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.

Went up to Taos Friday for the Taos WinterWine Festival. This yr's program looked rather weak, so didn't go to any seminars thus far. On Fri afternoon, they had the Grand Tasting I. Noticably fewer wineries here this yr than in previous yrs. Lots & lots of ordinary wines, especialy Chardonnays. Only one Zin that ammounted to anything, the Dutton-Goldfield MorelliRd '01. Nice, but just that. Lots of decent Pinots. The Domaine Serenes being the best. But there were 3 things that stood out:

1. Joseph Phelps Le Mistral '01: This is the Phelps Rhone blend of mostly Grenache & Syrah. This new vintage comes entirely from their MontereyCnty vnyd near KingCity. It has more Syrah (40%?) than it has heretofor had. Much darker than previous ones and a bit of the herbal character you find in SantaLuciaHighlands Syrahs. Good structure and balance, quite perfumey. Easily the best Phelps LeMistral that CraigWilliams has yet made.
2. Zaca Mesa Is Back: Clay Brock, present winemaker was here pouring 3 new releases. The Viognier '02 was low-key, rather pear Viognier perfumey, more on the JamieLeeCurtis side than DollyParton side. The '01 Z-Cuvee, their Rhone blend was quite likable and drinkable. But the real eye-opener was the '01 Syrah. Big/dark/extracted; loads of blackberry fruit w/ bit of gameyness/meaty character, and good structure & tannins for modest aging. Easily the best ZacaMesa Syrah, other than the BlackBear, that I've ever had; superb Syrah at a more than fair price of $20.
3. Vivac Wines: This is a brand new NewMexico winery, located just South of Taos in Dixon. A Chard, a Cab, and a Pinot. Not all that varietally typical (this is, after all, NewMexico); but very competently-made/interesting/terroir-driven wines. Not mind-blowing or anything, and a bit pricey for the Chard ($26), but surprisingly good for a new wnry in NewMexico.

After the GrandTasting, we adjourned up-Valley to Larry & Laura's home there in the TSV. Cooking tonight were Michael & Barbara Ogg. Joining us was Sandy Day, regional manager for VineyardBrands importers. Your's truly was an utter failure in attracting any famous winemakers to tonight's dinner. Nonetheless, a good time was had by all. And the wines didn't suck:

1. Domaine Weinbach Clos des Capucins Muscat 1988: Med.light gold color; rather waxy/spicy/ Crayola low-key/fragrant/Muscat nose; soft/round/smooth Crayola/waxy light/perfumed Muscat slight metallic flavor; in amazingly good condition for a cheap ($5) 15-yr old Alsatian Muscat and still a pleasure to drink; very low-key/elegant Muscat character.
2. Yves Boyer-Martenot Mersault l'Ormeau 1996: Med.gold color; some toasty/oak/smokey light butterscotchy/minerally fragrant/earthy Mersault nose; rich/lush/tart rather minerally/earthy/stoney fairly lush/melony/Chard rich flavor; a beautiful classic Mersault w/ everything in the right proportions.
3. Domaine Weinbach Cuvee Laurence Tokay/Pinot Gris Altenbourg 2000: Med.gold color; very intense fruity/floral very perfumed/PG slight dusty nose; rich/lush very intense/ripe/ powerful PG/floral very perfumed flavor; loads of intense PG fruit but near -dry and good acid & balance; superb PG.
4. Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle 1982: Med.dark color; very strong barnyardy/horse-shit/ cow manure/merde nose that clears to light roasted/smokey/mocha/coffee/merde fairly complex; bit dried-out/astringent rather elegant merde/roasted/smokey/mocha/barnyardy/ funky smooth slight bretty flavor; rather unclean but some interesting things therein; a bit beyond its peak I thought.
5. Jamet Cote-Rotie 1998: Med.dark color; beautiful espresso/mocha/roasted/smokey very perfumed/fragrant classic C-R nose; tart very rich/roasted/espresso/mocha/smokey pungent bit hard/tannic flavor; beautiful/classic C-R that needs more age; should be a great one w/ 5-10 yrs of age.
6. Chateau de Beaucastel Chatneauf-du-Pape 1989: Med.color; quite lush/plummy/Mourvedre/ licorice/spicy loads of fruit rather Calif-style nose; soft/rich/round loads of licorice/ plummy/Mourvedre slight earthy/dusty very clean/Calif-style flavor; maybe the cleanest/ least funky Beaucastels I've had; very lovely Chateauneuf.
7. Chateau Siglas-Rabaud Sauternes 1988: Med.gold color; beautiful/complex loads of botrytis strong figgy/Semillon slight caramel/butterscotch/oak nose; rich/ripe/round very lush/ figgy very intense botrytis/peachy/apricotty very sweet flavor; a stunning Sauternes w/ a long life afore it.

