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.

We tasted (3/16/05) Some New Rhones:

1. Skouras Viognier Cuvee Larsinos (12.5%) Peloponnese/Greece 2001: Pale gold color; bit
earthy/dusty slight pear/Viognier Lodi-earthy/spicy bit pencilly/oak nose; tart slight pear/spicy/ Viognier light oak some earthy/dusty/stony flavor; short metallic/bitter earthy/dusty light pear/Viognier finish; not much of interest here. $8.00
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2. Jean-Luc Colombo Viognier LaViolette Vin de Pays D'Oc (12.5%) 2003: Light gold color;
fragrant pear/peach/Viognier somewhat minerally/toasty bit dusty/stony nose; tart/stony/earthy some pear/Viognier slight minerally flavor; med.long tart/stony/metallic/earthy weak pear/Viognier finish; rather simple/earthy/austere. $14.00
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3. AbundanceVnyds TalmageBlock Viognier MendocinoCnty (13.7%; 20 brls; AndyBeckstoffer/ BruceRector/BobGoyette) 2001: Med.gold color; attractive/fragrant peach/Viognier slight dusty lush/attractive nose; lush/ripe/rich peachy/Viognier slight stony/minerally/dusty light toasty/oak flavor; very long/lingering ripe/peachy/Viognier dusty/minerally finish; a beautiful/interesting Viognier loaded w/ Viognier fruit; great price. $19.00
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4. DuMol Viognier RussianRiverVlly/SonomaCnty (14.5%; www.DuMol.com) 2003: Light gold color;
lovely/fragrant/perfumed pear/Viognier bit pencilly/oak/perfumed talc slight minerally nose; tart bit steely light/pear/Viognier slight pencilly/oak light minerally flavor; med.long fragrant/perfumed slight dusty/minerally/steely low-key/pear/Viognier finish; really lovely nose but doesn't quite deliver on the palate; needs a few yrs perhaps;pretty pricey at $50.00
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5. E.Guigal Condrieu (13.5%) 2002: Med.gold color; beautiful minerally/peachy/pear/Cobdrieu/
Viognier slight funky/complex nose; soft somewhat dilute/washed out attractive peach/Viognier some minerally flavor; med.short light/dilute attractive/peach/Viognier some minerally finish; a lovely/minerally Condrieu nose but rather washed-out/dilute and lacking concentration on the palate. $43.00
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6. LaVieilleFerme Cotes du Ventoux (13.5%; 50% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 15% Carignane, 15% Cinsault) 2003: Med.light color; attractive bright/strawberry/Grenache slight earthy simple nose; soft very juicy Grenache/strawberry some earthy/metallic flavor; med.short juicy/strawberry finish w/ little tannins; a pleasant little Rhone at a fair price. $7.70
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7. Sebastien Vincenti&Didier Robert O'Sud Mos Fondreche Cotes du Ventoux (14%) 2003: Med.dark color; attractive some blackberry/strawberry somewhat Syrah-like slight Rhonish/earthy nose; bit tannic some blackberry/Syrah bit dusty/Rhonish plenty of fruit flavor; med.long bit rough/rustic some blackberry/Syrah finish w/ some tannins; needs a yr or three; pleasant Rhone at a fair price. $12.50
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8. GuardianPeak SMG SouthAfrica (47% Syrah, 43% Mourvedre, 10% Grenache; 14.5%;
www.VineyardBrands.com) R&V Wines 2002: Med.dark color; rather earthy/dusty/adhesive tape
quite bretty little fruit nose; very astringent/bitter rather bretty/horsecollar quite sour adhesive tape/unclean little fruit flavor; med. hard/tannic/astringent quite bretty/unclean/barnyardy no fruit finish; needs age but why bother; rough/rustic/unclean red. $13.00
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9. Chateau Beauchene Les Sens du du Syrah CotesDuRhone (Syrah; 13%) 2003: Med.dark color; some blackberry/Syrah juicy/grapey bit strawberry slight earthy nose; some bitter/astringent
light blackberry/strawberry/Syrah some earthy/dusty flavor; med.long bit rough/astringent/tannic some juicy/strawberry/blackberry fruit finish; pleasant juicy Calif-style Rhone.$14.30
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10. CarinaCllrs WesterlyVnyd Syrah (14.8%; www.CarinaCellars.com) 2003: Very dark/black color;
very strong/blackberry/Syrah ripe/juicy/boysenberry very spicy/juicy/chocolaty slight green olive/complex slight alcoholic nose; soft very lush intense blackberry/Syrah some tannic spicy/green olive/complex flavor; med. juicy/blackberry/Syrah spicy/meaty/gamey/green olive finish w/ some tannins; needs 3-6 yrs; classic Tensley/juicy character but very interesting other things; good value on WineCask futures. $24.00
