oak tannic flavor; very long huge/extracted intense licorice/blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah slight pungent/tobaccoy/smokey/Fr.oaked finish w/ ample tannins; needs 5-10 yrs; rather Aussie in style w/o all the oak; big huge Syrah.
Ojai Vineyards Calif Syrah Roll Ranch Vnyd (14.5%) '97: Very dark color; very intense blackberry/boysenberry/licorice very spicy/peppery meaty/gamey plummy some smokey/ roasted/coffee nose; rich intense blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah slight meaty/gamey/ spicy bit roasted very spicy flavor; very long boysenberry/blackberry/Syrah some gamey/meaty/spicy light roasted/coffee finish w/ ample tannins; needs 3-7 yrs; a bit more balanced & restrained & more fruit than the '96.
Ojai Vineyards Calif Syrah Roll Ranch Vnyd (13%) '96: Black color; very intense peppery/ gamey/meaty/dusty blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah floral/aromatic/perfumed bit menthol/ Dr.Pepper very spicy nose; huge extracted licorice/blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah some roasted/toasty/oaked peppery/dusty floral/menthol tannic flavor; very long very intense boysenberry/blackberry/Syrah some roasted/toasty/Fr.oak/smokey complex menthol finish w/ ample tannins; big huge intense Syrah that needs 5-15 yrs; terrific wine.
Chateau des Tours Vacqueyras Reserve '90 (E. Reynaud): Med.color; rather corked some earthy/dusty no fruit nose; rather aged/washed out some musty/corked flavor; bad stuff. Larry's mystery wine.
Chateau Cabrieres Tete de Cru Prestige (Louis Arnaud) Chateauneuf du Pape '88: Med.color; earthy/gamey/pungent complex bit bretty/funky slight oxidized nose; bit lean/dried-out rather earthy/gamey/smokey complex/pungent roasted/SouthernRhone flavor; bit dried-out/tannic smokey/pungent/gamey/earthy finish; still holding on and rather interesting/complex but drying out and fading somewhat. Howard's mystery wine.
Alban Vineyards Vin de Paille Edna Vlly Roussanne AlbanVnyd (13%) '96: Med.gold color; strong raisened/spicy/honeyed/late harvest/very grapey bit VinSanto-like but not oxidized nose; strong off-dry raisened/honeyed/rotted apple spicy/cinammon very grapey flavor; some like VinSanto w/o the funky/oxidized character; not obviously Roussanne but a very interesting not-really a dessert wine. Howard's wine to share.

And the ol' sermon from the bloody pulpit:
The Ojai/Andrew Murray are pre-release/BestBarriqueClub prices. Expect retail prices to be some/much higher. Sorry about that.
Ojai Viognier '98: Clearly Adam's best Viognier yet. Larry Archibald labeled it the best Calif Viognier ever made. I think he probably understated its case. I found a lot of minerally/Condrieu character in the wine, yet still distinctly Calif Viognier. It's a huge wine, yet has a tartness & structure to it. Although of that proportions, it is NOT a DollyParton Calif Viognier; it's got some substance & structure to it, not just a lot of silicone flopping around!! Alas, the yield was way down on the '98 vintage, so not much of it around. Jump on it when you see it. When visiting w/ Adam about it, you could tell he was pretty proud of the wine. Yet he has this sort of "aw,shucks" demeanor to him and won't let you know how really excited he is about the wine. Makes knowing what wines to buy based on Adam pretty tough. Larry read him pretty well and got well more than his fair share of this wine. Alas, only 2 for me. Screwed up big time. And take the !3% alc on the label w/ a grain of salt.
Donnole Hanno Travasato Il Mio Vino: "The Weasels Racked My Wine", a tribute to Frank Zappa and a play on the old Mothers of Invention classic "Weasels Ripped My Flesh": this is a ho-made wine from our very own Larry Roberts, but hardly what you'd call ho-made in quality. It's a very interesting wine w/ a lot of smokey/pungent/roasted character not unlike a Southern Rhone or Gigondas or some such. It has a very ripe character to it but yet a tartness or hardness underlying it that makes it a bit eccentric; almost has if it has a second crop grape character to it. Not mainstream Paso Syrah, but very well made and very interesting Syrah. And a great label. Larry made three pretty terrific wines in his brief stay at Rio Secco and I very much look forward to his wines from his new wnry in Paso.
Andrew Murray Tous Les Jours Syrah: If you're expecting a jr. Andrew Murray Syrah from this wine.... that's not it. It reminds me a lot of the Qupe CentralCoast Syrah in that the Lodi/CentralVlly grapes give the wine a sort of earthy/mushroomy character that tends to dominate the Syrah fruit. This is a bright/lively nice drinking red at a very reasonable price. But not typical Andrew Murray in style.
Grenache: I've sung the praises of Grenache in this forum afore. It can make great/ world class wine anywhere as great as Syrah (which implies, of course, better than Cabernet or Nebbiolo). Ch.Rayas seems to do OK w/ the variety. Some of the old vines Grenache from Australia can be stunning. Many of those from the Priorat are terrific. John Alban's Grenache is easily the best in Calif and right up there w/ all the rest.... truly world-class Grenache. The good news is that they're only going to be getting better as the vines mature and Seymour's vnyd comes on line. The bad news is is that's there's not much of it. But John's pioneering work w/ Grenache (and Roussanne) in Calif can only inspire others to work w/ these varieties. John's '97 Grenache seems a bit softer & fatter and not as tannic & structured as his '96 version. I thought the '96 was perhaps a 10 yr wine; the '97 more for the 2-5 yr time frame. But the '97 seems a bit more balanced and may live just as long as the '96. I only do guesses.
