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.

Things were a bit slow to stir at Bob Senn's that morning but eventually we all come to life. After a couple of cups of Joe, reading about the latest Los Alamos fiasco in the newspaper, it's onto 101 & heading up to Arroyo Grande for my morning appointment at John Alban's. Joining me here are Howard&Rhoda Sherry, Jeff Pfohl, and Larry Archibald. 

I've followed John Alban's wines from the very start. About the '95 vintage, John  really hit his stride and has been making world-class wines ever since. Because of the coolness of the EdnaVlly (Pinot & Chardonnay country), his Roussanne & Viogniers have a leaness to them that's atypical of many other Calif versions that I feel makes them more interesting and better food wines. His Syrah has an acidity to it and a spicy/ peppery character that's rare in Calif Syrah. And his Grenache..... world-class, like no other in the world, maybe the world's best Grenache. It often has the density of  Aussie Grenache but w/ much more tannins & structure and w/o the fatness & softness those versions often show. And France can only dream of making Grenache like John's. 

We start w/ a tour of what's new in John's vnyd. He is pretty much used all of the flatter/bottom land down in from of the wnry for his original plantings. You take a  steep gravel road west behind the wnry where his newer plantings are. The soil here is mostly limestone w/ very low fertility. Up on top of the hill is Seymour'sVnyd (John's father). Before you get to Seymour's, he's ripping up some pretty steep land and terracing for what he'll call the Serpent's Vnyd (because of its serpentine/up&down nature); very rugged land and barren soils. Beyond Seymour's, he also ripping up another patch of land for more plantings. Both of these will not be planted for another year, at least, maybe longer, as John works w/ various clones already planted and decides exactly what he want to put in in the way of Syrah & Grenache. The new plantings are some of the steepest I've seen in Calif and exactly how they would plant vnyds in Cote-Rotie if they could!! :-) His Syrah & Grenache are planted to a vertical trellis. They were just in the process of completing leaf-pulling to expose the grapes to more sunlight and give them more color. Up in Seymour's, they were pulling only on one side of the vines, which John had determined to be optimal from his experiments. John is, first and foremost, a farmer and  it's clear that's where his passion lies.

John's yields from his estate vnyds dropped quite a bit for both the '98 & '99  vintages. which is probably the reason for their size and extract. For his wines, John  characterized the '99 vintage as producing intense fruit-forward opulent wines whilst the  '98 wines gave bigger extracted tannic wines. As I tasted thru John's wines, color and extract hardly seemed an issue with them. So after we return to the wnry, visit a bit w/ Paul Wilkins, and deride their team  for its lame bowling efforts, it's into the barrels:

1. Alban Vineyard Estate Roussanne '99: Med.light gold color; bit pungent/H2S light floral light toasty/oak nose; tart/minerally but rather lush floral/honeysuckle light toasty/oak flavor; rather rich wine w/ a tart/minerally backbone.
2. Alban Vineyard Roussanne/Viognier TBA (42 gallons; 57.4 Brix @ harvest) '99: Deep gold color; intense botrytis/peachy/apricotty fragrant nose; very sweet huge/lush intense/peachy/ apricotty/botrytis bit floral flavor w/ plenty of acidic backbone; a classic TBA
3. Alban Vineyard Grenache Seymour'sVnyd '99: Black color; intense blackberry/boysenberry bit toasty/oak nose; tart/hard huge/extracted blackberry/boysenberry/Grenache flavor w/ ample tannins; huge extracted Grenache
4. Alban Vineyard Pandora (2/3 Grenache, 1/3 Syrah) '98: Black color; huge boysenberry/black- berry quite spicy/peppery light toasty/charred/oak nose; tart huge/extracted boysen- berry/blackberry some toasty/charred/oak rather peppery/spicy flavor w/ huge tannins; a huge/extracted blockbuster red.
5. Alban Vineyard Syrah (from lean/poor soil) '98: Black color; very fragrant/peppery/spicy bit gamey/sauvage nose; big/rich/extracted very spicy/white pepper flavor w/ ample tannins.
6. Alban Vineyard Syrah (from stronger/richer soils) '98: more intense blackberry/boysenberry less spicy/peppery nose; bit rounder/softer bigger boysenberry/blackberry/fruit flavor; has stronger fruit and less spicy character; sort of a more "blocky" simpler wine.
7. Alban Vineyard (sample Lorraine blend) Syrah '98: Black color; beautiful/complex blackberry/ boysenberry very peppery/spicy slight toasty/smokey/oak nose; big/huge lush very spicy/ peppery boysenberry/blackberry complex flavor; big huge extraordinary Syrah.
8. Alban Vineyard Seymour's Vnyd Syrah '98: Black color; beautiful/intense very spicy/peppery/ fragrant/high-toned boysenberry bit gamey nose; big/hard/extracted/tannic very spicy/ peppery boysenberry/gamey flavor; huge extracted Syrah w/ lots of aromatics
9. Alban Vineyard Seymour's Vnyd Syrah '99: Black color; huge/intense loads of boysenberry/blackberry/ chocolaty/licorice bit toasty/oak nose; big/rich/extracted/tannic boysenberry/chocolaty/ licorice/blackberry/Syrah flavor; not quite the spice and the high-toned notes of the '98 version.

