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 recently (4/18/07) some New Rhones :

1. nini Syrah Vin de Californie (14.5%; www.ClosMimi.com) NV: Dark color; very grapey some
   earthy/hot-climate bit herbal/vegetal/tomatoe juice slight blackberry/Syrah quite strange nose; very sharp/tart/screechy/acid slight grapey flavor; too long painful/screechy/acid some blackberry/ grapey/Syrah finish; seems some hot-climate Syrah fruit and a pretty heavy hand w/ the acid corrections; painful to drink. $14.00
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2. eno the Wild One Grenache EaglepointRanch/MendocinoCnty (14.9%; www.enoWines.com)
   2004: Med.dark color; slight earthy/damp basement tomatoey/grapey/grassy some strawberry/
   Grenache light oak nose; tart bright ruhbarb/strawberry/Grenache bit tomatoey/earthy slight vanilla/oak flavor; med. bright strawberry/ruhbarb/Grenache slight earthy/tomatoey light oak finish w/ light tannins; a pretty ruhbarb/strawberry pie wine. $25.00
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3. Ridge Calif 50% Syrah/Grenache LyttonEstate/DryCreekVlly (14.5%; 40 brls; SaH: 26.8%;
   www.RidgeWines.com; Drk: 2/06-2/11-2/12) 2003: Med.dark color; attractive Draper perfume/
   blackberry/strawberry light toasty/pungent/oak nose; light tart bit simple light toasty/oak slight funky/earthy rather strawberry/blackberry light toasty/pungent/oak finish w/ some tannins; a pleasant Ridge red but just that; speaks more of Ridge than Syrah/Grenache. $30.00
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4. EdmundsStJohn Shell&Bone PasoRobles RW (13.8%; RozetVnyd; 36% Mourvedre, 35% Grenache, 19% Syrah, 10% Counoise) 2003: Med.color; some lush strawberry/plummy bit licorice some smokey/spicy/peppery very interesting nose; tart light attractive strawberry/ plummy/spicy slight peppery/smokey flavor; med.long tart strawberry/spicy/plummy/ licorice slight peppery/pungent/smokey finish w/ modest tannins; a bit light but probably will put on weight; a very nice drinking blend. $25.00
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5. EdmundsStJohn Rocks&Gravel Calif RW (14.5%) C&B by WaywardPilgrims of the Vine 2004: Med.dark color; very attractive spicy/peppery/blackberry/plummy slight dusty/smokey interesting
   nose; tart bright strawberry/spicy light peppery bit tannic flavor; long spicy/strawberry/
   blackberry slight earthy/dusty some Rhonish/peppery/pungent finish w/ light tannins; very attractive/spicy/interesting red blend; needs several yrs. Good value at $19.00
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6. EdmundsStJohn RedNeck 101 EaglePointRanch/MendocinoCnty RW (14.6%; www.EdmundsStJohn.com; 50% cofermented Syrah/Grenache; 100 cs) P&B by ThirstyPagans with BigIdeas 2005: Very dark color; sligght reduced/stinky strong blackberry/ spicy/smokey loads of fruit nose;tart loads of bright strawberry/blackberry very spicy light earthy/mushroomy flavor; very long loads of strawberry/blackberry/huge fruit slight smokey/pungent finish w/ some tannins; loads of spicy fruit; needs several yrs and will easily go 10 yrs; very/very
   good interesting red; quite fairly priced at $26.00
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7. VinoV Confundido SantaBarbaraCnty RW (14.5%; 50% Grenache/25% PinotNoir/25% Syrah; 50 cs) 2004: Med.dark color; lovely fragrant/perfumed strawberry/floral/cherry light toasty/
   pencilly/oak very fragrant/attractive nose; tart bright cherry/strawberry/spicy/Nehi soda pop light pencilly/toasty/oak perfumed/polished flavor; long tart bit tannic bright cherry/ strawberry/spicy slight blackberry light pencilly finish; a very attractive/drinkable brightly fruited red at a very fair price. $25.00
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8. VinoV Syrah WhiteHawkVnyd/SantaBarbaraCnty (14.5%; www.VinoV.com; EstrellaRvr clone; 75 cs) 2004: Black color; very intense blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah some cracked black
   pepper bit green olive some toasty/pungent/oak nose; tart rather tannic intense blackberry/
   boysenberry/Syrah big fruit some toasty/pungent/oak flavor; very long boysenberry/ blackberry/ Syrah bit cracked black pepper somewhat tannic/hard some pungent/toasty/oak finish; needs 2-6 yrs; a very good big fruit Syrah w/ the structure to age well; reminds me more of the Tensley than Ojai Syrahs; fairly priced at $42.00.
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9. Betts&Scholl HermitageRouge (13.5%) Chave/Hermitage 2001: Very dark color; slight bretty/
   funky/diaper pail bit roasted/smokey/gamey rather cracked black pepper slight blackberry/Syrah some complex nose; tart slight bretty/diaper pail bit roasted/gamey rather lean/hard very slight blackberry/Syrah flavor; med.long tart rather lean/hard some peppery/roasted bit funky/diaper pail/bretty finish w/ some tannins; pretty lame for a Chave; somewhat interesting Rhone but way overpriced at $70.00
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10. Betts&Scholl Calif Syrah (14.7%; www.BettsAndScholl.com) LewisCllrs 2004: Black color;
    huge milky/oak/vanilla slight blackberry/Syrah simple nose; soft rather tannic huge vanilla/oak some simple/blackberry/Syrah flavor; long pretty tannic intense vanilla/oak finish; needs age but why bother; maybe some fruit in there but totally buried under a ton of oak; lack structure; so sad that a mighty oak tree gave its life for this wine; grossly overpriced at $69.00.
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11. Alesia Syrah ChilenoVlly/SonomaCoast (14.1%; www.RhysVineyards.com) 2004: Black color; very reduced/fecal/pungent toast/charred/oak very strong blackberry/Syrah very roasted/ coffee/espresso rather Rhonish/funky complex nose; tart intense coffee/espresso/gamey cracked black pepper intense blackberry/black cherry/Syrah/cola/DrPepper rather tannic flavor; very long tannic/structured Rhonish/pungent/roasted charred/toasty/oak intense blackberry/black cherry/ cola/Syrah complex finish; needs 3-6 yrs of age; terrific young Syrah at a more than fair price. $39.00
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12. Radio-Coteau LasColinas/SonomaCoast Syrah (680 cs; U/U; 14.6%) 2005: Black color; intense blackberry/boysenberry/black cherry very perfumed/floral/aromatic rather toasty/pencilly/ oak Pinotish nose; tart very elegant/balanced very strong black cherry/blackberry/Syrah very
    perfumed/floral balanced/elegant flavor; very long/lingering floral/perfumed black cherry/
    blackberry/Syrah finish w/ some tannins; beautiful elegant/balanced Pinotish very perfumed
    Syrah at a great price. Beautiful wine. $38.00
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13. Radio-Coteau Timbervine/RussianRvrVlly Syrah (370 cs; U/U; 15.4%) 2005: Black color; intense blackberry/boysenberry very ripe/black cherry/bing cherry light toasty/oak slight reduced/
    funky complex nose; tart very spicy/ripe/black cherry/boysenberry very peppery/RRV/spicy light toasty/oak flavor; very long/lingering spicy/peppery/RRV intense black cherry/black berry light toasty/oak finish w/ some tannins; lovely intense Syrah. $48.00
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14. Radio-Coteau CherryCamp/SonomaCoast Syrah (385 cs; Cherries planted in 1910; U/U; 15.0%; www.RadioCoteau.com) 2005: Black color; beautiful spicy/cracked black pepper/cold climate intense blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah/huge fruit light toasty/oak flavor; very long/lingering
    cracked black pepper/cold climate intense blackberry/boysenberry quite spicy/peppery light
    toasty/oak finish w/ some tannins; lots of cold climate/cracked pepper Syrah character;
    maybe the best R-C Syrah yet; stunning Syrah. $50.00
    
