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.

I tasted last Monday (4/30/01) w/ my SantaFe group Vins de Corse et Savoie. These were all from Kermit Lynch:

1. Domaine Leccia Patrimonio (13%) '99: Pale gold color; fragrant/floral/almonds/aromatic bit earthy/stoney nose; tart bit metallic lean/floral/spicy aromatic flavor; med.long floral/almondy aromatic slight stoney finish; an attractive fragrant white.
2. Domaine Leccia Patrimonio e Croce (13%) '99: Pale gold color; lovely aromatic more fragrant/floral/spicy some Fleer's bubble gum/perfumed nose; softer bit metallic/hard quite floral/spicy/perfumed flavor; med.long very floral/perfumed slight metallic finish; quite reminiscent of Oregon PinotGris.
3. Antoine Arena Vin de Table de France Vin de Corse (Grotte di Sole; 14%) '98: Med.gold color; quite earthy/stoney slight floral/perfumed bit yeasty nose; soft off-dry simple soda pop some earthy/rustic slight yeasty flavor; med.short simple earthy/stoney slight fruity finish; rather simple/ordinary white.
4. Costamolino Agricolas Vermontino di Sardegna '99: Light yellow color; ratherr simple/ earthy bit candied/fruity pleasant nose; sift/flat simple rather dull fruity/candied bit metallic/stoney flavor; short candied/fruity soft finish; pleasant/innocuous rather dull white.
5. Andre et Michel Quenard Vin de Savoie Abymes (11%) '99: Med.gold color; fragrant/floral/ carnations/sweetish/grapey JuicyFruit gum attractive nose; tart rather appley bit thin clean/floral flavor; med.short crisp/clean light floral/juicy fruit slight stoney finish; a delicate/elegant lightly floral white.
6. Quenard Vin de Savoie Chignin Vieilles Vignes (11%) '99: Med.gold color; fragrant/floral/ spicy appley/grapefruity/lime/citrus perfumed nose; tart/clean appley/citrus/grapefruity aromatic flavor; med.long clean/elegant appley/citrus/lime/grapefruit light earthy finish; an attractive delicate white with an ethereal citric character.
7. Quenard Vin de Savoie Chignin Bergeron (Eleve en Fut de Chene; 13%) '99: Med.dark gold color; noticible toasty/oaked/butterscotchy/caramel/toasted coconut hazelnutty/candied/Gjetost- like complex perfumed nose; soft/lush toasty/butterscotchy/oaked floral/coconutty rich/ ripe bit earthy flavor; long soft/lush caramel/butterscotchy/toasty/oak ripe/hazelnutty pungent slight earthy/toasted coconut finish; a bit like the BonnyDoon Roussanne (nee Viognier); noticible oak but marries well with the pungent/Roussanne fruit; lots of perfume/aromatics and mostly bass notes. $19.95
8. Domaine Comte Peraldi Ajaccio (13.5%) '99: Light red color; very fragrant/aromatic/cherry/ Pinot/perfumed/light earthy complex nose; light buttery/floral/cherry some earthy/metallic/ tobaccoy/minerally perfumed flavor; long perfumed/cherry/tobaccoy light earthy/metallic finish w/ light tannins; lots of Burgundy/perfumed character but not the high-toned notes of Pinot; lovely fragrant red.
9. Antoine Arena Patrimonio (Carco; 13%) '98: Dark color; stinky/bretty/earthy/hot climate/ unclean some black cherry/plummy nose; spritzy hot climate/bacterial/fecal/bretty/unclean/ earthy/goat pen flavor; long (sigh!!!) earthy/fecal/goat pen/unclean finish w/ light tannins; very unclean & seems to have an active bacterial growth going on.
10. Domaine Leccia Patrimonio (13%) '98: Med.dark color; earthy/dusty smokey/pungent bit plummy/ black cherry nose; rich earthy/dusty/gamey/black cherry/rustic bit hard/tannic flavor; med.long earthy/dusty black chery/gamey/plummy tannic finish; needs several yrs; very much like a rustic Languedoc red.
11. Domaine Leccia Patrimonio (Petra Bianca; 13%) '98: Black color; earthy/dusty/smokey/smoked meat/black cherry rustic nose; softer earthy/dusty rather tannic blackberry/black cherry/gamey hard flavor; long earthy/dusty hard/tannic plummy/black cherry/blackberry finish; needs 2-5 yrs age; much like #9 but a bit more intensity & tannins.
12. Quenard Vin de Savoie Chignin Mondeuse Vieilles Vignes (12%) '98: Very dark color; slightly corked/cardboardy intense earthy/dusty rather Syrah-like very black pepper some gamey complex nose; soft lush intense black pepper Dr.Pepper/CocaCola some tannic rough flavor; long black pepper dusty Dr.Pepper some tannic finish; needs several yrs; very interesting peppery wine.
13. Quenard Vin de Savoie Chignin Mondeuse Vieilles Vignes (12%) '99: Black color; very dusty/ old vines very black pepperr/earthy some toasty/pungent/gamey nose; soft/rich earthy/dusty/ old vines black pepper/black cherry some tannic/rough flavor; very long dusty/old-vines black pepper/blackberry earthy/pungent/gamey finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-5 yrs; a big dusty/old vines red; very interesting.
14. Villa Patrizia Morellino di Scansano Riserva (14.5%) '97: Very dark color; strong toasty/    Fr.oaked smokey/pungent/black cherry complex nose; bit lean/hard/tannic toasty/oaked licorice/ black cherry earthy flavor; long very toasty/oaked hard/tannic/austere/earthy black cherry finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-6 yrs.  Larry's mystery wine.
    