1. Qupe Bien Nacido Vineyard Roussanne 2000: Med.gold color; some pencilly/caramel oak rather fragrant floral/honeysuckle nose; soft/ripe floral/honeysuckle slight toasty/oak flavor; nicely done Roussanne but didn't work well w/ Asparagus Soup
2. Qupe Central Coast Syrah 2001: Med.color; rather earthy/ripe some blackberry/Syrah rather dusty/earthy/mushroomy bit Rhonish nose; soft earthy/Rhonish/dusty some ripe/blackberry/ Syrah flavor w/ light tannins; pleasant Rhonish Syrah that worked great w/ the pizza.
3. Qupe Bien Nacido Vineyard Reserve Syrah 1998 (magnum): Med.dark color; strong fragrant/black- berry/blueberry/spicy slight plummy/black cherry/soda nose; tart/rich strong blackberry/ boysenberry/black cherry/Syrah/spicy/plummy light pungent/roasted/coffee flavor w/ some tannins; nees more age.
4. Qupe Bien Nacido Vineyard Reserve Syrah 1999 (magnum): Med.dark color; bit more spicy/complex blackberry/blueberry/black cherry/cola slight peppery/pungent/roasted.smokey nose; tart/ rich plummy/blackberry/Syrah peppery/pungent/coffee quite spicy flavor w/ fair tannins; needs much more age; terrific Syrah. 5. Qupe Bien Nacido Vineyard Reserve Syrah 1997 (magnum): Med.dark color; bit riper more plummy/ black cherry/cola/blackberry/Syrah spicy/mocha nose; softer/riper blackberry/Syrah/plummy some mocha/coffee/spicy flavor w/ some tannins; tasting pretty good but will age longer.

Finishing my cooking for the evening's dinner, I headed back up to Taos for the Grand Tasting (II). The wines in this tasting (Southern) were far/far better than those of the previous Friday (National). Last Fri, it took me less than an hour to taste thru a batch of pretty ordinary/unthrilling wines. This time, it took me nearly the whole 2.5 hrs to get thru a bunch of pretty good wines:

1. Qupe: Bien Nacido Roussanne 2000, Marsanne 2002, Central Coast Syrah 2001, LosOlivos Cuvee 2001, and Bien Nacido/HillsideEstate 2001: The Marsanne is another fine effort, young/lean/appley/needs age. The CC Syrah is not nearly as good as the '02, which has much more SantaBarbara Syrah in it and less FrenchCamp in it. The HillsideEstate was easily the best Syrah there.
2. Deyer Cabernet 1999: Probably the best Cabernet here; big/thick/extracted.
3. Longoria: Santa Rita Hills Chard 2001 and SantaYnez PinotNoir 2000: Best Chard at the event and maybe best Pinot as well.
4. Martine's Imports: Martine usually brings a lot of schlock. This time she had much fewer, but better wines. A Marsanny red had lots of bright cherry Pinot character. The Burgaud 2001 CoteRotie was dreadful; incredibly bretty/fecal/barnyardy/stinky/ goat pens; w/ no fruit at all.
5. Rosenblum: Kent showed the Roussanne '02 (bit soft & fat for me, but great aromatics) and barrel samples of Carla's/ContraCosta Zin '02 and PickettRoad Petite Sirah '02. Nose a bit shut-down on both, but wonderful flavors.
6. Sineann: Owner was there and clearly a graduate of the AdamTolmach Reluctant/Shy School of Anti-WineMarketing. I'd followed his OldVines Zins from the very start and the '02 Oregon Zin was atypical Zin, but quite interesting & tasty. I'd never had his PinotNoir and Cabernet before and both of them were excellent.

