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. The Ojai Vineyard Ojai White Calif TW (14%) NV: Pale yellow color; attractive fragrant/appley/ floral/waxy light toasty/oak perfumed nose; soft/lush bit toasty/pencilly apley/floral flavor; long appley/floral light toasty/oak finish; very nice drinking white and a steal at $14.00.
2. Ramsay Calif Marsanne (13%) 1993: Med.gold color; rather hazelnutty/toasted nuts slight oxidized nose; tart appley bit metallic rather rich/textured nutty/hazelnutty slight toasty/ oak flavor; med.long tart/earthy/metallic toasted hazelnutty waxy/appley finish; slight oxidation but very interesting old Marsanne.
3. Qupe Viognier Santa Barbara County Ibarra-Young Vineyard (12.5%) 1995: Med.gold color; rather oxidized slight petrol some spicy/old Chardonnay/boutbon barrell complex nose; tart fairly lush light toasty oak some spicy/nutmeg bit oxidized/earthy flavor; med.long slight oxidized/toasty finish; little Viognier character; bit oxidized nose but interesting flavor. $18.50/500 ml
4. Terre Rouge Shenandoah Valley Calif Viognier (14.5%; 600 btls) 1994: Med.gold color; some fragrant/pear/Viognier light toasty/oak some complex clean nose; soft very lush some floral/ Viognier/pear/peach pie/honeyed/ripe light toasty oak finish; long light pear/Viognier/ floral rich/textured finish; not as intense as it once was but still has a nice elegant Viognier character and holding well.
5. Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Viognier (13.9%) 1997: Med.gold color; bit reduced/pungent light toasty/smokey/oak light floral/Viognier/pear some complex nose; soft/rich very lush some toasty/oak very pinappply/mango light pear/peach/Viognier/tropical fruit ripe complex flavor; very long/lush tropical fruit/mango/peach/Viognier some toasty/smokey oak finish; really lovely/lush/ripe Viognier; doing beautifully.
6. Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Viognier (13.9%) 1998: Med.gold color; very attractive fragrant/ pear/peach/Viognier light pencilly/oak nose; tart/lean rather minerally pear/Viognier/ elegant/spicy light pencilly flavor; long minerally/lean elegant/pear/Viognier finish; rather Condrieu-like; lovely Viognier.
7. Joseph Phelps Vin du Mistral Napa Valley Viognier (13.0%) 1992: Med.gold color; attractive/ fragrant pineapply/tropical fruit/spicy/nutmeg slight pungent/skunky some complex nose; tart spicy/nutmeg earthy/minerally some tropical fruit flavor; very long lean/tart spicy/ nutmeg light pineapply finish; not a lot of Viognier intensity but holding very well. $18.79
8. Francois Villard Les Terrasses du Palat Condrieu (13.5%; MeBalP) 1994: Dark gold color; rather badly corked/musty very slight pear/Condrieu/Viognier nose; somewhat musty/corked attractive spicy/minerally/pear/peachy/Viognier flavor; very long/lingering some corky/ musty lovely pear/minerally/Viognier/Condrieu finish; dreadfully corked nose but the flavor is still there; lovely Condrieu if you ignore the corkiness; so sad.
9. Garretson Viognier Fralich Vineyard Paso Robles "The Spunog Cnoc" (13.6%) 2001: Med.gold color; strong lush pear/peach/mango/Viognier/tropical fruit slight pencilly/oak bit fresh mown hay nose; soft/fat quite sweet (3%?) pineapply/peach/pear/Viognier light oak flavor; long intense/lush pear/Viognier/tropical fruit sweet soft finish; loads of tropical fruit/ Viognier character but a bit too sweet & cloying to my taste; classic DollyParton Viognier.
