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. Rosenblum Cellars Lodi Viognier Ripkin Vineyard (14.6%) 2001: Light gold color; slight volatile very fragrant/ perfumey/pear/Viognier/floral powerful nose; soft/fat bit underacid pure peach/pear/Viognier very floral/perfumey flavor; med.short pure/pear/peach/Viognier finish; as pure an expression of Viognier fruit that you can find; a wonderful Viognier at a great price; a slightly saggy DollyParton, say DP at 70 yrs of age, Viognier.
2. Michael & David Phillips Incognito Calif Viognier Ripkin Vineyard (15.4%; 484 cs) 2000: Med.gold color;  bit earthy/dusty bit smokey light pear/Viognier slight herbal nose; soft/fat some pear/Viognier some earthy/muddled flavor; pleasant light pear/Viognier light dusty some appley/apple pie spicy finish; pleasant Viognier but just that.
3. Fresno State Calif Syrah John Deiner Vineyard (14.35%) 1999: Dark color; strong blackberry/ blueberry/Syrah slight coffee/mocha/toasty/pungent almost Tensley/Santa Barbara-like quite attractive nose; fairly soft rich blueberry/blackberry/Syrah light smokey/roasted/mocha/ oak quite lush flavor; med.short soft quite lush/blueberry finish w/ light tannins; a bit on the soft side & lacking structure to age but loads of blueberry Syrah fruit; a bit pricey at $31 but amazing quality for a SanJoaquin Valley Syrah.
4. Sierra Vista Sierra Foothills Celestial Syrah (13.8%) 2000: Med.dark color; bit earthy/mushroomy spicy light oaked some blackberry/Syrah nose;tart bit earthy/dusty some blackberry/Syrah/black cherry/Zin- like light oaked flavor; med.long tart/hard some blackberry/Syrah/Zinnish light earthy finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs of age.
5. Sierra Vista El Dorado Syrah RedRockRidge (EB; Chapoutier Clone; 13.1%) 2000: Dark color; big/ripe blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah very spicy/floral/aromatic little ElDorado terroir nose; rather sharp/ acidic/grapefruity very spicy/floral very strong blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah light pungent/oak flavor; very long tart/grapefruity very spicy lovely blackberry/boysenberry finish w/ fair tannins; needs 2-5 yrs of age; terrific fragrant nose but a bit hurtey on the palate; should age into a terrific Syrah w/ the acidity.
6. Eric Texier Vaison-La-Romaine Cotes du Rhone (NonFiltre; 14%) 2000: Med.dark color; attractive/ pleasant Grenache/strawberry almost a Beaujolais/CM slight earthy nose; soft grapey/strawberry some CM/Beaujolais flavor; med.short bright/grapey/strawberry/Grenache finish w/ little tannins; lots of whole-berry fermentation character; not worth the price.
7. Eric Texier Chusclan Cotes du Rhone Villages (NonFiltre; 13.5%) 2000: Med.dark color; strong strawberry/ Grenache bit more perfumed slight roasted/Rhone nose; soft attractive strawberry/Grenache slight earthy/dusty slight roasted/pungent flavor; med. strawberry/Grenache light earthy/roasted finish w/ little tannins; pleasant CdR but prefer the Guigal or Clos de Caillou.
8. Eric Texier Chateauneuf du Pape ViellesVignes (NonFiltre; 13.5%) 2000: Med.dark color; rather strong bretty/horsecollar/gamey slight roasted/dusty some strawberry/Grenache/bright fruit nose; tart bit lean/hard rather bretty/horsecollar/unclean some Grenache/strawberry gamey/earthy flavor; med.long quite bretty/horsecollar/gamey some deep/Grenache/strawberry finish w/ fair tannins; not a lot of fruit and maybe a lot of Mourvedre; big & structured but a bit too unclean for me.
9. Domaine de la Terre Rouge Ascent Sierra Foothills Syrah (14.5%) 1999: Black color; beautiful roasted/pungent/mocha some menthol/cinammon/nutmeg/complex very intense blackberry/boysenberry/ Syrah tons of fruit nose; big/rich mouthfilling very intense/extracted boysenberry/blackberry/Syrah strong mocha/roasted/pungent/complex/Fr.oak flavor; very long/lingering tannic very intense blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah lovely/complex roasted/mocha/pungent/oak finish w/ ample tannins; the 14.5% alcohol seems a bit off; no overripe nor Amador/jammy character; definitely world-class Syrah by any standard; killer wine. Yoikes at $75.00.
