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.

Tasting Bohem Cellars 3/21/06

I've been a big fan of AlRago's QueSyrah vnyd ever since they were first being made by EhrenJordan under the Failla-Jordan label. Some of them have been the greatest Syrahs I've had from Calif, very NorthernRhonish in character. The QueSyrah vnyd is a unique site way out on the SonomaCoast and one of the truly cold-climate Syrah vnyds in Calif. A vnyd I've frequently called one of Calif's great Syrah vnyds.

Al ended his relationship w/ Ehren several yrs ago after not being able to reach agreement w/ Ehren on the farming of QueSyrah. He has since partnered w/ Kurt Beitler of CaymusVnyds. Kurt is part of the Wagner family and has responsibility for farming the Caymus TaylorLane Pinot vnyd. The grapes goes into the BelleGlosTaylorLane Pinot and is just down the road from Al's vnyd. It is a very bizarre looking vnyd, trained on the Italian Pergola system of Trentino/AltoAdige. Al's QueSyrah vnyd is planted to Clone 1 (Durell) and ENTAV Clone 877. When he was sourcing his vines from the Kunde's SonomaGrapevines, they ran out of Clone 1, but offerred him some of the new stuff, Clone 877, that they were propagating. Al really lucked out. This is the first Calif vnyd planted to 877 and the clone that is looking more and more to be far superior to Clone 1. Al expects he'll probably graft over some of the Clone 1 to 877. He gets noticibly higher yields from 877; yet the wine is darker/more interesting/intense than Clone 1. And, as RussellBevan also pointed out to me, the 877 seems to be able to soak up the new oak much better w/o becoming blatently oaky.

Al's son lives nearby and is growing Pinot and Chard grapes that are coming on-line now. They will also be vinified by Kurt. Kurt will be releasing his wines, vinified at the Caymus/Rutherford wnry, under a label call Bohem, a take-off on the bohemian name. He also will have a Santa Lucia Highlands Syrah under that label. He points out that the Wagners are very supportive of his efforts. So, afore RhoneRangers, I made an appointment to hook up w/ Al and Kurt down at the Caymus wnry and taste thru the Bohem wines. Man...it felt really weird to be in a wnry loaded to the gills w/ Cabernet wine, I must admit. We tasted:
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1. QueSyrah Section 1/Clone 1 2004: Very dark color; intense smokey/spicy/peppery/forest floor nose; hard/tannic very tart peppery/blackberry/Syrah flavor.
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2. QueSyrah Section 2/Clone 877/new oak 2004: Very dark/black color; beautiful cracked black pepper/spicy intense blackberry/spicy/Syrah slight roasted/toasty nose; tart very spicy/intense cracked black pepper/blackberry/Syrah flavor; loads of interesting cracked black pepper character and more intense blackberry fruit.
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3. QueSyrah Clone 1/Rocky section/neutral oak 2004: Very dark color; slightly reduced/pungent very strong spicy/blackberry/Syrah bit closed/tight nose; tart very spicy/blackberry/Syrah bit simpler flavor
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4. QueSyrah Section 3/Clone 1/more nearby woods&less sun 2004: Very dark color; tight/closed very black strong blackberry/Syrah nose; tart/tight/hard spicy/blackberry bit simpler flavor.
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5. QueSyrah Clone 877/new oak 2004: Black color; beautiful intense/blackberry/Syrah very spicy/cracked black pepper roasted/toasty/espresso complex/aromatic nose;big/intense/ extracted/tart toasty/roasted/espresso intense blackberry/black cherry/Syrah flavor; easily my fave of the 8 barrels; terrific Syrah.
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6. QueSyrah Blend/60% Clone 877/40% Clone 1 2004: Very dark color; intense blackberry/
Syrah spicy/peppery/cracked black pepper slight toasty/roasted nose; tart more forward/ blackberry/Syrah slight cracked pepper/spicy flavor
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7. BelleGlos TaylorLaneVnyd PinotNoir 2004: Very dark color; intense black cherry/Pinot/black cherry cola/DrPepper very spicy complex nose; tart/rich very spicy/black cherry/Pinot/black cherry cola light toasty/oak flavor; a big/intense beautiful Pinot that reminds me some of Cargasacchi Pinots by Bruno d'Alfonso.
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8. QueSyrah Clone 877 2005: Tasted outside in cold/drizzly weather, not optimal: Dark color; bit herbal/green olive rich/juicy/lush blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry loads of juicy fruit slight peppery nose; tart juicy/fruity/blackberry/Syrah lush slight pepper flavor; loads of juicy fruit at this point w/ slight green olive/herbal notes.
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9. QueSyrah Blend 2005: Much like above w/ loads of juicy fruit; bit simpler w/ more
blackberry/Syrah fruit.
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10. Bohem SantaLuciaHighlands Syrah 2004: Very dark color; slight SLH/herbal ripe/chocolaty/ blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah fruit nose; slight softer ripe/chocolaty/herbal very strong blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah flavor; strongly SLH Syrah.
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The notes were a bit sketchy. In almost all cases, I much preferred the Clone 877 over the Clone 1; they seemed to have more of a complex/peppery/light roasted/Rhonish character than the Durell. The Durell always seemed leaner/tighter and not quite the interesting aromatics of 877. All had a Alban-like acidity to them that suggests they'll be long agers. With only 8 barrels with which to work, it'll be interesting to see what the final blend turns out to be. Al notes that the 2004 vintage is the ripest he ever got his grapes. By contrast, 2005 was a very long/protracted growing season and it was a struggle to ripen them.

Definitely, Bohem is a label to follow from the very start. I was impressed. Afterwards, we all adjourned to the Rutherford Grill to finish off the BelleGlos with a terrific lunch. Al and I reminisced about our early Nuclear days. I first met Al at Argonne National Laboratory in 1967 when I had a summer job there in the Reactor Physics Division. Al was just down the hall from my office and we lunched frequently with a group. Of course, we both had a bit more hair in those days!!

Tom

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