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.

 

A few weeks ago I attended the AmericanWineSociety National Convention in LasVegas, the first time it had been held west of the Mississippi. It was not an organization I had interacted before. It was an interesting mix of home winemakers, wine judges, and wine afficianados, with the seminar subjects reflecting that fact. The bulk of the attendees appeared to be from the Eastern Seaboard. I found the seminars, at least the ones I attended, a bit of a mixed bag. Some were highly informative; some were more like marketing types there to shill their wines. The more razzle-dazzle the PowerPoint presentation, the more shilling that was going on.

The seminars I attended:

1. Central Coast Zinfandels by Doug Beckett. Knowing the area fairly well, not a whole lot I learned from it. Mostly it spoke to the Peachy Canyon Paso Zins and their vnyds, with nothing about the rest of the CentralCoast, nor much about the Paso geography and terroir. The Zins were pleasant enough, but just that.
2. Lake County Syrah by Quincy Steele, son of Jed Steele. This was one of the most bizarre wine seminars I've ever attended. Actually, not being that familar w/ Lake County, I learned quite a bit from it. But with some of his slides and some if comments, I'd just shake my head in puzzlement and ask my neighbor "What'd he just say??". Some of the comments simply made no sense at all. Sort of like a presentation of some technical subject to high-level management types, where it'd been dumbed down so much as to lose any content. The point of the seminar was to highlight to major role LakeCnty would be playing in the future in the Calif Syrah game. Well...maybe. Quincy presented 5 single-vnyd Syrahs that they'd made from the '04 and '03 vintages. Alas, all of these Syrahs are blended together to make the Steele LakeCnty Syrah. And the total seems very much less than the sum of the parts. The Syrahs were all quite distinctive (that terroir thing I guess) and several of them I liked quite a lot, one maybe the best LakeCnty red wine I've ever had. But they did not make the case for LakeCnty, or, at least, Steele Wines being a major player in the Syrah
   field.
3. Extreme Elevation Grape Growing in NewMexico by Henry Street. Mostly the story of Henry & Mary's development of PonderosaVnyds in the Jemez Mtns about 40 miles SW of LosAlamos, high up in the mtns relative to most vnyds. Henry did talk quite a bit about other growing areas and the seminar was fairly interesting, though much of his history I knew already.
4. Edmeades MendocinoCnty Zinfandel by winemaker Van Williamson. This was one of the best seminars of the bunch. Van detailed the character of many of the old Mendocino Ridge Zin vnyds and tasted some 4-5 of the Edmeades Zin. Although not as good as the old ones Jed Steele once made, they were all pretty interesting wines. I need to revisit Edmeades Zins. Van was quite a character and hardly what I envisioned as a winemaker in the K-J corporate world.
5. Washington State CrossRoads OldWorld/NewWorld by George Foote. A bit too much focused on the
   touting of the wines and too little informational. The wines were pleasant but underwhelming. Never did figure out what the OldWorld/NewWorld part of the Seminar was about, despite my asking that direct question.
6. The Wines of BonnyDoon by Dave Tindall. I thought Dave did a very good job of relating the flavor of what Randall is doing, without once using the word "counter-intuitive". He was not the least bit reluctant to acknowledge the volume of wine being pumped out at BonnyDoon. More importantly, he related that Randall and GrahmCrew are thinking/envisioning the future of BonnyDoon. I pointed out the difficulty of producing such a large volume of everyday/affordable wines and still being taken as a "serious" wine producer of quality wines. I think this was one of the important issues that brought the Mondavi venture to its knees.
   It'll be interesting to see if Randall can suceed at that.