1. Corsican wines: To say I was impressed with the quality of these wines would be an understatement. Of the few Corsican wines I had had up to now, mostly dessert, I had little regard for them. The seemed coarse & rustic, often unclean/goat pen and just one small step removed from Algerian/Moroccan stuff. The whites were very clean & well- made, very fragrant & fruity, and balanced. The reds had a bit more of an earthy/rustic character to them; but no uncleanliness and were quite well made. Hmmmmmm.... maybe ol' Kermit Lynch knows more about selecting wines than I gave him credit for!!
2. Savoie wines: Again, I was quite pleasantly surprised by the quality of the wines. The wines from the Jura that I'd had before, mainly Arbois, have seemed rather thin & lean, save the Vin de Paille ones. These were clearly cold-climate wines and had lots of elegance & finesse and modest alcohol levels, but very tasty and well-made.
3. Corsican whites: The noble variety for the Corsican white wines is the Vermentinu; the same as Italy's Vermintino and perhaps related to the Malvasia variety. The 8-10 Italian varietals I'd had were very underwhelming; rather lean & spare, lacking richness and flavor; like most Italian whites... pretty dull stuff. These Corsican versions were far superior; quite fragrant and perfumed, but a crispness to them that cries out for food to accompany them. Since we already knew that the French make much better wines than the Italians, I guess the quality of these Vermintinos should not have been too surprising. Anyway, Vermintino seems a variety that should be pursued in California, where some really talented winemakers could have a chance to play with it. Probably Randall Grahm or Jim Clendennen are already working this issue.
4. Savoie whites: The primary white variety of Chignin is the Jacquere, a variety that is indigenous to the region and apparently unrelated to any other variety in the world. The wines struck me a perfrumed & fragrant w/ an elegant crispness to them and somewhat citric overtones. Clearly a cold climate grape that should do well in Calif or Washington, where more skilled winemaking could, perhaps, lift them to greatness.
5. The Bergeron is the local name for the famed Roussanne variety. As I slowly get a handle on what the varietal character of Roussanne is, this Quenard/Savoie version struck me as perhaps the most varietal Roussanne I've had from France, a bit like some of the John Alban versions, though w/o the bigness John has in his versions.
6. Corsican reds: Although the Corsicans have some 30 varieties (including the Provencal standards; Carignan, Grenache, etc); the primary two varieties are the indiginous Sciacarellu (which means "crunchy to eat") and Niellucciu (the primary red for Patrimonio). The Sciacarellu is seldom made w/o blending other varieties into it. The Niellucciu is also known as the Negretta (Negrette?) and may be a form or related to Sangiovese. The three Patrominio reds certainly seemed to have some Tuscan character to them
7. Savoie reds: The primary grape for these wines is the Mondeuse, thought to be the same as the Refosco (di Peduncola Rosso) of the Fruili, though there has been some contentions that it's not. It's long been planted in this part of the Jura and there are many old- vine Mondeuse vnyds thereabouts. Apparently, it is losing ground to the more marketable PinotNoir and Gamay. Mondeuse typically makes rather rough & earthy/rustic kind of wines with lots of color, especially for a cool-climate area like Savoie. By far the best Mondeuse I've ever had is Mike Officer's Carlisle Cellars Mondeuse '99; on the trucks heading out of SantaRosa as we speak.

TomHill (at his pontifical and inflamatory best)