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 did a "You Say Syrah, I Say Shiraz" seminar last night (12/4/02) for Wine Nights @ 315, one of my very favorite restaurants. The wines seemed to be well recieved, the lecture part, however, was long & boring (notes are brief as I didn't have time to take detailed ones):

1. Sylvain Bernard Domaine de Fauterie St.Joseph (12%) 1990: Med. color w/ some browning; very perfumed/fragrant smokey/espresso/mocha/classic roasted/NR very complex nose; soft/smooth velvety quite roasted/espresso/smokey/pungent very complex flavor w/ long/lingering smooth roasted/espresso finish; a classic/mature NR that's probably not going to get any better; time to drink up.
2. Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage (13%) 2000: Dark color; beautiful/intense smokey/pungent/toasty/ roasted/espresso some green olive/blackberry/Syrah nose; tart fairly rich roasted/smokey/toasty/ pungent some blackberry/Syrah/green olive flavor; very long classic roasted/toasty/pungent finish w/ fair tannins; needs a yr or two and will last 6-8 yrs; terrific roasted NR; great price at $19.00
3. Edmunds St. John Sonoma County Syrah TW (86% DurellVnyd; 11% AlexVlly CabFranc) 1986: Med. color w/ some browning; slight funky/bretty very perfumed/smokey/pungent/some roasted/coffee quite complex/ aromatic/perfumed nose; soft/smooth rather peppery/pungent/smokey/coffee slight funky perfumed/ elegant flavor w/ long/lingering smokey/pungent smooth finish w/ light tannins; a lovely fully- mature classic EdStJ Syrah; drink up.
4. Edmunds St. John Syrah El Dorado Cnty Wylie-FenaughtyVnyds (14.1%) 2000: Very dark color; strong pungent/smokey rather peppery loads of blackberry/Syrah fruit slight earthy/mushroomy fairly complex nose; rich very spicy some peppery strong blackberry/Syrah bit earthy flavor; quite smooth rich blackberry/Syrah some peppery/earthy/mushroomy/truffly finish w/ ample/smooth tannins; wonderful Syrah.
5. Melville Estate Santa Ynez Valley Syrah (14.5%; www.MelvilleWine.com) 2000: Med.dark color; strong pencilly/toasty very spicy/blackberry/Syrah bit Pinot-like nose; tart/smooth pencilly/toasty/ Fr.oak strong blackberry/Syrah quite spicy flavor w/ very long/smooth pencilly/toasty finish and some tannins; can still use a few yrs; lots of Pinot-like fragrance; great buy at $23.00
6. Jaffurs Santa Barbara Cnty Syrah Melville Vnyd (14.7%; www.JaffursWine.com) 2000: Very dark color; loads of blackberry/Syrah very spicy light pungent/peppery complex nose; big/extracted very strong blackberry/peppery/SDyrah some toasty/pungent/smokey flavor; long/extracted pungent/peppery blackberry/Syrah finish w/ fair tannins; needs a few more yrs; this wine has really improved since we had it first in late Spring. Very good price at $28.33.
7. Glen Fiona Bacchus Vnyd Columbia Vlly Syrah (13.5%) 1997: Black color w/ bit of browning; loaded w/ sediment in the btl afore decantiing; rather earthy/toasty/pungent/funky/smokey oaked little fruit some complex nose; rather hard/astringent/gritty earthy/pungent/smokey slight boysenberry/ chocolaty rather oaked flavor; med. astringent soft tannic rather earthy/smokey/pungent low fruit finish; does not seem to be maturing gracefully. Interesting some complex Syrah.
8. K-Syrah End of the Road Ranch Red Mountain Syrah (14.5%) P&B by K-Vintners, WallaWalla, WA 2000: Med.dark color; very fragrant/perfumed some hot/volatile/alcoholic/EA rather strong blackberry/Syrah slight earthy little oak nose; soft/lush bit hot/volatile/alcoholic rather strong/fruity/blackberry/Syrah soft/lush flavor ; med.short hot/fumey rather blackberry/Syrah finish w/ light tannins; a bit on the hot & fumey side for me w/ not much WashState character.
9. Rosemont Estate Balmoral Syrah McLaren Vale (14.5%) 1998: Dark color; strong Am.oaked/vanilla/ bourbon rather blackberry/Syrah bit simple nose; soft/plush/lush loads of vanilla/Am.oak/bourbon strong boysenberry/very ripe/Syrah flavor; med. soft/fat strong Am.oaked/vanilla strong Syrah/ boysenberry finish w/ some tannins; nice wine but just that, pricey at $40.00
10. Clonakilla Canberra District Shiraz (94%) Viognier (6%) (13.0%) 2000: Dark color; very strong/ intense roasted/smokey/pungent/mocha/coffee some spicy/peppery/Syrah complex very NorthernRhone some toasty/oaked nose; tart bit hard very strong roasted/pungent/smokey/espresso some peppery/ Syrah/raspberry toasty/oak flavor w/ tart/very long roasted/pungent finish w/ modest tannins; terrific very non-Oz very Rhonish/C-R like Syrah' good value at $40.50
11. Novy Family Vnyds Garys' Vnyd Santa Lucia Highlands Syrah (14.5%) 2000: Very dark/near black color; very intense boysenberry/blackberry some herbal/peppery/very spicy some toasty/pungent/oak very perfumed/fragrant nose; tart/rich/lush/mouthfilling intense boysenberry/blackberry/Syrah light herbal/peppery light toasty/Fr.oak very spicy some complex flavor; very long/lingering very spicy/blackberry/Syrah bit herbal/peppery finish w/ some tannins; dynamite big Syrah w/ loads of lush fruit; great value at (futures price) of $29.00
12. The Ojai Vnyd Calif Syrah Roll Ranch Vnyd (14.5%) 1999: Very dark/black color; very intense peppery/ spicy/pungent almost Zin-like blackberry/boysenberry rather strong toasty/pungent/Fr.oak nose; soft/rich rather extracted/tannic strong pungent/toasty/Fr.oak intense blackberry/Syrah Zin-like flavor; very long/lingering rather tannic/extracted pungent/toasty/Fr.oak strong boysenberry/ blackberry/Syrah finish w/ ample tannins; needs some 2-5 yrs age yet; terific Ojai.