Bailed out a bit early & returned to L&L's to help w/ dinner. My primary contribution to the evening was coming up w/ an accurate head-count of how many we'd have tonight. Also brought a $hit-load (Kansas colloquialism) of fricco and a Fig/Gorgonzola/Proscuitto/ Walnut Gallette. It was, as Laura termed it, "rustic". Looked ugly w/ this huge tumor growing out of one end. Tasted pretty good, but too sweet & too salty. Didn't work as an app. Joining us for dinner that night were Josh Jensen (Calera) and his be-friend Heather, Rick Longoria and his marketing guy, David Greene, and BobLindquist (Qupe). I'd known David for quite a few yrs from his days as a distributor here in NM afore he left for WhitehallLane. He now has his own company and markets five Central Coast wineries. As she is wont to do on a moments notice; Laura came up w/ a superb meal to accompany Larry's selection of wines:

1. Qupe Los Olivos Vineyard Viognier 1992: Med.gold color; rather earthy/boiled shrimp little Viognier bit waxy/AmericanRoyal sawdust some spicy/piney complex nose; soft fairly lush/ piney/sawdust/waxy/earthy bit strange flavor; med.long soft/lush finish; not at all oxidized but just sort of strange; this wine is a good example of what happens to Viognier as it ages....it changes into something, but not necessarily a lovely/complex/mature wine...though that can happen sometimes. An interesting and not unpleasant wine, but just sorta strange.
2. Rockford Black (Sparkling) Shiraz NV: Very dark color; strong blackberry/Syrah/raspberry simple nose; spicy blackberry/raspberry/black cherry soda pop tart/fizzy flavor; med.long blackberry soda pop finish w/ slight tannins; interesting wine; quite intense and richer than any Sparkling Shirazs I've yet had; good stuff.
3. Qupe Los Olivos Vineyard Marsanne 1993: Med.gold color; fragrant waxy/pungent earthy/stoney slight smokey/oak complex nose; lovely very nutty/hazelnutty/waxy complex tart/rich flavor w/ little signs of oxidation; classic/mature Marsanne; this wine was an incredible/ synergistic match w/ the calamari/peas in squid ink/cream broth that Laura made.
4. Calera Jensen Vineyard PinotNoir 1982: Med.light color; beautiful/complex Burgundian/smokey/ sandlewood very perfumed/complex old Burgundy nose; bit herbal beautiful/complex smokey/ Burgundian/sandlewood perfumey/fragrant flavor; very long/lingering spicy/herbal very Burgundian/smokey/pungent very complex finish w/ light/smooth tannins; one of the best old Calif Pinots I've had; very Burgundian in style.
5. Georges Roumier Morey-St.Denis Clos de la Bussiere 1er Cru 1990: Med.color; lovely violets/ sweet fruit/candied/spicy complex/floral slight earthy/toasty nose; tart spicy/violets/ Pinot/candied slight earthy/mushroomy flavor; lots of perfumed/violets/Pinot character.
6. Qupe Bien Nacido Reserve Syrah 1994: Dark color; lovely blackberry/Syrah fragrant/perfumed bit toasty/mocha/licorice/roasted complex nose; beautiful spicy/blackberry/Syrah very perfumed some toasted/coffee/roasted/pungent/smokey rather Rhonish flavor; a lovely/ mature example of Calif Syrah.
7. J.L.Chave Hermitage 1986: Med.color; rather dusty/earthy some perfumed/smokey/oak slight brett/horsey complex nose; tart elegant horsey/bretty spicy/cinammon/perfumed some dusty/ earthy flavor; an attractive/elegant fully-mature Chave but a bit too bretty/unclean for me.
8. Edmunds St. John Calif Syrah 1993:Dark color; lovely peppery/spicy/roasted/mocha/complex slight bretty/funky/musty/corked some blackberry/Syrah nose; tart/rich rather peppery/ spicy/mocha/roasted/pungent slight funky flavor; most thought the wine corked but I thought it was borderline at a very low level; still tasty & interesting.
9. Chateau de Beaucastel 1981: Med.light color; rather funky/smokey bit roasted somewhat metallic/strange slight oxidized/over-mature nose; slight bretty/funky/earthy/dusty bit tired/dried-out flavor; nose clears to spicy/roasted/oregano slight fumey/volatile nose; a bit on the tired side but still interesting.
10. Ch. de Fonsalette Syrah 1991: Very dark color; beautiful smokey/pungent slight bretty some toasty/coffee complex nose; tart rather pungent/smokey/charred/mocha some blackberry/ Syrah complex flavor; some SouthernRhone character but more like an Hermitage.
11. Chateau Rieussec 1990: Med.gold color; lovely botrytis/peachy figgy/Semillon slight buterschotchy nose; bit hard/lean lovely/botrytis/peachy/apricotty slight caramel/oak slight earthy flavor; seems a bit tight & hard and needing age.

