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. Sutter Home Calif (12%) Shiraz '99: Light color; simple grapey/fruity slight pungent no Syrah nose; rather tart/earthy/grapey/cherry thin little Syrah flavor; light/thin simple grapey/cherry tart finish w/ no tannins; drinkable but utterly boring so why bother.
2. Duxoup Dry Creek Valley Syrah (13.0%; 1119 cs) '98: Med.color; bit grapey/pungent slight licorice/ smokey bit buttery nose; soft grapey bit licorice/pungent little Syrah slight buttery flavor; med.short soft/grapey/fruity slight licorice/pungent bit buttery finish; a light pleasant red w/ virtually no Syrah character.
3. Limerick Lane Russian River Valley Syrah CollinsVnyd (14.2%) '98: dark color; attractive blackberry bit gamey/licorice fragrant slight dusty slight Am.oaked nose; soft bit diffuse/light pleasant blackberry/gamey some oaked flavor; med.short attractive blackberry/Syrah bit gamey rather buttery/oaked finish w/ little tannins; a nice $15 Zin but just that; overpriced. $32.00
4. Truchard Carneros/ Napa Valley Syrah (14.3%) '98: Very dark color; deep blackberry/boysenberry/ Syrah bit gamey/bretty slight volatile some toasty/Fr.oak nose; big/rich blackberry/ boysenberry gamey/meaty slight green olive loads of Syrah flavor; very long blackberry/ boysenberry/Syrah rather gamey/meaty slight green olive finish w/ fair tannins; needs several yrs; loads of ripe Syrah fruit; pretty clean compared w/ some previous ones; best Truchard Syrah in a number of yrs; terrific Syrah.
5. L'Ecosse Russian River Valley Syrah (TW) '96: Very dark color; bit reduced/stinky/sewer gas rather bretty some blackberry/Syrah somewhat volatile nose; tart rather hot/volatile slight earthy/bretty some gamey/blackberry flavor; med.long hot/volatile rather bretty/unclean some gamey/blackberry/Syrah finish w/ slight tannins; bit too unclean & volatile.
6. Lewis Cellars Napa Valley Syrah (14.4%) '98: Black color; very strong toasted coconut/oaky chocolaty/licorice some minty/menthol very Oz-like nose; soft/lush toasted coconut/menthol/ loads of oak some ripe/chocolaty/Shiraz flavor; long soft chocolaty/licorice quite toasted coconut/oaky finish w/ some tannins; much like the Behrens&Hitchcock; been bludgeoned pretty heavily w/ oak but an interesting Oz-style Syrah; overpriced at $45.00
7. Linne Calodo Willow Red Paso Robles RTW '98: Med.color; fragrant/aromatic/spicy light dusty/herbal very strawberry/spicy/aromatic nose; tart very spicy/strawberry bit lean/hard light pencilly/ oaked flavor; med.short toasty bright strawberry/spicy light dusty finish w/ light tannins; wonderful aromatics but a bit stiff & lean on the palate; probably young vines.
8. Linne Calodo James Berry Vnyd (905 Syrah, 5% grenache, 5% Mourvedre; 14.6%) '98: Dark color; beautiful deep blackberry/Syrah some meaty/gamey/pungent bit toasty/Fr.oak some complex nose; big/rich blackberry/Syrah some dusty/gamey bit toasty/Fr.oaked balanced flavor; long/tart blackberry/Syrah light toasty/oak light dusty/pungent/gamey finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; lots of Syrah fruit but not a jucy/jammy kind of Syrah; one of the best maybe the best Syrah from the JamesBerry vnyd yet.
9. L'Aventure Paso Robles Syrah (13.8%) '98: Dark color; strong taosty/pencilly/Fr.oaked/ perfumed talc some chocolaty light blackberry/Syrah nose; tart rather strong pencilly/toasty/ Fr.oaked slight bretty/funky light blackberry/black cherry/Syrah elegant/supple/attractive very balanced flavor; med.long pencilly/toasty/Fr.oak attractive black cherry/blackberry/ Syrah finish w/ light tannins; a lovely/balance/polished/elegant Syrah at a positively stupid price. $58.00
10. Justin Vineyards & Winery Paso Robles Estate Vnyd (14.1%) Syrah (15% DurellClone, 85% ChapoutierClone) '98: Very dark color; bit reduced/stinky rather pungent/licorice/chocolaty very toasty/charred/ smokey/Fr.oaked nose; bit reduced/funky/herbal very toasty/charred/Fr.oaked/menthol licorice/ chocolaty/pungent bit funky/Rhonish flavor; long menthol/charred/toasty/Fr.oak/pungent some ripe/licorice/chocolaty bit funky finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; lots of charred/ menthol oak & ripe/jammy character; classic Justin in style & bit on the soupy side. Fairly priced at $18.00
11. Gregory Graham Napa Valley Syrah (13.2%) '98: Black color; very intense gamey/blackberry/boysenberry/ Syrah/pungent some toasty/oak/smokey/mocha complex nose; very peppery intense gamey/blackberry/ boysenberry/loads of Syrah fruit pungent/mocha some tannic flavor; very long very black pepper/ blackberry/boysenberry/gamey pungent/mocha/roasted finish w/ fair tannins; needs 2-5 yrs; a superb Syrah in the Lagier-Meredith or EdStJ style. Great price. $21.00
12. Andrew Murray Santa Barbara County Esperance (Syrah/Grenache/Mourvedre; 13.5%) '99: Dark color; intense walnutty/chocolaty/pungent unusual some toasty/oak complex nose; tart very spicy blackberry/walnutty/chocolaty/strawberry unusual flavor; long walnutty/chocolaty/strawberry/ blackberry some pungent/smokey/oak finish w/ light tannins; a very interesting bit bizarre/ exotic wine.