    
    

The usual ramblings from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. Betts&Scholl: This is a dual negociant effort of Richard Betts of the Little Nell in Aspen.
Their first release of a Barossa Grenache I liked quite a lot and thought it quite fairly priced. These two high-end efforts (and their Hermitage Blanc from Chave) are pretty badly overpriced; good wines but way too expensive.
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2. EdmundsStJohn: These were Steve's new Spring release. I was quite taken by the Redneck. It's got loads of fruit and is great drinking now, but it has the structure to age well
I suspect, like most of Steve's wines. Methinks there must have been a pretty good farmer
on a tractor behind this wine.
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3. VinoV: This is the new label of Michael Meagher, former winemaker at OjaiVnyds. I really
liked both of these wines a lot. The Confundido is an unusual blend that seemed to work quite well; the Pinot sort of lent a sophisticated/elegant edge to the otherwise Grenache harlot. Very good drinking wine.
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4. Alesia: Although the nose was rather reduced & stinky, all the underlying character of this
Syrah were absolutely teriffic. The reductive character will go away w/ bottle age; the underlying stuff will not. A stunning Syrah.
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5. Radio-Coteau: All three of the Syrahs were terrific to stunning Syrahs. Eric Sussman's
mastery w/ PinotNoir shows thru in the LasColinas. Whereas the CherryCamp is probably the most intense Syrahy character of the threesome. Though thay all have an intensity to them, they still walk that thin-line of balance very/very well and that should take the wines well out to 5-10 yrs of age. Amazingly good Syrah.

TomHill