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.

 
1. Andrew Murray Vnyd Santa Barbara County Marsanne (13.5%) '99: Med.gold color; lovely/fragrant/  floral/honeysuckle/spicy light peachy light oak nose becoming floral classic Marsanne/  appley nose on warming; soft/lush floral/honeysuckle bit metallic/appley/Marsanne light  oak flavor; med.long lush/glycerined some appley/Marsanne bit floral/honeysuckle/aromatic  finish; best young Calif Marsanne I've had; not as lean & hard as most are when young; very  floral & must have some Viognier in it.
2. Alban Vnyds Edna Valley Alban Estate (14.7%) Viognier '98: Med.gold color; light floral/pear/spicy  rather minerally low-key nose; tart/lean minerally/spicy floral/pear flavor; med. spicy/pear/  floral some minerally lean/tart finish; seems rather tight & closed and in need of some age;  a crisp/sleek Meryl Streep-style Viognier.
3. le Clos du Caillou Cotes du Rhone Vielles Vignes Cuvee Unique '98: Med.color; fragrant/spicy  slight bretty/earthy slight roasted nose; soft/earthy bit strawberry/Grenache/spicy bit bretty  flavor; med. soft/earthy light roasted some bretty/horsecollar finish w/ little tannins;  a pleasant little CdR.
4. le Clos du Caillou Les Roches Rondes Cotes du Rhone Reserve CuveeSyrah (13.5%) '98: Dark color;  deep licorice/blackberry/Syrah some roasted/toasty nose; soft/rich bit tannic/hard some pungent/  licorice/blackberry/Syrah bit toasty flavor; med.long spicy/licorice/Syrah/blackberry pungent/  toasty/earthy finish w/ some tannins; needs yr or two; good Syrah character; a fairly serious  CdR.
5. Crane Canyon Sonoma Valley Mourvedre (TW) '94: Med.light color; some aged/tobaccoy/pencilly/  oaked some plummy/Mourvedre/licorice/black cherry some agedZin/complex nose; slight tannic/  dried-out spicy/pencilly/cherry/black cherry/plummy/dried rose petal pencilly/tobaccoy/aged Zin  flavor; med.long elegant pencilly/tobaccoy cherry/black cherry/plummy bit dried out/tannic  slight tobaccoy/aged Zin finish; lots of pencilly/complex character; drying out a bit &  showing some age but plenty of life yet; very interesting/mature Mourvedre.
6. Crane Canyon Enigma (60% Mourvedre, 20% Zin, 10% CS, 8% Grenache/Carignane/PS. 2% Viognier) '92:  Med.dark color; slight herbal/dusty fairly rich some blackberry/plummy bit pencilly/tobaccoy/  oaked rather complex nose; smooth/elegant some herbal/earthy some plummy/black cherry/ light  pencilly/oak/tobaccoy complex/mature flavor; very long smoooth/round/complex bit herbal/dusty  some black cherry/plummy/Mourvedre light pencilly/oaked/cedary/tobaccoy finish slight Kansas  feed store/earthy finish w/ light tannins; the Cab really seems to show in this wine; a lovely/  complex mature red; probably at its peak.
7. Rowland Red Triangle Napa Valley Syrah (13.5%; U; 88% coombsville, 7% OakKnoll, 5% AtlasPeak) '98:  Black color; some reduced/sewer gas/fecal/bretty/diaper pail pungent/charred oak/burnt some  licorice/roasted nose; hard/bitter/tannic bit fecal/diaper pail/reduced very burnt/charred/toasty/  oaked light licorice flavor; long very burnt/charred/oaked rather burnt plastic/fecal/pungent/  unclean/wet dog fur hard/tannic/bitter finish; really weird stuff; highly overextracted and  pretty unclean; maybe w/ BarBQue it'd work.