Towards the end of the tasting, the wines bacame so impressive that I couldn't bear to spit them on the floor.

Finishing the barrels with that note, we head into the tasting room. Along the way, we have an encounter w/ John & Lorraine's son, Jared; as cute a little bug of a kid as you'd ever want to see. A bit on the shy side, he contually peeks around the curtains at these strange people as we start slamming down the wines in the tasting room. 

Augie Hug has been a longtime friend of the Albans and makes his wines there at John's wnry, some of which are from estate grapes. John's home is actually part of the wnry,  but the lack of privacy there has become a problem. So they are building a new home up on the hillside above & behind the wnry. In early April, they turned their living room into a tasting room that Augie & Raquel Hug run, having closed their tasting room over in Harmony. So both Augie's and John's wines are available to taste and to buy here. So we taste thru the available ones:

1. Alban Vineyard Central Coast (Templeton) Viognier '98: Med.yellow color; strong floral bit herbal/haymow/earthy nose; soft fairly rich floral/pear some herbal/haymow flavor; not in the class of his Estate but pretty tasty.
2. Alban Vineyard Alban Estate Roussanne '98: Med.gold color; strong floral/honeysuckle/spicy/ cloves very fragrant nose; tart some minerally very spicy/cloves floral/honeysuckle rich flavor; lots of fragrance but also well-structured.
3. Hug Cellars Lewis Vnyd Chard '97: Med.dark gold color; strong tobaccoy/toasty/oaked rather ripe/melony/Chard nose; tart/rich some toasty/charred/oaked ripe/melony/Chard flavor; very nicely done Chard.
4. Hug Cellars Alban Vineyard Chard '99: it's not a well-known fact but John farms a Chard vnyd for a neighbor just east up the road; med. gold color; rather minerally/spicy/melony less toasty/oaked nose; tart/racey appley/melony/Chard clean/spicy flavor; toned down on  the oak and a tarter & leaner Chard; nicely done.
5. Alban Vineyard Central Coast SonRojo (Syrah&Grenache saignee) NV: Pale red/rose color; spicy/ cinammon/cloves fragrant/fruity nose; clean/tart/bracing spicy/cloves/nutmeg flavor; much like Domaine Tempier w/o the earthiness; tasty rose.
6. Hug Cellars ElObispo (80% CS, 20% Syrah) '98: Rather herbal/dusty/spicy/cinammon bit toasty/ oak nose; tart/lean spicy/dusty/cloves/cinammon bit herbal/Cab flavor; a sort of lean/ herbal CentralCoast Cab, don't see much of the Syrah in this wine.
7. Alban CentralCoast (mostly Estate) Syrah '97: Med.dark color; med.strong peppery/spicy bit gamey/smokey/oak nose; tart bit lean/metallic smokey/toasty/oaked some gamey/Syrah light blackberry flavor; the '96 version was terrific Syrah at $18/btl; this may be slightly better than the '96 but not the buy at $28/btl.
8. Hug Cellars Encantada Calif Dessert Wine (SB plus 4% Semillon; 15%; 8% r.s.; mostly botrytis grapes) '9?: strong grapey/lush/floral bit butterscotchy nose; strong angel food cake/ spicy/ cinammon-apple/ grapey flavor; tastes mostly of very ripe grapes & not much botrytis; tasty dessert wine w/ lots of grapiness.
9. Alban Rotten Luck Edna Vlly Estate Roussanne TBA '98: Dark color; intense TBA/botrytis/ peachy/grapey/pineapply bit smokey nose; soft very lush pineapply/peachy/botrytis quite sweet flavor; the botrytis pretty much obliterates any Roussanne character; a bit on the soft side but loads of botrytis; very good dessert wine.
10. Hospices du Rhone Alban Vineyard Seymour'sVnyd AlbanEstate Grenache '98: Black color; intense licorice/chocolate/pungent/boysenberry bit roasted/toasty/oak nose; rich tannic/chocolaty/ boysenberry/pungent/licorice slight herbal/earthy light toasty/oak flavor; a huge Grenache w/ lots going on in it. This is the first real crop from Seymour's and John donated a barrel of it to HdR last year, which Augie bought & is selling from the tasting room ($50)