I was invited to present two Seminars at the Convention by Al Guber, Jr&Sr, and Andy Ashbaugh. I had met them thru mutual friends back in Feb when I was there for Duel in the Desert and we got together to share some wine. Then found out I had a casual interest in the Rhone varieties movement in the USofA and asked if I'd do one seminar of Rhone varietals for free (to the participants, covered in the registration fee) and one with a budget ($40 in this case) to cover some high-end/non-donated wines. I chose the free one to focus on non-Syrah varieties, pimping (Casey's term, not mine) some of my Rhone producer friends for 5 btls of a wine. The $40 fee tasting focused on Syrahs.

The wines in the non-Syrah Seminar were:

1. EdmundsStJohn Shell&Bone/RozetVnyd (Roussanne/Viognier blend) 2004: My intent with this wine
   was to demonstrate the minerality Steve seems to get in his whites. It showed lots of floral/fragrant character but an austerity on the palate that makes it very food-friendly. Most comments were quite favorable and acknowledged it as not the typical Calif white.
2. SierraVista ElDoradoCnty Viognier 2004: I wanted to illustrate the ElDorado "terroir" with this and show that all Calif Viogniers are not DollyParton in style. A very attractive/fragrant pear/Viognier w/ that ElDorado earthiness.
3. BonnyDoon Calif GrenacheBlanc 2004: I wanted to demonstrate a little know varietal and this showed pretty typical GrenacheBlanc; lots of floral character but a softness/fatness on the palate.
4. Jaffurs SantaBarbaraCnty Roussanne 2004: I regard the Jaffurs Roussanne as one of the best such wines made in Calif. It seemed to be a big hit for its richness and aromatics.
5. Garretson LimoidCoir PasoRobles Roussanne 2004: Here is DollyParton in all her glory; big/jiggly/silicone-laden, but that very intriguing limey quality that this wine shows.
6. EaglePointRanch MendocinoCnty Grenache 2004: This I wanted to show what a bright/zippy character that some Grenaches from Calif show, plus a good example of what modern Mendocino is turning out. Loads of bright/strawberry fruit; good-drinking/knock-it-back Grenache.
7. BonnyDoon Clos Du Gilroy Grenache 2004: This was designed to show what some of the bigger/richer Calif Grenaches show. Bigger/deeper strawberry/blackberry almost Oz-like fruit.
8. BonnyDoon OldTelegram ContraCosta Mourvedre 2003: Wanted to show what ContraCosta produces
   in the way of ripe/plummy slightly earthy/mushroomy Mourvedre.

All in all, the wines showed pretty much what I expected and, hopefully, made the point I was attempting to make. Mostly the folks had not seen these wines except the last two BonnyDoons. I intentionally did not show any of the red Rhone/blends nor any PetiteSirahs. Another seminar.

A very special thanks to those donating wine for this Seminar:

Dave Tindall/BonnyDoonVnyds
Mat Garretson/Garretson WC
Steve Edmunds/Edmunds St John Wnry
Michelle & Vince Sfara/SierraVistaWnry
Craig Jaffurs & Dave Yates/Jaffurs Winery
Casey Hartlip/EaglePoint Ranch

The wines in the Syrah tasting were:

1. Christom WillametteVlly Syrah 2003: Here I wanted to demonstrate what killer Syrahs are coming out of the NorthWest. This has more of a NorthernRhone character to it, but a few were off-put by the searing acidity this has on the palate. I think this wine is going to be a killer at 10 yrs of age because of the acidity.
2. HugCllrs SanLuisObispoCnty BassettiVnyd Syrah 2003: I wanted to demonstrate what a great/cold-
   climate Syrah is like. It failed that, as it didn't have the intensity of cracked white pepper it's shown in the past. Slightly peppery, but huge/intense/ripe/boysenberry/Syrah fruit. A killer Syrah.
3. Qupe BienNacido SantaBarbaraCnty Syrah 2001: This was the one disappointment in the Syrah
   tableu. A slightly pungent/smokey fairly blackberry/Syrah character but not quite the intensity or complexity I expected.
4. JCCllrs MontereyCnty VentanaVnyd Syrah 2003: Here I was looking for that somewhat herbal character you find in Monterey/SantaLuciaHighlands Syrahs. It was there in all its glory at a level that was not overbearing; plus huge blackberry fruit and a solid hit of charred French oak.
5. EdmundsStJohn EldoradoCnty Wylie-FenaughtyVnyd Syrah 2001: My intent here was to show the
   Rhonish and unique style of SteveEdmunds Syrahs, plus some of that ElDorado terroir/earthiness. Wonderful aromatics and easily the most Rhonish & complex of these Syrahs.
6. Alban CentralCoast Syrah 2003: Here I was looking for a bit of the Alban style. This is not the usual Alban/Estate acidity, lots of soft/fat character on the palate; but fair amount of tannins/structure and that usual Alban pungent/smokey/charred/FrOak nose.
7. Garretson Luscain RozetVnyd Syrah 2003: Was wanting here to show Mat's Syrah style plus a wine typical of PasoRobles/WestSide. Huge/intense ripe/blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah fruit and a nice touch of toasty oak.
8. Lagier-Meredith NapaVlly/MtVeeder Syrah 2002: I had dissed, in general, Napa Syrahs in my handout as too often being characterized as Cabernet wanna-be's and wanted to show that not all are of that genre. Big/intense/spicy blackberry fruit, slight amount of oak, slightly peppery/spicy character, and the tannins/structure to carry it for many yrs.
9. Carlisle RussianRiverVlly Syrah 2003: Here I wanted to showcase a favorite producer that nearly no one had heard of. Typical Carlisle Syrah; huge/extracted/blackberry/Syrah fruit, amazing balance, especially for the alcohol it carries, and a structure that'll carry it way out in time. A killer Syrah.
10. Jaffurs LarnerVnyd SantaYnezVlly Syrah 2003: Here I was looking for a pretty classic Santa Barbara Syrah from one of my favorite producers. It showed intense blackberry/Syrah fruit, a modicum of FrenchOak, great structure for aging, a bit of chocolaty/peppery character. All these wines drew a lot of ohhhs & ahhhhhhs and I think the folks, mostly who appeared not too familar w/ Calif Syrahs, were, by and large, impressed w/ what an exceptional tableau of Syrahs these were. I think I made a few believers out of them.

And also a special thanks for arranging to get these wines to:
Mike & Kendall Officer/ CarlisleWnry
CaroleMeredith & SteveLagier/Lagier-MeredithWnry
Dave McDonald & Chris Meeske & Natasha of Mission Wines/SouthPasadena

One of the Seminars I was interested in was "History of Zinfandel" by Dave Crippen. Probably
a good thing I didn't get into this one. He's the marketing guy for Renwood and it was a typical
shill of Renwood wines and the glorification of the "huge" contributions Smerling has made to
the AmadorCounty wine scene. Some of the half-truths were relayed to me and I doubt if I would have
been able to bite my tongue and resist public comment.
I very much enjoyed getting to see some old...errr... long time friends at the Convention;
Kent&Kathy Rosenblum, Gary Hogue, Henry&Mary Street, Jim Cross, Mike&Debbie Payne, SadaamHussein.

I also got to meet some long-time friends from LongIsland who were/are tasting partners of one
of my group, David Trovillion and Robert Rutmayer. And the chance to meet LI CyberFriend, Vincent
Petilli. And also met Jackie Rogers, head of the LongIsland Winegrowers Assoc, who hopefully will
set me up with a few visits when I'm out there after Christmas.
All in all, it was a great experience. Lots of great wine, some pretty good food at Rosemary's,
and the most special of company. Now how bad can that be!!!
Tom

This is the handout I passed out at my two seminars:

______________________________________________________________________________________

American Wine Society National Convention: Rhone Wines of the USofA The Varietals: Counoise: Mostly blending grape, wines have a lovely bright/cherry aroma but tend to be lean/hard/acidic/bit tannic on palate; makes nice roses Carignane: A red varietal that often shows attractive black cherry/earthy aromatics, but tends to be rough/coarse/rustic/tannic on the palate. Mostly best as a blending grape. Grenache Noir: Runs the gamut in style from light/pretty/fragrant/strawberry/aromatic to dark/extracted/boysenberry/blackberry structured wines. Lots of problems in the vineyard. Grenache Blanc: Has lush/floral/Viognier-like/peach aromatics but tends to be soft/fat lacking in structure on the palate. Rolle (Vermentino): Seldom seen as a single varietal. Usually shy on aromatics with an earthy/stony aroma and tart/lean/stony on the palate. Marsanne: The workhouse white grape variety. Usually rather simple/appley in its youth. With age, it develops a slightly oxidized/hazelnutty/waxy character and an incredible complexity. Mourvedre (Mataro): Mostly from ContraCosta old-vines, where it shows a plummy/earthy/ mushroomy character. As it's planted in better/cooler areas; it's starting to make some very interesting wines w/ structure and rich/plummy/sauvage aromatics. Petite Sirah (Duriff): Tends to make chunky/blocky/rough/tannic black-colored wines lacking in aromatics. But sometimes ages into very interesting wines. Viognier: A varietal w/ powerful/blossomy/peach/pear aromatics but often soft and lacking in structure. US versions seldom show the amazing minerality of French Condrieu. Roussanne: A varietal that has beautiful/floral/honeysuckle aromatics and typical more structured/ acidity than Viognier. Most age very well, developingthat oxidized/hazelnutty/honeyed character. Syrah: Probably the king of the Rhone varietals. Does well in very hot to very cold climes. Most show powerful blackberry/boysenberry aromas but only occasionally that roasted/espressy/smoky character of Northern Rhone. Folklore was that it was a warm-climate grape, but recent experience indicate it can make spectacular wines in cold climates, if you can ripen it. Muscat a Petits Grains: Nearly always, in its Rhone rendition, made as a slightly sweet to very sweet dessert wine. Picpoul/Bourboulenc: Whites seldom seen as varietals Cinsault: Red seldom seen as a varietal. These two seminars will gloss over both PetiteSirah and the Rhone blends and mostly focus on the remaining varietals.

___________________________________________________________________________

The Regions: Santa Barbara County: quite varied in climate but mostly cool Santa Maria Hills: very cool climate, gravelly/sandy soils Santa Ynez Valley: mostly much warmer in eastern end, to very cool/cold on the western SantaRitaHills. Mourvedre/Viognier/Roussanne/Grenache in addition to Syrah. Santa Rita Hills: very cool western end of SantaYnezVlly Ventura County: Ojai/RollRanch is about all there is Paso Robles: tends to make ripe/jammy/lush wines Eastside: tends to be somewhat/much warner w/ sandy soil Westside: tends toward cooler climate w/ more limestone soil YorkMountain: ShadowCanyon/Gary Gibson Edna Valley: very cool rather acidic wines: John Alban Monterey: thankfully the days of vegetal reds are long gone, the reds often have a somewhat herbal character, SanBernabe reds tend to be soft&fat ChaloneBenchland: rather chalky/limestone soil tends to produce minerality Santa Lucia Highlands: typically rather ripe w/ slight herbaceousness Sonoma County: Russian River Valley: fairly cool and tends to have a more earthy/peppery character Sonoma Coast: some very cool vnyds produce peppery/minerally wines Dry Creek Valley: often show that spicy/raspberry character much like Zin Rockpile Road: very rocky/arid growing area above LakeSonoma that may produce some spectacular wines. Napa Valley: Some very excellent wines from MtVeeder area and Carneros. An underachiever in the Syrah field as they tend to be made more in the style of Napa Cab w/ much oak. Sierra Foothills ElDorado County: often rather terroir-driven w/ a mushroomy/earthy character Shenandoah Valley/Fiddletown: tend to be rather ripe w/ the blackberry/jammy/briary character typical of their Zins. Mendocino County: an area that has enormous potential for great wines Anderson Valley: very cool climate and not a lot in Rhone varietals Ukiah/RedwoodVlly: EaglepointRanch and McDowell vnyds are the standouts here, much potential Alder Springs: tiny vnyd up in the heavy forests/mountains NW of RedwoodVlly: Novy, Pax Santa Cruz Mountains: the few Syrahs tend to be big/rustic/earthy reds w/ intensity Gilroy/San Benito County: lots of old-vine Grenache. Wines tend to be lush/jammy. Contra Coast County: Mostly old-vine Mourvedre. Wines tend soft/plummy/mushroomy. Lodi/San Joaquin Valley: Both Viognier and Syrah make amazingly good and reasonably priced wines. Some terrific old-vine PetiteSirahs. Wines tend to be on the soft/fat side. Washington State: WallaWalla Vlly, Yakima Vlly, ColumbiaVlly, RedMountain Regional characteristics not yet clear. The WashState Syrahs tend to be very terroir-driven with a minerally/roasted/tarry/earthy/licorice character and often show great NorthernRhone character. The whites tend to be steely/austere somewhat minerally w/o that much fragrance. The growth here has been explosive and some of the USofA's greatest Rhone reds are coming from WashState. Oregon: Wilammette Valley: very cool Pinot-area, very little Rhones thus far. Rogue Valley: much warmer area to the south. DelRioVnyd the biggie. Virginia: OrangeCounty: HortonVnyds Viognier, though some newer producers are outstanding, if difficult to find.