8. Ridge Calif Lytton Estate Syrah (10% Viognier; 13.9%) '98: Black color; rather fragrant/spicy  jammy/blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah some milky/Am.oaked classic Ridge perfume nose; rich rather  milky/Am.oaked/buttered popcorn spicy/peppery/blackberry/Syrah flavor; long milky/Am.oaked  very spicy/blackberry/licorice finish w/ some tannins; lots of Ridge character and as much Zin  as Syrah in character; nicelt done Ridge red.
9. Hospices du Rhone Triennes Syrah Epices du Rhone (12.5%) '97: Med.dark color; earthy/licorice  some blackberry/smokey bit roasted/Rhone slight herbal/vegetal nose; tart/lean/austere/hard/  earthy light roasted/pungent tannic flavor; med.long austere/hard/tannic/tart light smokey/  roasted/pungent finish; needs 2-6 yrs; a nice attractive Rhone/roasted nose but very hard &  austere on the palate; a food wine but may develop into something interesting.
10. Truchard Carneros Napa Valley Syrah (14.3%) '98: Black color; bit reduced/sewer gas nose clears  to very lush blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah spicy/cloves light toasty/oak nose; soft/lush very  blackberry/boysenberry loads of fruit forward flavor; very long soft very lush blackberry/  boysenberry/Syrah finish w/ light tannins; loads of Syrah fruit but a bit lacking in tannins  and structure.
11. Longoria Central Coast Syrah (TW) '98: Med.color; rather Rhonish bit jammy/coffee some spicy/  toasty/oaked smokey/pungent slight volatile rather gamey/funky nose; bit bretty/earthy/Rhonish  dusty/earthy low fruit flavor; med.short dusty/earthy some bretty/funky low fruit finish w/  light tannins; tastes like eastside (FrenchCampVnyd) Paso Syrah, some like the Qupe Central  Coast Syrah; disappointing for a Longoria wine.
12. Alban Vnyds Central Coast Syrah (14.2%) '98: Black color; very pungent/toasty/charred oak  complex/peppery bit reduced rather spicy/blackberry/peppery somewhat Reva-like nose; soft bit  jammy rather spicy/peppery/blackberry/Syrah light charred/oak flavor; long lush/peppery/spicy/  blackberry/Syrah/Dr.Pepper/cola finish w/ ligt tannins; much like a somewhat lesser Reva  Syrah; another good Alban Syrah.
13. Brophy-Clark Santa Maria Valley Syrah Bien Nacido Vnyd (13.5%) '98: Med.dark color; attractive  licorice/blackberry/black cherry light roasted/coffee toasty/oak nose; soft lightweight licorice/  blackbery/Syrah light toasty/oak flavor; med.long bit dilute tart pleasant licorice/blackberry/  Syrah light toasty finish w/ some tannins; not a lot of BienNacido/black cherry character;  seems a bit dilute or a 5-6ton/acre Syrah; pleasant wine for the price.
14. Daniel Gehrs Paso Robles Syrah (13.9%;U/U) '98: Dark color; very coffee/roasted/smokey/dusty  some blackberry/Syrah nose; rich very coffee/coffee grounds/toasty pungent some blackberry/  Syrah flavor; med.long very mocha/coffee/pungent/malted milk/coffee grounds toasty light  blackberry/Syrah finish w/ some tannins; quite an interesting/well-made Syrah; not a lot of  blackberry fruit and seems like from lesser Syrah (FrenchCamp or Frahlich) grapes in Paso;  good Syrah for the price.
15. Hospices du Rhone Alban Vnyd Grenache Seymour's Vnyd (14%) '98: Black color; beautiful/intense  coffee/peppery very intense/blackberry/boysenberry/licorice smokey/pungent/oak bit dusty/  earthy nose; rich gamey very spicy hard/tannic intense peppery/blackberry/Grenache some floral  smokey/toasty/oak flavor; very long/lingering tannic very gamey/peppery quite spicy/blackberry/  boysenberry some pungent/toasty/oak finish w/ ample tannins; a bit harder/tannic than John's  usual Grenache; loaded w/ very spicy/peppery Grenache fruit; terrific Grenach and needs 2-6  yrs of age. Killer wine.