10. Shafer Napa Valley Rentless Syrah (14.9%; 19% PetiteSirah) 1999: Black color; loads of blackberry/ blueberry/Syrah/fruit rather toasty/Fr.oaked very ripe nose; rich rather hard/tannic rather blackberry/ blueberry/Syrah strong toasty/charred/pungent/Fr.oak flavor; long tannic strong charred/toasty/Fr.oak/ pungent/smokey strong blackberry/blueberry/Syrah finish w/ ample tannins; tastes more like Napa Cabernet w/ only a hint of Syrah; very good wine but not worth the $54.00.
11. Renwood Amador County Syrah (15%; #169 of 67 cases) 1991: Med.dark color; some very ripe/overripe jammy/briary/Amador plummy/blackberry/boysenberry spicy Fr.oaked slight hot/volatile nose; bit hot/fumey strong briary/Amador/jammy blackberry/Syrah/Zinnish bit overripe flavor; long jammy/briary/ Amador blackberry/Syrah bit hot/volatile finish w/ light tannins; nice almost Zin-like wine but drying out a bit and a bit hot/volatile.

1. Incognito Viognier: This wine was what the Phillips boys used to make as Roussanne. Now that it's been DNA'd as Viognier, it's been miracuously transformed into a super-clone of Viognier, put into an upscale btl with a gimicky label, and... voila... $4/btl more in price!!! It's a pleasant enough Viognier, but far preferred the Rosenblum.
2. SierraVista Syrahs: These two Syrahs were just bttld in late Feb and probably still need another month or two to settle down. They are scheduled for a Fall release.  When I was at the winery, I tasted thru the 3 '99 Syrahs. They all had this rather hard/shrill/ grapefruity acidity to them. These two '00 did not seem to show that character, thoughh they did have a good acidity to them. This '00 RedRockRidge I was particularly impressed with and think it will age very well.
3. Texier wines: I was pretty excited when BotiqueWines of NM brought these in from NBI into NM. Alas, I was a bit underwhelmed by these three. Pleasant Rhones at a fair price. But I've been mightly impressed by the Texier Brezeme and didn't think these were in that category.
4. Terre Rouge Ascent: When I walked into Bill Easton's tasting room a month ago, they had just started to sell this wine. I thought "Great, another DdlTR Syrah to add to the arsenal". Then I saw the price and my jaw dropped. Had Bill lost his ever-lovin' mind???? $75 for an Amador County wine??? Outta sight!! So I was all prepared to NOT like this wine and diss it as another good $30 Syrah, but way overpriced like the Konsgaard.  Alas, oh alas; Bill may be right on this price. It's as good as any Syrah as I've had anywhere from Calif, I would say. Tons of Syrah fruit. Not a lot of complexity yet, but I'm convinced that will come with age. Probably the best Amador red wine I've ever had and truly world-class Syrah. Too bad about the price, but I got orders for nearly a case in my group; unheard of for a wine of  that price. If that's not a testimony, I don't know what is!!
5. Shafer Relentless: This is a wine that's gotten a lot of buzz since it's the first Shafer Syrah. I liked the wine...quite a lot in fact... but not for the price. Tasted a bit like a Syrah made by a HillSide Select producer. Good Syrah, but don't lose any sleep if you can't find it; though it may age into something much better, I have my doubts.
6. Renwood Syrah '91: This was Scott's first really good Amador Syrah. It's still a good Syrah but the overripe/Amador character is really starting to dominate now. Time to drink it up.
7. The FSU Syrah was the one in the 5-pack from Darrell Corti that was reported on elsewhere.  This was a Syrah that fermented out to 18.0% alcohol naturally, made from SanJoaquinValley grapes. The wines were damn good wines, I must admit. I was struck by two things: Wow.... that San Joaquin grapes can produce a Syrah that's this good; and, for a 18.0% alcohol base wine, I was totally unable to pick up any raisened or overripe or pruney character in the wines that would normally be found in wines from grapes of this high a sugar level.... no real identifiable LateHarvesty character in the wines. Very impressive on both counts.