___________________________________________________________________________

The Great California Vineyards (and some of their producers):
BassettiVnyd/PasoRobles: Ellis&Susan Bassetti: EdmundsStJohn, HugCllrs, Garretson
HudsonVnyd/Carneros: Lee Hudson: Neyers, JadeMtn, Konsgaard, Havens
QueSyrahVnyd/SonomaCoast: Al Rago: formerly Failla-Jordan, now only Al Rago
ThompsonVnyd/SantaBarbaraCnty: DaveThompson: Ojai, Qupe, Jaffurs
AlbanVnyd/EdnaVlly: AlbanVnyds, Qupe, EdmundsStJohn, SineQuaNon
__________________

BienNacidoVnyd/SantaMariaHills: Ojai, Qupe, Jaffurs
MelvilleVnyd/SantaRitaHills: Ojai
MelvilleVnyd/SantaBarbaraCnty: Jaffurs, Qupe, Melville
JamesBerryVnyd/PasoRobles: Saxum, Garretson
TablasCreekVnyd/PasoRobles: TablasCreek, EdmundsStJohn
LarnerVnyd/SantaYnezVlly: Jaffurs
PurismaMountainVnyd/SantaYnezVlly: BeckmanVnyds, Jaffurs
StolpmanVnyd/SantaYnezVlly: Stolpman, Ojai, Jaffurs
Smoot-HawleyVnyd/Napa: Turley
HayneVnyd/NapaVlly: Turley, Elyse
RossiVnyd/NapaVlly: SeanThackerey
ParasVnyd/MtVeeder: JadeMtn
RollRanchVnyd/Ojai: Ojai
ShadowCanyonVnyd/YorkMtn: ShadowCanyonWnry, SineQuaNon
Garys'Vnyd/SantaLuciaHighlands: Novy, Arcadian
SentinelOakVnyd/ShenandoahVlly: TerreRouge
RedWillowVnyd/YakimaVlly: Columbia
Ciel du Cheval/RedMtn: McCrea
Parmalee-Hill/Sonoma: EdmundsStJohn
Mt.Harlan/SanBenitoCnty: Calera

___________________________________________________________________________

Rhone Organizations: Viognier Guild (MatGarretson), Hospices du Rhone, Rhone Rangers

