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. Edmunds St. John Calif Viognier (14.7%) '98: Med.gold color; rather pungent/smokey/ tobaccoy very spicy fragrant Viognier/pear very interesting nose; soft very lush/ unctuous/very glycerined tobaccoy/toasty/Fr.oaked very fragrant pear/Viogniercomplex/pungent/toasty flavor; very long tobaccoy/toasty/charred/Fr.oak lush/ripe/ pear/Viognier finish; very atypical Calif Viognier but beautiful wine.
2. Pride Mountain Vnyds Viognier Sonoma County (14.1%; 445 cs) '98: Med.dark gold color; intense/ beautiful/aromatic peach/pear/Viognier very fragrant/lush nose; big/soft/fat off-dry/ Z-H style loads of peachy/Viognier fruit flavor; med.short soft/fat/ripe loads of intense Viognier/peach/pear fruit; a classic intense overblown Calif Viognier w/ tons of fruit; classic DollyParton Viognier, all silicone & little structure; great Viognier to taste but maybe a little tiring w/ a meal.
3. Edmunds St. John Rocks & Gravel Calif RW (62% DurellVnyd Syrah, 22% Mendocino Grenache, 16% ElDorado Mourvedre; 13.5%) '98: Med.dark color; bit reduced/stinky nose clears to complex/roasted/pungent/smokey bit peppery/strawberry very spicy nose; soft pungent/ very roasted/smokey lush almost Hermitage-like Rhonish flavor; med.long complex/roasted/ pungent/smokey lush finish w/ some tannins; a beautiful/complex Rhonish red. Very good value at $18.00
4. Chapoutier South East Australia Syrah (12.5%) '97: Dark color; smokey/buttery/ buttered popcorn some roasted/spicy bit herbal/green olive complex cranberry nose; tart mocha/coffee buttered popcorn/oaked very spicy/black cherry/Dr.Pepper elegant flavor; very long elegant spicy tart buttered popcorn/oaked bit cranberry/blackberry finish w/ some tannins; very atypical but elegant/lovely/interesting version of Aussie Shiraz.
5. Edmunds St. John El Dorado Cnty Syrah Fenaughty Vnyd (14.0%) '97: Dark color; lush/ripe/ spicy very black pepper bit dusty rather fragrant/blackberry nose; tart/elegant very black pepper/very spicy dusty light blackberry/Dr.Pepper flavor; med.long tart very strong black/cracked/pepper dusty light blackberry/Syrah finish w/ slight tannins; lots of cracked black pepper rather Rhonish character; lovely elegant Syrah and probably the best ElDorado red I've had.
6. Edmunds St. John El Dorado Cnty Syrah Wylie-Fenaughty (13.3%) '98: Very dark color; lush/ ripe/spicy very black pepper almost Aussie-like fragrant/blackberry/Syrah nose; tart spicy light cracked black pepper very ripe/blackberry/jammy Oz-like flavor; med.long ripe/blackberry/Syrah/jammy slight pepper finish w/ some tannins; bit simpler & more ripe/jammy/Syrah fruit; almost Oz-like.
7. Edmunds St. John Sonoma/Carneros Syrah Durell Vnyd (14.4%) '97: Black color; very aromatic slight volatile very ripe/blackberry/Syrah/licorice slight appley/green very spicy/ aromatic some pungent/smokey/peppery nose; tart slight green/green olive very ripe/ blackberry/Syrah/licorice slight pungent/smokey aromatic flavor; med.long bit tart/ green olive peppery ripe/blackberry/Syrah light peppery/pungent/smokey finish w/ some tannins; lots of very ripe character w/ a certain greeness to it; a hint of volatility but just enough to give it a lot of aromatics.
8. Edmunds St. John Sonoma Valley Syrah Parmalee Hill Vnyd (14.2%) '97: Black color; very intense blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry/jammy/licorice very spicy aromatic/slight volatile very perfumed loads of fruit nose; soft rich lush blackberry/Syrah/jammy slight peppery some spicy/pungent flavor; long soft ripe blackberry/jammy/licorice light pungent/smokey/peppery finish w/ some tannins; loads of ripe jammy/Syrah fruit; almost AndrewMurray/Oz in style.
9. Armstrong Great Western Victoria Shiraz (13.0%) '97: Med.color; very intense winter- green/toilet bowl cleaner/minty/menthol/eucalyptus some blackberry bit weird nose; soft very intense wintergreen/eucalyptus/minty/menthol slight blackberry flavor; very long very intense wintergreen/eucalyptus lighht Syrah/blackberry finish w/ light tannins; pretty eccentric wine but I sort of like it in a perverse way; way overpriced at $56.00
10. Vasse Felix Margaret River Shiraz (13.9%) '97: Black color; intense dusty/spicy/ peppery/Am.oaked/menthol/eucalyptus/licorice very aromatic slight herbal/Cab nose; tart bit bretty/horsecollar light herbal/Cab licorice/menthol some milky/Am.oaked flavor; long/tart slight horsecollar/brett light herbal/Cab/dusty some menthol/ milky/Am.oaked finish w/ some tannins; rather atypical Oz Shiraz & more Cab-like in character; very interesting wine.