13. Failla Jordan Sonoma Coast Syrah QueSyrah Vnyd (13.2%) 1999: Very dark color; very strong blackberry/peppery/Syrah complex slight toasty/dusty/pungent/Fr.oak perfumed/aromatic nose; tart/rich mouthfilling blackberry/spicy/peppery/Syrah some roasted/toasty/pungent complex very spicy flavor; very long/lingering strong peppery/blackberry/Syrah finish w/ ample tannins; killer spicy/peppery Syrah.
14. Trevor Jones AA160 Shiraz Tawny Barossa Vlly Port (18.5%; www.GratefulPalate.com) NV: Med.lighht rather tawney/brownish color; strong very alcoholic/fumey old Port walnutty vanilla/Bourbon/oaked little fruit some complex nose; soft/fat hot/fumey walnutty/nutty vanilla/oak old tawney flavor; a pleasant unremarkable tawney Port w/ no Shiraz character.
    

1. 1. EdStJ Syrah '86: The DurellVnyd was planted by Steve Hill (gotta like that name!!) about 1980 for Kendall-Jackson. SteveEdmunds got his first batch of grapes from Durell in '86, and it was the first EdStJ Syrah that really blew me away, IIRC. Subsequent vintages, Steve did as a Durell vnyd designate and should be credited for putting the vnyd on the map as one of Calif's great Syrah vnyd. For this seminar, I wanted to show an example of how well a Calif Syrah can age. But there's always a degree of risk involved that it'll do just the opposite. Fortunately, this btl was superb and easily made my case; the people were mightly impressed, as was I. When I went back and tried the decanter at the end, it was starting to fade a lot.
   2. EdStJohn W-F Syrah '00: This wine is a text-book example of what winemakers refer to as "fine- grained" tannins. It has plenty of tannins for the long haul, but yet doesn't have that gritty/ astringent character in the finish that some over-extracted Syrahs can show. Steve things this is one of the best Syrahs he's made, IIRC. Not so sure I agree at this point in time, but think it's probably about the best ElDorado Syrah I've yet had, though a few of John MacCready's come close.
   3. EdStJ Syrahs: I've followed Steve's Syrahs from the very start, which goes w/o saying. They are, to me, some of the best, yet most under-appreciated, Syrahs produced in Calif. They have just enough funky character to give them more of a Rhone character than any others from Calif, yet showing plenty of blackberry/Syrah fruit and a peppery/pungent quality that few others seem to attain in Calif. Sorta like the "Draper perfume" in Zin, we need an "Edmunds ????" to describe that unique quality in Steve's reds. Suggestions welcome.
   4. Melville vnyd Syrah: I served up this pair of wines to illustrate cold-climate Syrah and the contrast in winemaking style coming from (essentially) the same grapes. It was a very good example, I thought. The Pinot-making influence of Steve Clifton showed on the Melville version, the Jaffurs showed much more extraction, yet both had that spiciness that comes from those grapes/ terroir.
   5. Cold-climate Syrah: In my hand-outs for the seminar, I noted in Jancis Robinson's comments "The trouble is that Syrah does not respond well to too cool a climate". Ahhhh.... little does she know. The wines from plantings on the western end of SantaYnezVlly, particularly this Melville, are very impressive. The Que Syrah vnyd in the Sonoma Coast and the Bassetti Vnyd in western PasoRobles near Cambria have produced some mightly impressive Syrahs I must say. If you can get them to ripen (and even if you can't), you can get some mightly impressive Syrah. Alas, there will be yrs like this one when Ellis Bassetti lost nearly his entire crop. But, I think, cold-climate Syrah is where it's at.
   6. WashingtonState Syrahs: These two were designed to show how great some of the Wash State Syrahs can be, one with a bit of age on it. They wern't the best of examples, I felt. Wisht I'd have had a Macrea example to show.
   7. Oz Shiraz: These two wines were designed to impress the crowd w/ my pronunciation of Sheeraz and contrast Barossa/McLaren Shiraz w/ cold-climate Shiraz (Margaret River). The Balmoral was pretty much where I thought it'd be. The Clonakilla..... incredible/killer very NortherRhone-like, probably the best Oz Shiraz I've had.
   8. The Novy and the Ojai Syrahs were designed to show what top-flight Syrah producers in Calif, whose wines are available here in NM, are doing these days. The folks seemed mightly impressed with them. Alas, there's not much Novy coming to NM and the Ojai distributor (Southern) is totally clueless as to how good the Ojais are and make virtually zero effort to market them, as they also do w/ the EdStJ wines. So sad.
   TomHill