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 tried last week (2/21/07) Some New Rhones :

1. Yves Cuilleron Syrah Vin de Pays des CollinesRhodaniennes (12.5%) 2005: Med.color; bit
   alcoholic rather blackberry/Syrah slight roasted/coffee interesting nose; tart bit lean/tannic slight blackberry/Syrah bit black pepper/coffee bit green/hard falvor; med. tart/lean/green bit tannic/hard slight roasted/blackberry/Syrah finish; needs several yrs; not much intensity & only slightly Rhonish. $22.00
   _____________________
2. Laurent Combier AC Crozes-Hermitage (12.5%) 2005: Med.dark color;rather jammy/blackberry/
   Syrah slight roasted/peppery/smokey very attractive/perfumed/Rhonish nose; tart rather light/bright blackberry/Syrah light pungent/roasted/smokey flavor; med.long bright/blackberry/Syrah slight smokey/roasted flavor w/ light tannins; quite a nice Rhone for the price. $20.00
   _____________________
3. AlainGraillot Crozes-Hermitage (13%) 2004: Med.dark color; lovelysmokey/roasted/peppery/
   espresso some blackberry/Syrah rather pungent classic NR nose; tart round/lust blackberry/
   Syrah some roasted/espresso/pungent/pepper/olive lovely/complex NR flavor; long strong pungent/ roasted/espresso some blackberry/Syrah finish w/ fair tannins; needs several yrs; a lovely example of NR Syrah w/ plenty of elegant/roasted NR character; another great Graillot buy. $22.00
   _____________________
4. Domaine GeorgesVernay Cote-Rotie Blonde du Seigneur (MeBalP; 12.5%) 2004: Dark color;
   lovely roasted/cracked black pepper/espresso/coffee complex/smokey/pungent beautiful floral/
   perfumed/lilacs/blackberry/Syrah nose; tart lovely roasted/espresso/black pepper classic NR blackberry/floral/Syrah elegant bit tannic flavor; very long elegant/floral/blackberry/ Syrah quite roasted/espresso/cracked black pepper bit tannic finish; needs 2-6 yrs; a beautiful classic C-R at a great price. $44.00
   _____________________
5. St.Cosme Cote-Rotie (13.5%) 2004: Dark color; rather dusty/earthy/walnutty/green/underripe
   slight roasted/coffee light Syrah/blackberry nose; tart/lean bit tannic rather green/walnutty very dusty low fruit flavor; med.short dusty/walnutty slight bretty rather green/ underripe fairly tannic/ lean/hard finish; tastes like an underripe OR Pinot; lacking in NorthernRhone character; a weak effort; way/way overpriced at $70.00
   _____________________
6. HunterHill Syrah SantaCruzMtn Estate (13%; U; www.HunterHillWines.com) 2004: Dark color; rather dusty/spicy/earthy some violets/floral/blackberry/Syrah cherry rather interesting nose; screechy/highly acidic dusty slight cherry/black cherry/Nehi soda pop bit tannic flavor; long painfully acidic cherry/bright fruit some dusty finish w/ fair tannins; an interesting rendition of Syrah but it takes the enamel off your teeth. $25.00
   _____________________
7. Kalinda LosCarneros Syrah Reserve (13.7%; www.Kalinda.com) P&B by H de V co./Napa 2003: Very dark/black color; quite burnt/peppery/charred rather H2S/fecal/outhouse/sewer gas
   some blackberry/Syrah nose; tart some black cherry/cherry/plummy rather strong fecal/sewer gas; med.long fecal/sewer gas some blackberry/black cherry/Syrah finish w/ some tannins; may age into something but a huge gamble; some interesting Syrah character therein but way too unclean. $18.00
   _____________________
8. Eric K James Carneros Syrah Vnyd 121 (14.1%; www.GroWine.com) Winemaker: Chris Demetre 2004: Vary dark color; rather earthy slight blackberry/Syrah/root beer very foul/mousey/
   bacterial quite bretty/unclean bit volatile nose; very unclean/bretty/horse poop slight blackberry some hot/fumey flavor; med.long hor/burning very unclean/bretty/poopy finish; smells like more than just brett but some bacterial contamination; bad stuff. $19.00
   _____________________
9. Keller Estate Syrah LaCruzVnyd/SonomaCoast (14.4%; www.KellerEstate.com) 2003: Very dark/black color; raging volatile/EA/acetic some pencilly/Fr.oak slight black cherry nose; tart hot/ alcoholic/fumey/burning/EA slight black cherry flavor; med.short hot/fumey finish w/slight black cherry fruit; way too volatile and fumey to enjoy. $33.00
   _____________________
10. EdmundsStJohn Syrah Wylie-Fenaughty/EldoradoCnty (14.2%) 2003: Very dark color;earthy/ mushroomy/ElDorado slight roasted/pungent some blackberry/earthy/Syrah bit spicy/cinammon
    interesting nose; tart/elegant some pungent/roasted rather earthy/mushroomy some blackberry/
    olive/Syrah bit spicy/pungent/complex flavor; med.long earthy/mushroomy spicy/cinammon bit pungent/smokey/dusty some blackberry/Syrah finish w/ fair tannins; seems a bit tight and closed right now; lots of earthy/ElDorado character. $26.00
    _____________________
11. JosephPhelpsVnyds Syrah NapaVlly (14.6%) 2003: Black color; big blackberry/Syrah/ boysenberry slight peppery/spicy slight roasted/cold-climate lovely nose; soft bit tannic very strong
    spicy/blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah slight toasty/roasted/peppery very attractive flavor; very long intense blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah slight coffee/roasted/cracked black pepper finish w/ some tannins; a very/very good Syrah w/ good cold-climate character. $35.00
    _____________________
12. LazyCreekVnyds AndersonVlly Syrah (14.2%; 0.5% Viognier; Clones 6 & 174; RoemerVnyd;
    Hrvstd: Oct 22 & Nov 1; SaH: 24.5 Brix; U; 2.6 tons/acre; 33% WholeClusterFermentation;
    38% New French brls; pH: 3.76; TA: 0.63; 230 cs; www.LazyCreekVineyards.com) Josh&MaryBethChandler; 2005: Black color; very strong/perfumed very spicy/blackberry quite
    black pepper/black olive slight roasted/coffee/cold-climate Syrah slight toasty/oak complex
    nose; tart very spicy/black pepper/black olive intense blackberry/framboise/Syrah some toasty/ smokey/oak rather NorthernRhone character flavor; very long some tannic intense/blackberry/Syrah/ blueberry peppery/black olive some toasty/pungent/oak finish; needs 2-6 yrs; lots of Rhone character; terrific cold-climate Syrah. $37.00 (GMT/KC)
    _____________________
13. Holdredge Syrah RRV (14.2%; www.Holdredge.com) 2005: Dark color; lovelyblackberry/ boysenberry/Syrah very spicy light peppery light toasty/pencilly/oak very attractive nose; tart
    ripe/spicy/light peppery elegant/blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah light toasty/oak/smokey quite spicy flavor; long spicy/light pepper ripe/blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah light toasty/ oak finish w/ light tannins; very attractive quite spicy more elegant/polished well-made Syrah at a good price. $30.00
    _____________________
14. Holdredge Syrah LoversLeapVnyd/RRV (14.3%) 2005: Dark color; sameblackberry/ boysenberry/Syrah bit more intense/dusty more spicy/black pepper/pungent nose; more intense blackberry/Syrah slightly more tannic more peppery flavor; slightly more tannic very long blackberry/
    spicy/Syrah finish; needs several yrs age; much same profile of the regular but just a bit more intense; very attractive Syrah at a good price. $30.00.
    