11. Killibinbin Shiraz Langhorne Creek (16%) '98: Black color; very intense blackberry/ boysenberry/jammy heaps & heaps of Syrah/fruit nose; soft very lush/intense/boysen- berry/blackberry/jammy rather musculat/tannic/structured flavor; very long/lingering huge/lush/blackberry/boysenberry rather tannic/structured finish; needs age; much like the MuckDuck but more structured & ageable I would guess; huge/huge Shiraz fruit; Shiraz on steroids; wonderful stuff; reasonable price at $32.00
12. Best's Thomson Family Great Western Shiraz Concongell Vnyd (14.5%) '97: Black color; beautiful very intense blackberry/boysenberry/licorice rather vanilla/Am.oak very fragrant/floral/violets terrific nose; soft huge rich intense/blackberry/boysenberry jammy/licorice/black cherry cola/Dr.Pepper vanilla/Am.oaked bit dusty incredible rich flavor; very long/lingering licorice/boysenberry/blackberry/black cherry cola/ Dr.Pepper complex vanilla/Am.oaked slight tarry finish w/ ample tannins & structure; incredible Shiraz of Grange quality; one of the best Oz Shiraz's I've had.
13. Louis Drevon Cote-Rotie Domaine de Rosiers '95: Med.dark color; bit musty/earthy/ Italian sausage/spicy some roasted bit wet Army blanket/Navy pea coat/Mourvedre more CdP-like nose than C-R; tart bit roasted/Rhonish slight musty/wet Navy pea coat rather lean some smokey/pungent flavor; tart earthy/dusty light roasted bit metallic/ lean finish w/ some tannins; nice roasted character but a slight mustiness that didn't seem to be corky. Howard's mystery wine.

1. Edmunds St. John WebPage: www.Edmunds St. John.com    Lots of interesting stuff there, worth taking a gander at sometime. The home page has a great picture of Steve Edmunds strolling thru the vnyd (looks like in Sonoma). When I printed out his web site to pass around at the tasting, this photo came out very compressed in the vertical direction, making Steve look like a dwarf from The Wizard of Oz (the Kansas one, not the SouthernHemisphere one). It gives you a whole different take on the guy!!
2. EdStJ Viognier: Steve has been producing Viognier for some 6-7 yrs, originally from the Knight's Vlly vnyd that now goes to Gregg Graham. These grapes came from a tiny (<1/2 tons/acre) last crop from Durell and some from a Hopland/Mendocino grower. Steve's Viogniers have, to me, always been..... a bit different. All over the map, occasionally a bit overripe & a bit oxidized; very atypical of Calif Viognier. This '98 version is a bit more mainstream, yet still pretty different from the others. I think it's the best Viognier Steve's yet produced. It has some noticible toasty Fr.oak to it, sort of a jr. Manfred Krankl wine. The conventional wisdom in producing Calif Viognier is little or no oak; to which I more or less agree. But this Viognier had such richness & unctuous character that I thought it carried the oak very well. It's not a Viognier that will appeal to everyone, but I thought it very interesting and a terrific wine. Great price at $16.00.
3. EdStJohn Rocks&Gravel: I was quite taken by this wine. It's not particularly big & rich & intense but it has a roasted character very much like a Rhone Hermitage or Crozes-Hermitage; the most authentic Rhone/roasted character I've yet seen in a Calif Rhone. The fruit was not particularly varietal of any of the three present; just a very masterfully-done blend.
4. According to the EdStJ label: "Produced & Bottled by Intuition and Blind Luck". Don't think so!!
5. EdStJohn Syrahs '97: When I tasted these last June at HdR, I was a bit underwhelmed by them (very warm tasting conditions, which won't happen this year). This time around, I liked the wines a whole lot better. My preference was for the ElDorado/Fenaughty as being more interesting and complex. The Durell and Parmalee had loads of ripe Syrah/blackberry fruit, but didn't seem to have the tannins & backbone & structure and spicy/peppery character of previous Durells. Not that they're in any danger of going down hill soon, but just for sooner consumption then, say, the '95 or '96.
6. Best's ThomsonFamily Shiraz: This was brought by Walt Nagy for our tasting. Not a producer I'm familar with. Mightly impressive stuff; of Grange quality I thought.
7. Walt Nagy: He was in NewMexico to do some work w/ Sandia and LosAlamos, so we invited him to join our Wed night tasting. Although he doesn't do neutrons; it was great fun to have a SanDiego/outsider join our group for the evening. And boy does he know Australian wines. His wife is Aussie (wonder how the language barrier is??) and so he makes the trip down there fairly frequently. It's always fun to get another WCWN person to stop by and expose them to our group. Usually one dose of my group is all they can take!!