10. Garretson Viognier Vogelzang Vineyard Santa Ynez Valley "Table 62" (14.7%) 2001: Light gold color; very strong toasted coconut/pungent very ripe/Viognier/bannana cream pie some minerally/ Condrieu/pear complex nose; soft/rich ripe/lush toasted coconut/Zagnut very ripe tart rather minerally/pear/peach/Viognier some Condrieu-like flavor; very long/lingering ripe/ lush/pear/peach/Viognier some minerally/Condrieu some toasted coconut finish; a terrific/ interesting rather Condrieu-like Viognier. Killer wine at a great price. $23.00
11. Hug Cellars Central Coast Roussanne (15%) P&B by PerroDocs Cllrs, ArroyoGrande 1996: Med.gold color; some reduced/pungent/smokey nose clears to buttery/butterscotchy very floral/honey- suckle toasty/oak complex nose; tart very toasty/butterscotchy/caramel/oak rather lush/ floral/honeysuckle slight nutty/oxidized flavor; very long toasty/caramel/butterscotchy some floral/honeysuckle finish; slight oxidation/nutty & lots of toasty oak but very interesting/complex wine. $20.00
12. Alban Vineyards Roussanne Edna Valley Alban Estate Vineyard (14.5%) 2000: Med.gold color; very strong toasty/charred/pungent/butterscotchy/coconutty rather floral/honeysuckle nose; huge/lush rich/extracted toasty/pungent/charred/Fr.oak very tart intense floral/honeysuckle flavor; very long charred/toasty/pungent/Fr.oak very tart floral/honeysuckle finish; very tart/hard w/ lots of charred oak but an underlying intensity of fruit; will be a great one I think.
13. Edmunds St. John Los Robles Viejos Rozet Vineyard Paso Robles White Wine (Roussanne/Viognier/ Marsanne; 13.7%) 2001: Light gold color; slight stoney/minerally some floral/spicy light pungent/toasty oak interesting nose; tart very rich/lush appley/earthy/minerally flavor with long minerally/stoney finish; lots of richness but an underlying acid structure; needs several yrs of age. Good value at $20.00.
14. Garretson Roussanne Santa Barbara County "The Limoid Cior" (14.3%; 56% WesterelyVineyard, 44% StolpmanVineyard) 2001: Med.dark gold color; very strong tangerine/citric/lime slight volatile very aromatic/perfumed/fragrant very exotic atypical Roussanne nose; tart very citric/tangerine/lime floral very lush/spicy flavor w/ very long/lingering finish; one of the weirdest whites I've had from Calif and very exotic; killer stuff at a great price. $21.00

1. Jaffurs Viogniers: I've followed Craig Jaffurs Viogniers from the very start; when we (Craig, Larry Archibald, myself) sat outside on Bob Senn's porch on a chill winter morning and he poured us a barrel sample of his first Viognier (rather yeasty/hard/lean). I've always liked his Viogniers for their different style from most other Calif Viogniers: a bit more Condrieu-like in that they're less DollyParton-like, leaner/tarter more acid and structure in character. I think they age a bit better than most as well. The '97 and '98 were two totally different Viogniers in style. The '97 seemed more over-the-top than I recall it, whilst the '98 was more like the Jaffurs style I know. Both wines are doing mighty fine and are absolutely delicious Viogniers.
2. Garretson Wines: I've followed MatGarretson's wines from the very start. This threesome was mightly impressive. The Frahlich was a bit too sweet and cloying (some have been fermenting in the btl) and too tiresome on the palate; but the other two were dynamite wines. The Roussanne, weird as it may be, was maybe the best Roussanne I've yet had from Calif. Almost a Viognier style rendition of that grape.
3. Do Viogniers Age??: Sorta depends upon what you want. If it's Viognier and you insist that it MUST have that heady perfume of young Viognier; then the answer is, of course, no. But if you're a bit more open-minded and allow as much that Viognier can develop some interesting things with age, then the answer is yes.... sometimes. The aging curve for Viognier seems rather erratic to me; I find as many misses as hits. I was expecting the Phelps, a lean/ tight almost eviscerated wine in it youth to be totally gone. This one was in fine shape. I expected the TerreRouge, a fat/porky/DollyParton Viognier in its youth to be totally gone. It was holding on just fine. I thought the Qupe, a fairly tight/tart wine in its youth to be fine. It seemed on its last legs. Go figure.