    
    

1. KalindaSyrah: This is the private label for K&L purchased wines. A few yrs ago ('00 or '01
vintage), we bout several cases of this Kalinda at a great price. The wine was terrific, so I had high hopes for this '03 version. There IS some really good Syrah buried in there but the wine is way too unclean to be pleasurable. It might age out, but have my doubts.
_____________________
2. LazyCreekSyrah: This is the first Syrah from the AndersonVlly I can recall tasting. JimColey insisted I try a btl when I was in KC a month ago. He was, of course, right. A stunning Syrah it is.
_____________________
3. PhelpsSyrah: JosephPhelps was, of course, the one who started it all back in '74. The wine,
made by WalterShug, was loaded w/ toasty/charred oak; made like a Burgundian Calif Pinot or a Spatburgunder. Not very good, gave no hint of the potential of Syrah in Calif, and probably set the market back in Calif for Syrah. They planted Syrah on their StHelena property, but they wine that came from it was never very special.

Other Syrah producers were making world-class Syrah and Phelps was left in the dust. They eventually pulled the StHelena Syrah and planted down in their Carneros property (as well as their Monterey property, which goes into their LeMistral). Production was small, I had lost interest in Phelps Syrah, so I never had a chance to try it. This '03 was an eye-opener. Phelps CAN make Syrah every bit as good as their Insignia. Craig has some credentials as a winemaker and figured he could. He brought a sample of the '04 (Fall release) for me to try at the Taos WinterWineFestival. It's even better than this very good '03. It's nice to have Phelps back in the Syrah game.
______________________
4. Pretty weird tasting. Generally Syrah tastings are pretty reliable and the wines generally
quite good. We hit a bad streak w/ the first four Calif Syrahs; all badly made wines. Guess Syrah is not a no-brainer after all.
______________________
5. EdStJohn W-F '03: This is Steve's latest release of W-F. The '02 was blended into The
Shadow. Most of the group found the wine underwhelming, somewhat lacking in fruit. I thought it rather typical of Steve's just-released wines...they often don't show a lot right out of the gate. But Steve's wines have this habit of, down the road, rearing up and biteing you in the a$$ in an unprictable way. Sometimes....you just gotta believe. And I have little doubt, down the road, this'll be another great EdStJohn Syrah. And then we'll hear the classic EdmundsStJohn lament..."I shoulda bought more"!!
______________________
6. Holdredge Syrah: I liked these two Syrahs quite a bit. They reminded me a bit of the
Radio-Coteau Syrahs but a bit less obvious oak. Very well-made/attractive wines across
the board.

TomHill