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. Qupe Marsanne Santa Barbara County Ibarra-Young Vnyd (12.2%) 1996: Deep gold color; lovely/ classic nutty/hazelnutty fragrant/smoky/floral rather complex/oldRhone nose; tart slightly oxidized nutty/hazelnutty spicy/cinammon/floral very complex flavor; very long/lingering hazelnutty/nutty floral/cinammon/nutmeg/very spicy finish; classic mature Marsanne character much like an old RhoneBlanc. $18.00
2. Andrew Murray Vineyards Roussanne Santa Barbara County (Viognier; 13.5%) 1995: Med.dark gold color; slight fragrant/peachy some smoky/toasty/oak some nutty/honeysuckle fairly complex nose; tart/citric slight oxidized/nutty light floral/pear somewhat toasty/charred/oak flavor; med.long hazelnutty/floral some smoky/toasty/oak finish; in remarkably good condition for an older Viognier. $23.00
3. Il Santo Cellars New Mexico Viognier TW 2002: Light yellow color; rather fragrant/pear/Viognier clean/floral slight earthy nose; tart fragrant/floral/pear/Viognier some lush flavor; med. short light floral/pear/Viognier finish; nicely done straightforward Viognier much like the R.H.Phillips or Smooking Loon. $11.00
4. Novellum Chard (www.EuropeanCellars.com; 13%) Vin de Pays des Coteaux de Fontcaude  Connaisseur Veyran, Herault 2002: Light yellow color; rather fragrant/pear/ Viognier slight melony/Chard no oak slight earthy nose; soft/lush bit bitter/earthy rather spicy/Viognier/pear rather glycerined low-key melony/Chard flavor; med.short floral/pear/ Viognier earthy/grapey bit stoney some rich/melony/Chard finish; pleasant Viognier-like wine for $13.00
5. Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Viognier (30% Stolpman, 50% BienNacido, 20% Verna's vnyds; 14.3%) 2003: Med.gold color; levely floral/pear/Viognier quite spicy/perfumed/aromatic lovely nose; soft very lush intense/floral/pear/Viognier/peach varietally pure flavor; very long lush/ripe floral/peach/pear Viognier lingering glycerined finish; a lovely varietally-pure but distinctly not DollyParton Viognier. $23.00
6. Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Viognier (14.4%) 2002: Med.yellow color; slight toasty/pencilly/oak light floral/pear/Viognier/appley attractive nose; soft/lush light pencilly/toasty/oak attractive pear/Viognier bit simple flavor; med.long soft pencilly/oak slight earthy light pear/Viognier finish; seems a bit diffuse and closed right now & not the intensity of the '03. $22.00
7. Tablas Creek Vineyard Cotes de TablasBlanc (36% Viognier, 30% Marsanne, 26% GrenacheBlanc, 8% Roussanne; 14.2%; www.TablasCreek.com) PasoRobles 2002: Med.gold color; attractive fragrant/ pineapple/honeysuckle light stoney/earthy rather Rhonish nose; tart/citric floral/appley/ pineapply/spicy slight earthy/stoney austere flavor; med.long lush/citric pineapple/floral/ perfumed light stoney finish; rather Rhonish in style; lovely white blend for $20.00
8. Tablas Creek Vineyard Roussanne (14.5%; www.TablasCreek.com; EB) 2002: Light gold color; lovely floral/honeysuckle/Roussanne very perfumed somewhat minerally/complex nose; beautiful/lush floral/honeysuckle/Roussanne very perfumed light stoney/earthy flavor; very long lush/floral/ honeysuckle/Roussanne very perfumed finish; a textbook Roussanne. $30.00
9. Beckmen Vineyards Purisma White Wine Santa Ynez Valley (14.0%; 50% Roussanne, 25% Marsanne, 25% GrenacheBlanc; 100 cs) 2002: Pale yellow color; attractive spicy/fragrant/waxy light floral/aromatic/peach nose; soft/lush floral/fragrant/spicy/appley/lemony bit citric flavor; med.long waxy/floral/spicy slight earthy finish; a pleasant Rhone blend but just that. $20.00    
10. Curran Grenache Blanc Santa Ynez Valley Santa Barbara County (13.4%) 2003: Near colorless; very floral/ aromatic/perfumed some citric/NZ-SauvBlanc-like clean/grapey nose; tart/lean/citric Riesling or NZ SauvigBlanc-like tight perfumed/floral flavor; med.long tart/lean/austere floral/perfumed bit SB-like finish; would guess this as NZ SB when tasted blind to its floral/perfumed/citric nose; only a tiny amount made, good value at $19.00.
11. Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Roussanne StolpmanVnyd (14.0%) 2003: Med.gold color; beautiful/fragrant very perfumed/floral/honeysuckle very aromatic very spicy complex nose; very rich/lush huge fruit/floral/honeysuckle/perfumed/gardenias flavor; very long/lingering floral/honeysuckle/ glycerined/powerful balanced finish; almost Viognier-like in its perfume and fragrance; a huge wine but good acidity and balance; one of the best young Calif Roussannes I've had; killer wine. $27.00
12. Jaffurs Santa Barbara County Roussanne Stolpman Family Vnyds (13.5%) 2002: Light gold color; some overripe/baked apples slight floral/perfumed nose; soft appley/baked apples very ripe light floral/honeyed flavor; med.long very ripe appley/spiced/baked apples light floral/honeysuckle finish; seems to have changed a lot in the last yr and showing lots of overripe character. $23.00
13. Eric Texier Condrieu (13%) 2001: Light gold color; beautiful/aromatic minerally/pear/peach/ Viognier light pungent/smokey classic minerally/Condrieu complex/beautiful nose; tart/lean rather minerally/Condrieu bit low-key/floral/pear/Viognier flavor; very long/lingering minerally/ Condrieu light peach/pear/floral/Viognier slight pencilly/smoky finish; a powerful/beautiful/ classic Condrieu nose but doesn't quite deliver the Condrieu power on the palate that the nose promises. $46.00
14. Eric Texier CdP Viellies Vignes (www.NorthBerkeleyImports.com; 14%) 2001: Med.gold color; strong smoky/toasty/pungent quite strong floral/honeysuckle slight earthy/stoney complex nose; soft rather toasty/oaked/pungent/smoky some floral/honeyed/honeysuckle some earthy/stony flavor; med.long stony/earthy some floral/honeysuckle soft/lush/glycerined some complex finish; a big/ soft/lush wine w/o the hard/austere character many CdPBlancs show; lovely CdPBlanc. $42.00