13. Andrew Murray Santa Barbara County Syrah Best Barrique Cuvee (13.5%) '98: Black color; reduced/ pungent slight volatile/aromatic intense blackberry/boysenberry/blueberry slight toasty/ walnutty nose; big/rich/extracted/intense blackberry/boysenberry some green olive tannic some toasty/pungent/oak flavor; very long/tannic extracted blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah some toasty/Fr.oaked finish that needs much age; much like Andrew's very first Syrahs; a huge/ extracted Syrah and maybe Andrew's best yet. Good value. $26.00
14. Tensley Santa Barbara County Syrah Thompson Vnyd (13.5%) '99: Black color; intense boysenberry/ blackberry/licorice/loads of fruit/black cherry cola very dusty/gamey/Rhonish nose; tart intense very dusty/tannic blackberry/boysenberry/gamey some toasty/oak complex/intense flavor; very long bit herbal/dusty very blackberry/black cherry cola very tannic slight Rhonish/bretty complex finish w/ ample tannins; needs 3-8 yrs age; classic huge Thompson spicy Syrah; best Tensley Syrah yet; killer stuff. Well-priced at $29.00
15. Tensley Santa Barbara County Syrah Purisma Mtn Vnyd (13.5%!!) '99: Black color; bit reduced/pungent very chocolaty/boysenberry/blackberry/Syrah very ripe to overripe complex nose; softer bit overripe/jammy intense chocolaty/blackberry/boysenberry extracted flavor; very long very ripe chocolaty/blackberry/boysenberry soft extracted finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-5 yrs; seems a bit more overripe/jammy than the Thompson but terrific Syrah.
16. Domaine Brussett LesHauts de Montmirail Gigondas (13%) '98: Dark color; rather earthy/Rhonish some toasty/minty/oaked blackberry/gamey Calif-style nose; some gamey/earthy rather ripe/ blackberry/Syrah bit minty/oaked flavor; long soft lush round some Rhonish/pungent/roasted bit peppery/blackberry light minty/oak finish w/ light tannins; attractive Calif-style Rhone.
17. Clos du Mont Olivet LeCuvee du Papet Chateauneuf du Pape (13%) '98: Med.dark color; very strong pungent/roasted/NorthernRhone espresso/black cherry almost hybridy character nose; big intense/smokey/NorthernRhone espresso coffee/mocha/roasted complex flavor; very long roasted/espresso/coffee/mocha finish w/ some tannins; lots of NorthernRhone character; bit pricey at $50.

1. DuxoupWineWorks: Duxoup was one of the very early players in the Calif Syrah game, back in the early '80's. After almost 20 yrs at it; they STILL haven't figured how to make great Syrah. They appear to use lots of carbonic maceration or whole-berry fermentation in their winemaking that obliterates any varietal character. They Zin, Gamay, and Syrah all seem to taste alike. Nice red easy-drinking somewhat interesting wines; but they could be better.
2. LinneCalodo: I've followed the LinneCalodo wines from the very start. Matt Treviso is a winemaker at WildHorse, where the wines are made and Justin Smith the farmer part of the operation. These two reds are absolutely first rate wines. Keep your eyes on these guys.
3. Paso Robles Syrah: I've had a lot of Paso Syrahs that I've liked quite a bit, good-drinking wines, but not often do they make it to the very top tier of Calif Syrah. Easily the best thus far are from the JamesBerry vnyd. I sort of feel, with more & more plantings over on the WestSide, we going to see that change and Paso will be consistently in the top tier. With Ehren Jordan & Steve Edmunds endorsing the region, I'm clearly not alone in that belief.
4. GregoryGraham wines: This is the OTHER Graham in the Calif Rhone movement and, IMHO, by far the better of the two. He makes  pretty tasty Viogniers, Knight'sVlly and Napa Valley, that sometimes are a bit oaked but often pretty terrific. But he's been quietly (unlike the OTHER Grahm) making Syrah for several yrs that I've been mightly impressed with. This seems the best one yet. I must visit him next time I'm in Napa. He deserves more recognition.
5. Tensley wines: Joey Tensley, winemaker at BeckmenVnyds, is rapidly moving towards the forefront as one of Calif's top Rhone winemakers; in just two yrs now. Definitely a guy to watch.
6. PurismaMtnVnyd: This is the first wine I've (knowingly) had from PurismaMtn. I was impressed. Looks like another vnyd w/ potential for great Calif Syrah.
7. Thompson vnyd: This vnyd has been making some absolutely killer Syrahs, as long as they're made by other wiemakers!! Stephen Bedford at Bedford-Thompson just hasn't seemed to figure the winemaking out since the very first one, the '95(?).