16. J.L.Chave St.Joseph Offerus (12.5%) '96: Dark color; very attractive roasted/NorthernRhone/  toasty quite gamey/Syrah slighht bretty nose; lovely/elegant roasted/gamey/NorthernRhonebit  lean/hard/austere complex flavor; long austere/hard bit tannic roasted/coffee/pungent/Northern  Rhone finish; developing very nicely and needs more age yet. Howard's mystery wine.

1. Gardner Britt & his son David were recently in LosAlamos for technical discussions w/ some  of the finest minds in science. Gardner, owner of CraneCanyonCllrs, brought these two Mourvedres  from his archives for our tasting group to try. I've always liked the CraneCnyn Mourvedres and felt they showed more structure & character  than most of the ones from ContraCosta. He has an old-vine Mourvedre vnyd that he sources from  there in SonomaCnty. The '94 showed surprising maturity than I would have expected from a '94.  The Enigma, which was crushed by foot and fermented in the Britt hot-tub was an amazing/complex  wine; probably near its peak I would guess; an absolute gem. One of the few remaining in Gardner's  archives. He also brought his '90 Mourvedre (ho-made wine) that we had with dinner during his visit.  Absolute stunning stuff, maybe the best mature Mourvedre I've ever had. And still w/ a few yrs  to go on it, I would guess. Mourvedre, when sourced from a quality vnyd, can clearly make  great wine in Calif. The CrabeCnyn Zin is also another favorite of mine. And he makes a Chard (or is it CheninBlanc?)  / Viognier blend called White Crane that's a great drinking white at a very reasonable price. 
2. The Truchard Syrah has always been one of my favorite Syrahs. In the past, some of them have  been pretty bretty/unclean/funky. This '98 version showed none of that whatsoever. It's a  delicious Syrah, but probably only for the near term. 
3. Alban CentralCoast Syrah: John's first CC Syrah was the '97, about 3 barrels worth. It was a  terrific wine, very close to Reva in quality, and a real bargin at $18. This '98 CC Syrah seems  a bit lesser than the '97 version, and a bit overpriced at $28. It's good Syrah, no denying that,  but should be priced down in the low $20's I would say. 
4. DanielGehrs Syrah: I have followed Dan's wines from the very start, back when he was winemaker  at CongressSprings and made some terrific Zins and Pinots, some of which I still have in my  archives. I was very excited when he went down south to be winemaker at ZacaMesa and feel that  he did an extraordinary job of turning that winery around; a wnry that had sort of been  languishing in the doldroms for a number of yrs. Best of all, it sort of sucked Dan into the  mainstream of the Rhone movement in Calif.  This was the first non-ZacaMesa Syrah of Dan's I've tasted and was quite impressed. Since  he doesn't have his own vnyds, he's a bit at the mercy of what grapes are available. If these  were FrenchCamp Syrah grapes, I'm VERY impressed. I would guess they're probably Frahlich  Syrah grapes. Anyway, it's great to have Dan back on the screen again & I'll be floowing his  wines a bit more closely again. 
5. AlbanGrenache: There's no doubt about it. John Alban makes world-class Grenache, maybe the best  in the world. This is exactly how Jacques Reynaud would make Grenache if'n he could!! The rigt  clones, the right vnyd, low yields, and impeccable farming make all the difference in the world.  This was John's first crop from the SeymourVnyd (named after John's father), which is  located on the Alban property way up on top of the hills, right below the high-power electrical  transmission lines. Very rocky,craggy, chalky limestone soil. We're going to see some great  Grenache (and Syrah) come from this vnyd in the future, I am certain.  This one,first barrel was auctioned at the first Hospices du Rhone auction last year. Augie  Hug, who makes his wine there at John's wnry, was determined to have the barrel. He had to  outbid MarkMiller and BarryLarvin to attain it. Augie did good; it's terrific Grenache. Augie  runs the tasting room at AlbanVnyds and sells the wine there.