___________________________________________________________________________

RhoneBlends: Typically the GSM (Grenache/Syrah/Mourvedre) for reds with a few Syrah/Zin and
Syrah/Cab, even Syrah/Pinot blends.
White blends are mostly Roussanne/Viognier or Roussanne/Marsanne with a few
that have Chard blended in.
___________________________________________________________________________

Cofermentation: The practice, originally used in Cote-Rotie, of including small amounts
of Viognier in the fermenting vats of Syrah. This, and back-blending of
Viognier into Syrah, are alledged to give the Syrah an aromatic lift.
In California, its use is for co-extraction mostly, where (as Randall would
say:"counter-intuitive") the inclusion of a white variety actually deepens
the color of the Syrah.

___________________________________________________________________________
A few of my favorite Rhone Producers:
SantaBarbara: Ojai, Jaffurs, Qupe, Beckmen, Foxen, Kunin, Margerum, Stolpman, Curtis,
Kaena, DrewFamily, McPrice-Meyers, Kenneth-Crawford
EdnaVlly: Alban, Core,
PasoRobles: Bassetti, Hug, Garretson, Saxum, LinneCalodo, Caernarvon, L'Aventure,
ShadowCanyon, TablasCreek, VillaCreek
SantaCruzMtns: Ridge, BigBasin, BonnyDoon
Napa: Lagier-Meredith, Rocca, Marelle, MillerWineWorks, Renard, Turley, Viader,
Kongsgaard, G.Graham, Neyers, Failla, Swanson, Behrens&Hitchcock, Havens
Sonoma: Carlisle, NovyFamily, Copian, Pax, Hamel, Peay, TinBarn, Radio-Coteau
Mendocino: EaglepointRanch
AmadorCounty: TerreRouge
ElDoradoCounty: SierraVista, Cedarville, Holly'sHill
OtherCalif: Rosenblum, EdmundsStJohn, JCCllrs, SeanThackerey, SineQuaNon
WashingtonState: Harlequin, Cayuse, McCrea, AndrewRich, K-Vintners, DeLille
Oregon: Rockblock, Christom
___________________________________________________________________________

Some of the early movers & shakers:
Syrah: Joseph Phelps (1974), Gary Eberle (1977), the big three: BobLindquist/Qupe,
AdamTolmach/Ojai, RandallGrahm/BonnyDoon, John McCready/SierraVista (1982),
Billy Crawford/McDowellFamily, LouPreston/PrestonVnyds, JedSteele/Kendall-Jackson,
SteveEdmunds, DougMeador/Ventana
Viognier: JohnAlban/AlbanVnyds, JoshJensen/Calera, BobLindquist/Qupe, BillSmith/LaJota,
CraigWilliams/JosephPhelps, DonMcGrath/VillaHelena, MatGarretson/ViognierGuild,
RandallGrahm/BonnyDoon, GaryEberle/Eberle
Mourvedre: PaulDraper/Ridge, MatCline/ClineVnyds, SteveEdmunds/EdmundsStJohn,
Roussanne: RandallGrahm/BonnyDoon, BobLindquist/Qupe, JohnAlban/AlbanVnyds
Grenache: JohnAlban/AlbanVnyds
GrenacheBlanc: JasonHaas/TablasCreek, ChrisCurran/CurranCllrs
Marsanne: BobLindquist/Qupe
___________________________________________________________________________

Acknowledgments: Many thanks for contributing wines to:
Dave Tindall/BonnyDoonVnyds
Mat Garretson/Garretson WC
Steve Edmunds/Edmunds St John Wnry
Michelle & Vince Sfara/SierraVistaWnry
Craig Jaffurs & Dave Yates/Jaffurs Winery
Casey Hartlip/EaglePoint Ranch

and thanks for making arrangements for the remaining wines to:

Mike & Kendall Officer/ CarlisleWnry
CaroleMeredith & SteveLagier/Lagier-MeredithWnry
Dave McDonald & Chris Meeske & Natasha of Mission Wines/SouthPasadena