One of my favorite restaurants in SLO is the EdnaVllyBistro. Alas, it is no longer. The chef, Steve Farell, bought the business and renamed it Mosaics. Still the same great food and still very good wine list. One of the attractions is right next door is a very nice wine shop, The Wine Guy, run by Ron & Lisa Rawlinson. He used to do tastings on Wed nights, but has stopped doing that. However, when he heard that our group was going to be there this night, he offered to set us up w/ our own special tasting, which he did. They were unable to be there (we saw them later in the week at HdR), but left the tasting in the very capable hands of one of his people, Kelly. She did a superb job of presenting and answering questions on the wines:
 

1. Preston Dry Creek Vlly Marsanne '97: Med.gold color; bit nutty slight oxidized some toasty/ oak nose; tart bit oxidized/nutty smokey/toasty/oak flavor; rather typical aged/ developed Marsanne; interesting wine.
2. Clos Ste. Magladeinne (80% Marsanne) Cassis '97: Loght gold color; bit stoney/earthy slight floral/perfumed nose; tart/lean bit metallic/earthy/appley some floral/honeysuckle flavor; a tart & lean food wine.
3. Bianco de Paso PasoRobles Viognier '97: made by Talley winemaker Steve Rasmussen; Med. gold color; very fragrant pear/Viognier bit toasty/oaked nose; soft fairly lush/fat pear/peach/Viognier flavor; good straightforward Paso Viognier.
4. El Chaparral de Vega Sindoa OldVines Grenache '98: Med.color; dusty/earthy/old vines some strawberry/Grenache rather fragrant/spicy nose; dusty/earthy/spicy/old vines some  fragrant/strawberry/Grenache flavor; lots of dusty/old vines character w/ elegant Grenache character.
5. Australian Domaine BarossaVlly Alliance Shiraz '98: Black color; intense blackberry/ boysenberry/licorice/Shiraz light vanilla/oak nose; soft/big/rich boysenberry/blackberry/ licorice/cassis loads of fruit flavor; a terrific/lush Aussie Shiraz loaded w/ cassis fruit and a real bargin at $21.

• Slow-Roasted Duck & Chopped Spinach Salad w/ Tomatoe Tossed w/ Warm Pancetta & RedWine Vinegarette
• Hearty Duck Confit served w/ Roasted ButterNut Squash Risotto Topped w/ Grated Parmesan

It was a terrific meal, one of the best I had on my trip. It was a slow night so we got to visit w/ chef/owner Steve Farell quite a bit and closed the place down. The wines:

1. Ch.de Fonsalette Cotes du Rhone '95: Dark color; rather earthy/dusty bit roasted low fruit  clean nose; soft earthy/dusty light roasted light grenache/fruity flavor w/ light tannins; a pleasant if low-key CdR.
2. Penfolds Bin 90A SouthAustralia Cabernet/Shiraz 91(?): Black color; very aromatic vanilla/ Am.oaked some roasted/pungent/licorice bit herbal/Cab classic Aussie nose; tart fairly tannic strong Am.oaked vanilla strong licorice/blackberry/pungent/herbal Cab flavor; a classic Aussie red; still young and will go for yrs.

1. Atavistic Thrill Carmine (Jim Clendennan wine) '97: very dark color; ratherr earthy/dusty/ slight herbal some oaked nose; hearty/coarse/rustic earthy/dusty bit herbal/funky  flavor; a rather rough & rustic red.

We close down the restaurant and head off for our respective motels & crash.

TomHill