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11. TAZ Syrah SantaBarbaraCnty (14.3%) 2001: Very dark color; beautiful intense blackberry/
peppery/Syrah some toasty/oak roasted/peppery very interesting nose; tart rather toasty/oak
some peppery/Syrah/blackberry rather tannic/hard flavor; long hard/tannic intense Syrah/
blackberry rather toasty/oak finish; rather NapaVlly/Lewis in style and not much Santa Barbara character; needs some 2-6 yrs of age. $25.00
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12. RedCar AllNightRadio Calif Syrah (www.RedCarWine.com; 15%) 2003: Very dark/black color;
very strong blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry very juicy some plummy/licorice bit overripe nose;
soft/fat very juicy/blackberry/licorice/Syrah quite tannic/bitter/rough flavor; med.long quite soft/underacid lush/juicy/licorice/boysenberry/jammy/Syrah quite tannic/astringentfinish; tastes like EastSide Paso grapes; loads of tannin & lots of overripe fruit but not the acid/structure to age. Way overpriced at $47.00
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13. RedCar TheFight NapaVlly Syrah RichardPerryVnyd (15.1%) 2002: Black color; intense Syrah/
blackberry/boysenberry licorice/pungent toasty/oak classic NapaVllySyrah nose; rich/tart
rather hard/tannic licorice/blackberry/Syrah some peppery rather toasty/oak flavor; very
long hard/tannic/astringent intense licorice/blackberry/peppery/Syrah finish w/ ample tannins; needs much age but doubt its potential. My favorite of the three. Way overpriced.$52.00
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14. RedCar TheTable SantaBarbaraCnty Syrah ThompsonVnyd (15.1%) 2002: Black color; rather
dusty some blackberry/Syrah/spicy/peppery some toasty/charred/oak nose; soft rather hard/
tannic/astringent somewhat toasty/oak some blackberry/Syrah/pepper flavor; long very hard/
tannic fairly taosty/burnt/oak finish; needs much age but ?? Way overpriced at $52.00.
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15. HortonVnyd OrangeCnty Virginia Syrah (13.1%) 1998: Med.color; some overripe/Syrah/jammy/
ripe rather cranberry/Lodi some dusty/roasted interesting/complex nose; really tart/acid screechy rather cranberry/roasted/espresso some dusty/earthy complex flavor; med.long tart/screechy cranberry/roasted/espresso finish w/ some tannins; quite an interesting wine but a bone-jarring acidity to it; thought sure it was an old Alain Graillot C-H; Kevin& Peggy's mystery wine.
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16. EdmundsStJohn Calif Syrah 2001: Very dark color; strong roasted/espresso/dusty/mineral/
peppery rather blackberry/peppery/very spicy/Syrah nose; rich/balanced lush/blackberry/
spicy/peppery/Syrah light roasted/toasty/espresso flavor; long some tannic roasted/coffee/
spicy peppery/Syrah/blackberry finish w/ light tannins; terrific great drinking Syrah at
an absurd price. Larry's mystery.

1. TAZ Syrah: Couldn't quite decide if I really liked this or not. It reminded me a lot of
the Lewis Syrah in style, which is not a compliment. This Beringer wine is named after
the nickname of Bob Steinhauer, their long-timer vnyd manager, as I recall the story.
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2. RedCar: I had had one of these wines before and was seriously underwhelmed. These three
did not move me at all. Good Syrahs but waaay overpriced for what they are. Will not buy
these again methinks. Little too much effort into the cutsey packaging and not enough
into the wine. I didn't dislike the wines (except for the hard tannins), but I was
expecting a lot more from them, especially at the price.
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3. EdStJohn Calif Syrah: This wine has really been singing the last few months as its
developed. Every time I have it I just shake my head in wonder how a wine this inexpensive
($18) can be soooo friggin' good. It's gotta be magic...that special SteveEdmund's magic.
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4. Abundance Viognier: I try about every Mendocino wine that comes down the pike as it's one
of my favorite areas of Calif and I'm excited at the steady/continual improvement in
the wines from here. Something Wells and Sean have figured out. This Viognier really
impressed my w/ its intensity and quality. Blows away the Bonterra stuff.
TomHill