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. Rabbit Ridge Sonoma County Viognier Heart Break Hill Vineyard (13.4%) '95: Med.gold color; pleasant piney rather toasty/oaked/pungent Chard-like little Viognier nose; soft light pear/Viognier glycerined rather toasty/oaked flavor; med.long glycerined soft pungent/toasty/oaked light pear finish; very little Viognier character & more liked a somewhat oaked Chard.
2. Rabbit Ridge Sonoma County Viognier Heart Break Hill Vineyard (13.4%) '97: Med.dark gold color; light fragrant pear/Viognier low-key little oak nose; tart light pear/Viognier light toasty/oaked rather weak/thin flavor; med.short some bitter light pear/Viognier bit thin/weak/lean finish; more Viognier varietal character but rather thin like a Pays d'Oc Viognier.
3. Fess Parker Santa Barbara County Viognier (13.8%) '97: Med.light gold color; attractive fragrant pear/Viognier clean nose; tart/lean/thin somewhat bitter very low-key pear/Viognier flavor; med.long bit bitter/thin light pear/Viognier finish; pleasant nose but a bit to thin & weak on the palate; must like the RHPhillips EXP version.
4. Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Viognier (58% Stolpman Vnyd, 42% BienNacidoVnyd; 13.9%; 609 cs) '98: Med.gold color; strong perfumed talc/peachy/Viognier some charred/toasty/oak nose becomes very fragrant pear/peach/Viognier very lovely/aromatic nose; tart ripe pear/Viognier/perfumed talc textured/glycerined light pungent flavor; long perfumed/pear/peach/Viognier light pungent finish; a rather elegant rather than bombastic style of Viognier; seems a bit tight and needing a little age.
5. Storrs Central Coast Grenache (14.5%) '95: Med.light color; pleasant strawberry/Grenache/perfumed/ fragrant bit smokey nose; tart/pungent light strawberry/spicy flavor; med.short tart/fresh strawberry/Grenache finish w/ little tannins; nice strawberry/perfumey bit smokey character; somewhat brighter than Clos du Gilroy; pleasant/light Grenache.
6. Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Grenache Stolpman Vnyd (14.5%) '95: Med.light color; some toasty/oaked/pencilly/ pungent light licorice/strawberry/Grenache nose; tart spicy pencilly/pungent lean spicy/ strawberry/Grenache/strawberry soda flavor; med.long tart elegant spicy/strawberry/Grenache some pencilly/pungent/oak finish w/ light tannins; a lean/elegant spicy/strawberry Grenache; some like a medium-weight Cotes du Rhone; holding well.
7. Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Grenache Stolpman Vnyd (13.5%; 150 cs) '98: Med.color; attractive licorice/Grenache/ strawberry/perfumed talc very spicy/aromatic nose; tart spicy/licorice/strawberry/strawberry soda perfumey/elegant flavor; med.long very spicy/strawberry/Grenache/soda light pungent/licorice finish w/ light tannins; very attractive very spicy elegant Grenache.
8. Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Mourvedre Stolpman Vnyd (13.8%; +Stolpman Syrah; 325 cs) '98: Med.color; some licorice/plummy/black cherry cola bit pungent/earthy nose; soft plummy/licorice/black cherry cola light pungent/smokey flavor; long soft very plummy/black cherry cola/licorice finish w/ some tannins; more fragrance & aromatics and not as much earthy/dusty character of many Calif Mourvedres; attractive plummy/forward wine. Good value at $18.50
9. Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Syrah (13.9%; Thompson, Stolpman, BienNacido, French Camp Syrah + Stolpman Viognier; 1200 cs) '98: Dark color; deep earthy/pungent/smokey/Rhonish plummy/black cherry nose; soft plummy/ Rhonish bit toasty/oak smokey/pungent/chocolaty flavor; med.long pungent/smokey/Rhonish bit plummy/black cherry finish w/ light tannins; interesting Rhone-like red similar to the Qupe CentralCoast but a bit bigger & richer; the FrenchCamp seems to dominate & gives it a pungent/ Rhonish character.
10. Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Syrah Stolpman Vnyd (14%; 75 cs) '98: Med.dark color; fragrant/perfumey/strawberry/ Syrah aromatic spicy/elegant nose; tart elegant/spicy/strawberry/Syrah fragrant/perfumed flavor; med.long fragrant/strawberry/spicy/Syrah elegant finish w/ some tannins; more of the elegant/ fragrant/perfumy part of the Syrah spectrum; reminds me a lot of the Eberle Syrahs.
11. Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Syrah Bien Nacido Vnyd (14.0%; 300 cs) '98: Very dark color; intense blackberry/plummy/ black cherry/licorice/loads of fruit some smokey/pungent nose; tart ripe blackberry/Syrah/plummy/ black cherry spicy bit pungent light oak flavor; long clean plummy/black cherry/black cherry cola finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; lots of clean spicy Calif Syrah character w/ lots of that BienNacido/black cherry character; very good Syrah for the price. $25.25
12. Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Syrah Bien Nacido Vnyd (14.0%) '97: Black color; intense blackberry/Syrah rather bretty/ horsecollar tobaccoy/pungent/smokey funky/complex nose that clears to very strong blackberry/Syrah smokey/complex character; rich ripe/blackberry/Syrah funky/brett/horsecollar/Rhonish smokey/oaked/ tobacco flavor; long strong blackberry/Syrah funky/brett/horsecollar pungent/tarry finish w/ fair tannins; a noticible brett gives this a very interesting funky/SouthernRhone-like character; not as bretty as most Beaucastels though; needs another 2-5 yrs; should evolve into a very good/ Rhonish Syrah.
13. Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Syrah Thompson Vnyd (14.0%; 75 cs) '98: Dark color; intense smokey/pungent/ blackberry/Syrah/gamey some earthy/licorice light oak nose; tart rich intense blackberry/Syrah/ fragrant very spicy some licorice/pungent flavor; long spicy/blackberry/Syrah clean fruit some pungent/smokey finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-4 yrs; more bigness & gamey/Syrah character than the other '98 Syrahs; my favorite of the '98's.
14. Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Syrah Thompson Vnyd (14.3%) '97: Black color; very intense blackberry/Syrah/ boysenberry very perfumed/aromatic slight bretty/funky complex rather gamey/sauvage nose; slight petilliant intense blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah/gamey smokey/pungent slight bretty/horsecollar rather licorice complex flavor; very long intense blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry some gamey/licorice pungent bit bretty/horsecollar finish w/ ample tannins; lots of gamey/Rhonish character and complexity; perhaps Craig's best Syrah yet; terrific gamey/sauvage Syrah.
15. Whitcraft Winery San Luis Obispo Cnty Nebbiolo French Camp Vnyd (Unfined/Unfltrd) '97: Light bit browning color; unusual olive/herbal/cherry/rose petal very dusty low fruit nose; tart green olive rather herbal very dusty bit dried out light cherry/rose petal flavor; med.short astringent herbal bit dried out very dusty/walnutty light cherry/rose petal finish; plenty of tannins there but not much fruit; rather interesting/strange red more like a Gattinara or Lombard red.
16. Accedemia Piemonte Barbera (12%) '97: Med.color; strong berry very coffee/espresso/charred chocolate/cocoa nose; tart very cherry/espresso/chocolaty lean/earthy astringent bit thin flavor; short very tart cherry/chocolate tarry/dried rose petal finish w/ fair tannins; a tart lean hard Barbera but not bad for the price. $3.99 from Howard & Rhoda, a gift to them from TomHill

1. Grenache: If you're looking for big/intense/black Grenache like Alban or Aussie ones, the Jaffurs are not the ones. But they're verl well-made/attractive/spicy/perfumey kind of Grenache. Very much like Oregon Pinot but w/ a strawberry/Grenache character rather than a cherry/Pinot character. I've had them several times w/ salmon dishes, where I usually go for a Pinot, and they work very well indeed.
2. The Vnyds: It's always interesting to see what different winemakers do w/ different vnyds and try to get a handle on the character of the vnyds. The Stolpman Vnyd ( I'm generalizing beyond just Craig's wines here) seems to produce rather lighter/elegant very spicy/perfumey kind of wines, more on the lean side, w/ not a lot of tannins & extract. The BienNacido wines seem to have a bit of a soft underbelly w/ loads & loads of plummy/black cherry fruit. And the ThompsonVnyd seems to yield big/intense/extracted/tannic rather hard kind of wines. Of the Syrah from SantaBarbara area, I would have to rate the Thompson and Roll Ranch and BienNacido Hillside Block as my favorites.
3. StolpmanVnyd: Before HdR last June, I spent several hrs w/ Jeff Newton visiting the Stolpman vnyd. Impressive vnyd w/ impeccably maintained vines. Jeff, the vnyd manager there, is more than just a guy that drives a tractor. Very sharp mind, very much a focus on producing quality grapes there, and knows wines amazingly well, knows what it takes (or at least recognizes) great wine. Tom & Marylin Stolpman have now released some wines under their own label. Cab varieties and a Syrah, I understand. Haven't yet tasted them.
4. I've been following Craig Jaffur's wines from the very start and obviously like them quite a bit. His '97's developed a noticible brett/horsecollar to them but I didn't find it at all objectionable and thought it gave the wines a Rhone-like character. I preferred the '97's to the '98's (at this point in time) because of greater intensity & extract & complexity. The '98's were much cleaner w/ no hints of brett, but they all seemed to have a narrowness & thightness to them that I think indicates a need for some age. Craig bottles & releases his wines earlier than most wineries and they seem to show much better w/ a little age on them. I think this particularly true of his whites.