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. Phillips Vnyd Calif Roussanne (15%) '99: Med.light gold color; rather perfumed/floral/ aromatic bit alcoholic/overripe slight earthy nose; soft/ripe very lush light floral/spicy light earthy flavor; med.long soft lush/floral light earthy nose; very nicely done Roussanne (though it's likely Viognier) at a fair price.
2. Phillips Vnyd Calif Viognier (13%) '99: Med.gold color; rather oaked/toasty bit pungent light floral slight chicken coop/band-aid/earthy/funky nose; soft weak floral/pear bit pungent/oaked earthy/funky flavor; med.long bit funky/pungent/oak light floral/pear finish w/ trace of oxidation. Prefer the R.H.Phillips EXP at this price. $13.00
3. Andrew Murray Enchante Santa Barbara Cnty (13.5%; 40% Roussanne, 40% Marsanne, 20% Viognier) '99: Med.gold color; bit metallic/minerally rather spicy light floral/aromatic nose; soft bit metallic spicy/cloves/floral flavor; med.long metallic/minerally rather spicy/floral/ aromatic/pear finish; a very nicely done Viognier like the Qupes.
4. Joseph Phelps Vin du Mistral Calif Grenache Rose (13.5%) '97: Med.light salmon color; bit pungent light strawberry/Grenache some SO2 nose; soft lush candied/strawberry/strawberry soda pop bit metallic flavor; med.short light strawberry soda pop/candied finish; a bit too tired; nice palate but not much on the nose.
5. Yalumba Oxford Landing South Australia Grenache Lmtd Release (14.5%) '98: Med.color; earthy/ dusty rather spicy/floral/strawberry/Grenache bit cinammon/cloves nose; tart spicy/earthy dusty rather floral/strawberry/soda pop rather simple flavor; med.short light strawberry/ soda pop some dusty/earthy finish w/ light tannins; nice Grenache Beaujolais-style red.
6. Andrew Murray Calif Syrah Tous Les Jours (13.5%; 90% Syrah, 5% Grenache, 5% Carignane) '99: Very dark color; bit earthy/mushroomy some blackberry/Syrah bit funky/Lodi-like nose; tart bit funky/mushroomy tasty Syrah/blackberry/spicy lush flavor; med.long bit funky/ earthy/Rhonish slight minty/menthol some blackberry/Syrah w/ light tannins; tastes a lot of Lodi Carignane and FrenchCamp Syrah; some like Qupe CentralCoast w/ much more blackberrys; good red for the price.
7. Phillips Vnyd Lodi Syrah (13.5%) '98: Med.color; quite peppery/cracked black pepper/spicy bit smokey/pungent nose; soft rather cracked black pepper spicy/cloves light Syrah/ blackberry flavor; med.long pungent/cracked black pepper/spicy finish w/ light tannins; not a lot of Syrah fruit but tasty wine; like better than Qupe CentralCoast; very well priced at $13.00
8. Phillips Vnyd Lodi Syrah 100% Barrel Aged (12%) '97: Light color; light bit earthy/Lodi mushroomy low fruit nose; tart bit Lodi/earthy/mushroomy pungent/oaked/funky bit washed out flavor; short/flat somewhat washed out funky/pungent/oaked some mushroomy/earthy finish w/ little tannins; sort of tired & lacking fruit; no bargin at $7.00
9. Beckman Vnyds Cuvee Le Bec (30% Grenache, 48% Mourvedre, 22% Syrah; 13.5%) '98: Dark color; lovely/funky/Rhonish bit bretty/horsecollar spicy/black cherry/strawberry/plummy complex nose; soft/smooth very spicy/strawberry/plummy slight funky/bretty/Rhonish/horsecollar light pungent/oak flavor; med.long strawberry/plummy/bright fruit funky/Rhonish finish w/ light tannins; very interesting Rhonish red. Fairly priced at $16.00
10. Hogue Columbia Valley Syrah Vnyd Selection (13.5%) '98: Dark color; lovely plummy/blackberry/ dusty/pungent licorice/black cherry nose; soft quite plummy some blackberry/black cherry bit earthy slightly dilute flavor; med.long plummy/black cherry bit buttery/oak licorice finish w/ little tannins; nice drinking red like most Hogue reds but lacking structure and a bit dilute on the palate. Very reasonably priced at $14.00
11. Alban Vineyards Edna Vlly Grenache Alban Estate Vnyd (14.2%) '98: Black color; very intense blackberry/black cherry/essence of strawberry/Dr.Pepper smokey/pungent very spicy very intensely fragrant nose; tart/bright very spicy black cherry/black cherry soda pop/essence of strawberry some smokey/pungent/oaked peppery big/extracted flavor; very long very intense black cherry/soda pop/blackberry/strawberry very spicy some toasty/pungent/oak finish w/ ample tannins; needs age; seems much more brightness and less Syrah-like than the previous few; extraordinary world-class Grenache.
12. Alban Vineyards Edna Valley REVA Syrah Alban Estate Vnyd (14.1%) '98: Totally black color; bit reduced/pungent very intense blackberry/boysenberry some pungent/toasty/oaked very spicy/ complex nose; big/huge/extracted very spicy blackberry/boysenberry/essence coffee/mocha/ peppery some toasty/oaked/smokey flavor; very long/extracted/tannic mocha/coffee essence of blackberries/boysenberry smokey/toasty/oak/pungent finish w/ ample tannins; needs age; another killer Alban Syrah; seems perhaps a bit more closed than the '97 was, perhaps not quite as extracted/hard as the '97.
13. Tatachilla Foundation McLaren Vale Shiraz (14.0%) '96: Very dark/black color; some vanilla/ oaked smokey/pungent some blackberry/Syrah classic Oz nose; strong/tart very vanilla/oaked bit eucalyptus/menthol rather blackberry/Syrah boysenberry/coffee flavor; very long some menthol/eucalyptus vanilla/oaked rather blackberry/Syrah finish w/ modest tannins; pretty good/tasty Oz Shiraz but a bit pricey at $37.00
14. Ironstone Vnyds Calif Shiraz Sierra Foothills (13.5%) '98: Med.dark color; slight stinky/ reduced earthy bit chocolaty/blackberry some Am.oaked nose; soft lush bit blackberry/Syrah ripe Am.oaked spicy flavor; med. soft spicy light blackberry/Syrah Am.oaked/vanilla finish w/ light tannins; nice Syrah for the price. $11.00