1. Qupe Bien Nacido Syrah 2001: Dark color; plummy/black cherry/blackberry cinammon/smokey nose; softer plummy/black cherry/cola/blackberry Syrah slight smokey/oak flavor; a bit simpler than the other Qupes.
2. Qupe Alisos Vineyard Syrah 2001: Dark color; strobg blackberry/boysenberry slight earthy/gamey more ripe/jammy nose; softer more lush/blackberry/boysenberry more jammy/spicy slight gamey/meaty flavor; the most ripe & jammy of the Qupes.
3. Qupe Purisima Mtn Syrah 2001: Dark color; some blackberry/boysenberry/jammy/Syrah/ripe slight earthy/dusty nose; rich/lush/jammy/boysenberry/blackberry/Syrah slight earthy/ pungent falvor w/ a bit harder tannins & structure
4. Qupe Stolpman Vineyard Syrah 2001: Dark color; more restrained straight blackberry/Syrah some spicy bit simpler nose; hard peppery/spicy simple/blackberry/Syrah bit hard/lean flavor; more hard & structured & needs more age.
5. Longoria Santa Barbara County Syrah 2001: Mostly Alisos Vineyard, some WhiteHawk and Stolpman vnyds; 8% Grenache: Very dark color; lovely very spicy/peppery/complex strong blackberry/Syrah/ peppery slight gamey/meaty nose; bit lean/hard strong blackberry/Syrah/peppery/spicy flavor; needs 2-5 yrs of age; my 2'nd favorite of all these Syrahs. $22
6. Longoria Alisos Vineyard Syrah (16%) 2001: Very dark color; very strong peppery/spicy/nutmeg some toasty/pungent/smokey/oak very strong/ripe/lush/blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry nose; softer very ripe/lush/jammy/blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah some toasty/smokey/oak roasted almost Thompson-like peppery/cracked peppery slightly hot flavor; my slight favorite of these Syrahs.
7. Longoria Santa Barbara County Syrah 2000: Alisos, WhiteHawk, Gainey & FrenchCamp vnyds + 11% Stolpman Mourvedre: Dark color; bit more restrained/less exhuberant strong/spicy/blackberry/Syrah nose; slight band-aid/funky bit lean/hard more restrained/ blackberry/Syrah slight toasty/pungent/oak flavor; bit harder & leaner.
8. Longoria Santa Barbara County Syrah Reserve 1999: Mostly FrenchCamp/Paso vnyd + CloverCreek vnyd: Med. color; rather pencilly/toasty/Fr.oak more Burgundian light blackberry/Syrah nose; leaner/harder more pencilly/toasty/pungent/Fr.oak/charred somewhat earthy/funky slight blackberry/Syrah/ripe flavor; quite good for FrenchCamp; more Pinot in style.

1. Starting with the 2001 vintage, Bob has gone to three tiers of Syrah: Central Coast, vineyard designate, and the Bien Nacido HillsideEstate (plus the Block X Bien Nacido in 2001). I asked Bob which vnyd he thought was the greatest Syrah vnyd in SBCnty and he replied w/o a moments hesitation...Bien Nacido. I guess I would differ with Bob on this one. Although BN is the coldest of his Syrah vnyds, it doesn't show that cold-climate character as much to me as his others. If by BN, he means the Hillside block, then I might agree w/ him. I typically find his regular BN as softer, less structured, more forward than some of his other vnyd designates. When we tasted thru them all last Fall, the Alisos was my favorite of the bunch. But the BN (regular) Syrah has a lot of plummy/ black cherry cola character and not nearly as interesting as some of his others.
2. Rick Longoria started out as a specialist in Burgundy-style wines, Pinot & Chard. But he decided to come over to the dark side and make Syrah when he saw how well the variety was doing in SantaBarbara. With his first vintage in '98, the only Syrah he could buy was the EastSide/Paso FrenchCamp Syrah; not the best Syrah in the world. The '99 certainly shows his Pinot background I thought. He admitted that his first ones were made like his Pinots and harvested nearly the same time. He says that he has since learned to have more patience in letting them get riper. His 2001 regular is a classic SantaBarbara Syrah and a great value at $22.
3. Finished up the Seminar and headed out into a raging snowstorm for the drive back to LosAlamos. They got some 18" of snow by the next afternoon. Back to the real world, stopping in SantaFe to pick up my cheese for Sunday's cheese class.

   TomHill