And then a couple of dessert wines to go with Dotty's Ricotta Cassatta Cake:

1. Preston Late Harvest Dry Creek Valley Semillon (13.6%; RS: 8.0%) 2000: Pale yellow color; strong peachy/botrytis/figgy/Semillon slight volatile nose; quite sweet soft/fat strong peachy/figgy/ botrytis/Semillon rather simple flavor; med.long soft/fat very ripe/botrytis/peachy finish; strange but pretty good dessert wines; the botrytis is definitely there but the flavor speake more of mute, as does the color.
2. Jaffurs Santa Barbara County LatreHrvst Viognier (16.5%) 2001: Dark gold color; slight herbal light pencilly/oak very ripe/floral/honeysuckle/spicy/nutmeg/perfumed/grapey nose; soft/rich very lush floral/honeysuckle/perfumed very grapey/figgy slightly hot flavor; very long lush/ floral/honeysuckle finish; really coming together nicely into a lovely dessert wine.

1. Qupe Marsanne: I've followed Bob's Marsanne from the very start. They are pretty unthrilling when young; rather appley and simple w/ a bit of spicy oak. They really don't start to show much until they get some age on them and start to show that aged/hazelnutty character. This is clearly an oxidation product and many dismiss the wine as being oxidized and over-the-hill. Yet it is clearly, to me, different from oxidized Chard in character. When you've had an old Chave HermitageBlanc or RayasBlanc; you learn to recognize and love that character that you find in the old Qupe Marsannes.
2. AndrewMurrayRoussanne: This was, I believe, young Andrew's first (labeled) Roussanne. As most of you know, much Calif "Roussanne" turned out to be Viognier (thank you Randal). So this was, in fact, Viognier. In remarkably good condition for an old Viognier I thought.
3. IlSanto Viognier: This wine is made in LosAlamos by JohnBalagna, who's been a member of my tasting  group for over 30 yrs. The grapes come from a very warm area, Deming, far to the South of NM. I thought it to be one of the most typical/varietally correct wines John's ever made. That being said, I was surprised at how rapidly (15 minutes or so) that the wine lost all the varietal Viognier fragrance and just started to smell a bit earthy/grapey but little more.
4. NovellumChard: Interesting wine in which the Viognier character is definitely there. This wine (an EricSolomonSelection) was made from Chard juice fermented on left-over/after-pressing Viognier skins. It's a technique that I think should be more widely used in winemaking.
5. GrenacheBlanc: Here's another variety to keep your eye on in Calif. I believe all the plantings in Calif have come from TablasCreek vnyd. It's a variety that tends to be, I understand, on the soft/flabby/underacid side. Certainly the greatest examples I've had of the variety, the Rayas and the ScalaDei/Priorat/OldVine, have seemed that. I had at HdR the TablasCreek version and was mightly impressed by it. The ChrisCurran (Seasmoke) version seemed to be from grapes harvested early in order to retain the acidity I would guess. It is quite a lovely wine but on the crisp/clean/austere side on the palate. I suspect it will be much more attractive w/ 6 months of age on it. Keep your eye on GrenacheBlanc from Calif.
6. TablasCreek Wines: The early TablasCreek wines left me rather underwhelmed, especially for the price. However, I have been very/very impressed by their wines from the last two yrs. And the prices have moderated a bit it seems. Originally, they were going to make only a Blanc and a Rouge blend and eschew varietal labeling. They seem to have been backing off that decision and releasing more varietally-labeled wines; a decision I support.
7. Jaffurs wines: The prices are all pre-release plus shipping. www.JaffursWine.com for info. It's been interesting to watch Craig's style of white wines evolve over the yrs. The early ones were on the lean/hard/austere side. The last few yrs, they have shown more richness, more texture, more lushness; yet keeping the alcohol levels under control. The last few yrs have seen, to me, a distinct up-tick in their quality. Some of the best SantaBarbara Rhones being made.
8. Roussanne grape: The first Calif Roussannes (followed them from the very start) were the Alban and the BonnyDoon. I struggled mightly to identify the varietal character of Roussanne in Calif and sorta gave up. The Alban is not very typical...speaks more of Alban than Roussanne, though one of the best renderings of Roussanne in Calif. The BonnyDoon....that turned out to be Viognier, not Roussanne. Likewise the early ZacaMesas. In the last 3-4-5 yrs, the Roussannes coming out in Calif have been particularly stunning. Much the aromatics like Viognier; but the flavors of a powerhouse Chard. It does well with oak; or you can keep it out of oak. Seems to be able to age well too.A versital grape. The wines will only continue to improve I suspect.
9. Jaffurs Late Harvest Viognier: A yr ago, the alcohol level was quite noticible in the wine and it had a rather fumey/volatile distinctly hot character. A yr's time has done wonders for this wine and it is coming together into a very lovely dessert wine.

   TomHill