Callaghan: Great wine from Arizona??? Don't think so, based on this Syrah!! With an 18% alcohol level and "Spirited Cuvee" on the label, I assumed that this was fortified somewhat for some strange reason. But I got none of the higher alcohols that I would expect if it were fortified w/ spirits. I just think it's a very late harvest Syrah w/ lots of natural alcohol. Weird stuff. Callaghan is a wnry that RobertParker has given good writeups to in the past. The ones I tried early on were lacking in fruit and loaded w/ toasty/charred/Fr.oak. I recently tried their Sangiovese/Cabernet blend and was much more favorably impressed. More restrained oak & good fruit to it; actually a pretty decent wine.
Andrew Murray: I've followed Andrew's wines from the very start. With the '96 vintage, I thought he moved up into the top tier of Calif Rhone producers. His reds are packed w/ intense fruit & extract, quite Aussie in style I would describe them w/o the overbearing (sometimes) presence of (American) oak those wines often display. I general, I think Andrew's '96's were a bit more successful than his '97's, in terms of depth and extract. In addition, his '97's reds seemed to show a noticible degree of VA/EA, something I seem to be particularly sensitive to. His '97 Roasted Slpoe seemed to have the least volatility. It wasn't high enough or over the legal limits to make me dislike the wines, but it was just noticible to me, particularly in the '97 LesCoteaux. I expect his '98 reds to be even better. His '98 whites are easily his best whites made yet; powerful and very aromatic. His '98 Roussanne was, I thought, perhaps the best "Roussanne" yet made in Calif. His early whites tended to be a bit clunky and more Rhonish in character, but the '98's don't show that and are terrific Calif white Rhones. Clearly a wnry worth keeping track of. His Best Barrique Club is the best way to stay on top of Andrew's wines. One of the best such clubs in Calif and often includes wines that he never releases.
Ojai Vineyards: I've sung the praises of Adam & Helen's wines here so often that I sound like a broken record. He's making some of the biggest & most powerful wines of all the Calif Rhones. And some of the most interesting. 'Nuff said!!
Vintages: The '97 Zins were touted during their winemaking as a great vintage for Zins. What wasn't stated so much was that production levels were up markedly in most areas. And this has shown in most of the '97 Zins I've tasted. They have great forward up-front fruit but often lack the tannin & structure & backbone to make them anything more than ready-to-drink/drink-em-up Zins. I've seen this also on many of the '97 Syrahs, though to a much lesser degree for the SantaBarbara Syrahs. But it does show in the Qupe, the Andrew Murrays, and the Ojais; in almost all cases I preferred the '96 to the '97 versions of the same wines. But I have no reason to believe that the '97's will not age well into truly terrific/complex Syrahs. But from what I tasted from the barrels in June, watch out for the '98's!!
Great Rhone vnyds: The BienNacido is widely acknowledged as one of the great/special vnyds of Calif, not just for Syrah but also other varieties. The HillSide block that goes to both Adam Tolmach and BobLindquist is certainly the best of this special vnyd. It shows both in the Ojai BienNacido and the Qupe HillSide Estate Syrahs. But has I taste more of Adam's Syrah & Viognier from RollRanch, I'm beginning to feel that this vnyd may be an even better vnyd than BienNacido. It was really worthwhile to walk this vnyd w/ Adam back in June and note the great care that this vnyd receives. And it is clear that the Syrah coming from the Thompson vnyd can also make great Calif Syrah. Alas, none of it anymore seems to come from under the Bedford- Thompson label. And the Andrew Murray vnyd is also quite special, some of the most spectacular hillside vnyds in all of Calif. But, much like the RollRanch, we only see what those grapes can do thru the window of a single winemaker. And I expect great Syrah to come from the AlisosCanyon vnyd in the near future. Tom & Marilyn Stolpman's vnyd has, thus far, not produced any great Calif/ Rhone wines; but some very good ones. I walked this vnyd w/ Jeff Newton last June and was also quite impressed w/ the care & attention that these vines receive and see no reason that this vnyd will not soon produce some truly great Calif Rhones as the vines gain maturity. And, of course, John Alban's vnyd is in a class by itself. All of these wines (Qupe, Alban, SineQuaNon) are truly world-class I feel.
Extract & Balance: As I taste some of the huge/extracted wines from Ojai and Andrew Murray, I sometimes have these slightly nagging thoughts in the back of my mind..... how are these wines going to age and will they be truly GREAT old Calif Rhones. I recall back to the days of yore when I first got interested in Calif wines in the early '70's. David Bruce, in the '69, '70, '71 vintages produced these huge/extracted/black/alcoholic/massive Zins/Carignanes/Petite Sirahs/Black Muscats that I just KNEW, because of their size, would last forever. The late John Brennan predicted these wines would finally start to mature around year 2020 and beyond. The wines are, by and large, deader than doornails now, and have bben for some 10 yrs or so. Yet you look at the Ridge YorkCreek PetiteSirah '91, another wine of immense size in its youth, and it's presently a stunning stunning mature red wine. Go figure!! So, I have these nagging doubts as I taste the Ojais and the Andrew Murrays and many of the other Calif Syrahs; are we going down this same path that we did w/ Zins in the early '70's?? Don't have an answer, but plan to be taking data points for the next 30-40 yrs though!!