1. The PhillipsVnyds Rhones are NOT to be confused (though it's easy to do) with the R.H.Phillips EXP Rhones. This Phillips is a vnyd over in Lodi that has just started producing their own wines. I had tried several of them down at Hospices du Rhone and was mildly impressed w/ them... quite good wines for Lodi fruit. Not barn-burners, but fairly priced.
2. BeckmanVnyds: I've been increasingly impressed w/ the wines coming out of Beckman Vnyds since Joey Tensley has become winemaker there. Their Syrahs are now absolutely first-rate. He also makes Syrah there under his own name as well that are as good as any from SantaBrabara.
3. AlbanVnyds: I've followed John Alban's wines from the very start. With the '95 vintage; he hit it outta the park. Easily, John is one of the best Rhone winemakerrs in all of Calif.... though his bowling skills are marginal!! More importantly, he is easily one of the best grape growers in all Calif, which is where his passion really lies. I suspect that John can now easily absorb all the grapes he grows there on his property. To his credit; he's been very good about making his grapes available to other great winemakers of Rhone wines that he knows can showcase his grapes w/ their wines. Absolutely killer wines. I think the Grenache is as good as any others in the world, and that includes Ch.Rayas!! As we see a big resurgence of interest in Grenache in Calif, when great Calif Grenache will be much more commonplace in 10 yrs or so, we can credit John Alban for his seminal work down in the EdnaVlly.

TomHill

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