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 New Wines
Tasted a few new wines this week:
Philip Staley Russian River Valley Staley Vineyard Viognier '96: Rather grassy/herbal light peachy nose; tart sour lean herbal/grassy some rich/full-bodied weak Viognier flavor; long tart/sour lush glycerined herbal finish; little Viognier character & more like RRV Sauvignon Blanc w/ body.
Ojai Vineyard Roll Ranch Vineyard California Viognier '96: Strong lush ripe peachy Viognier fragrant aromatic light oaked nose; lush rich textured buttery light peach/pear/Viognier slight minerally/earthy/hard flavor; very long lush ripe peachy/pear/Viognier buttery mouthfilling some minerally finish; a big ripe rich Viognier but not in the Dolly Parton style like many; some structure and minerally components to it; Adam's best Viognier yet. Terrific.
Philip Staley Russian River Valley Grenache Blanc Allegre '96: Very pale-pink color; nice fragrant strawberry/Grenache/rubarb nose; tart lean metallic light strawberry Grenache flavor; short cherry/ruhbarb/strawberry finish; pleasant but simple.
Eberle Paso Robles Counoise Rose Lauridson Vineyard '95: Med. pink/salmon color; fragrant spicy/cherry/dusty nose; tart astringent dusty somewhat weak/fruity flavor; med.short tart dusty astringent finish; pleasant nose but a bit hurty on the palate; would like a bit more fruit & lushness.
Philip Staley Russian River Valley Rue Rivage (36% Grenache, 19% Mourvedre, 45% Syrah; Alc: 13.8%) '94: Pleasant fruity/fragrant some dusty/earthy CdR nose; tart bit sour dusty/funky bit horsecollar/CdR flavor; med.long light rather dusty CdR bit funky/horsecollar somewhat lean finish; fairly authentic CdR look- alike.
Philip Staley Russian River Valley Staley Vineyard Grenache '95: Lovely perfumed Grenache/straw- berry bit charred/oak nose; soft lush bit astringent smokey/strawberry/ Grenache flavor; med.long astringent tannic & lean strawberry/Grenache finish; fragrant but hard in the mouth.
Il Podere dell'Olivos California Barbera Riserva Ragazzo Legnoso '95: Beautiful very spicy pencilly oaked dusty smokey cherry/black cherry cola bit horse- collar nose; tart hard lush pencilly oaked very spicy/Barbera/smokey/ sausage flavor; long toasty/oaked very tart/hard astringent pencilly very spicy slight horsecollar/bretty finish; a classic lean/hard Barbera w/ loy lots of fruit overlain; needs 2-6 yrs; best Italian Barbera yet from Calif.
Il Podere dell'Olivos Santa Barbara County Barbera Riserva Buon Natale Bien Nacido Vineyard '95: Deep lush fragrant blackberry perfumed almost Syrah-like spicy nose; rich full lush black cherry cola tart very spicy bit tannic flavor; very long tart ripe lush very black cherry/BN finish w/ ample tannins; needs 2-6 yrs of age; the classic BienNacido black cherry comes thru.
Eberle Paso Robles Barbera Norman Vineyard (Alc: 12.8%) '95: Dusty/spicy Barbera classic Eberle cinammon&cloves oaked aromatic slight Italian/horse- collar nose; tart bit lean hard very spicy Barbera slight horsecollar/earthy flavor; long spicy/Barbera bit horsecollar toasty dusty finish w/ some tannins; needs 3-6 yrs; bit lean & hard & not as lush as the '94 but very well-made and interesting Barbera.
Eberle PasoRobles Cabernet/Sauvignon/Syrah (EB; 50%CS, 50% S; Alc: 13.6%) '95: Very dark color; some herbal Cab fragrant Syrah/strawberry very spicy bit dusty nose; rich some herbal Cab cinammon&cloves very spicy Syrah oaked/ dusty flavor; very long bit horsecollar very spicy Syrah/herbal finish w/ some tannins; one of the best Calif Cab/Syrah blends yet; much brighter & aromatic than the Aussie versions.
Hamel Sonoma County Syrah (80% Alegria Vnyd, 20% Bradford Mtn; Alc: 14.4%) '94: Black color; rather fumey very intense licorice very ripe chocolaty very Syrah/blackberry dusty bit stemmy nose; soft intense blackberry/Syrah dusty bit roasted fiercly tannic flavor; very long hot/fumey very licorice very ripe Syrah/black cherry cola/Dr.Pepper very tannic finish; needs 4-10 yrs; a rather rustic/old Calif style red but loads of ripe Syrah.
Eberle Paso Robles Syrah Fralich Vineyard (Alc: 13.8%) '95: Dark color; beautiful very spicy lush ripe strawberry/Syrah oaked slight charred roasted dusty nose; tart lush bright cherry/strawberry/Syrah some cinammon&cloves light roasted flavor; very long bright cherry/strawberry very spicy/cinammon/ oaked dusty finish w/ some tannins; needs 2-6 yrs; lots of spicy/fragrant aromatics in this wine; more high-toned than most Calif Syrah; perhaps Gary's best Syrah yet.
Ojai California Syrah '95: Black color; big lush Syrah/blackberry some roasted/ dusty/smoky pungent/espresso nose; soft rich pungent/toasty oaked ripe blackberry/Syrah dusty flavor; very long dusty bit roasted pungent oaked ripe rich blackberry/Syrah tannic finish; needs 3-8 yrs; Adam's best Calif Syrah yet by far; this is serious stuff at a great price.
Ojai California Syrah Roll Ranch Vineyard '95: Black color; beautiful intense blackberry/ Syrah/licorice loads of fruit bit smokey/pungent nose; soft rich lush mouthfilling tannics loads of intense blackberry Syrah cassis slight roasted flavor; very long intense rather tannic hards tons of blackberry/ Syrah light pungent/roasted finish; needs 4-10 yrs; an incredible intense cassis/Syrah. Wow! A steal at $18.00.

And from the bully pulpit:
A rather eclectic tasting of some pretty interesting-to-killer wines. Used to be when I'd do a tasting like this, I'd have trouble getting a group. They just wanted to taste Zinfandel (I can understand that!). Now, when they find out there'll be Syrahs... no probolem!
Barbera is another verrry underrated grape in Calif. Gary Eberle has been making very good ones from the very first days at Estrella Vnyds. The ones from the Norman vnyd are even better. Some of Jim Clendennan's IlPodere Barberas have been a bit spotty, sometimes a bit too Italian/unclean/bretty. These two '95 are easily his best yet. This '95 and last yrs '94 Bien Nacido Barberas have been some of the best ever from Calif. They have that lush black cherry fruit of the BN vnyd, w/ that underlying Barbera tannins & acidity. These are wines to watch. Scott Harvey and Renwood are also two pretty outstanding Barberas. There's a fair amount of old-vine Barbera in Calif.... people oughta be doing more with that fruit. And planting more.
The Ojais...... sigh!!! Adam Tolmach's wines over the last 2-3 vintages have all taken a big step up in quality. Run, don't walk..... to find the Calif '95 and Roll Ranch '95 Syrahs. Alas... he's sold out at the winery. And the Santa Barbara/Bien Nacido Syrah '95 is even better than these two. This Viognier is easily his best (of 3 vintages now) yet and one of the few Calif versions that have that minerally component I love in great Condrieu. But it should be served at cool room temperature, not at the usual white wine temperatures. Otherwise you miss out on so much in this wine. The Roll Ranch Syrah was loaded w/ Syrah fruit but seemed a bit on the soft & understructured side, though ample tannins. It's a young vnyd but one that's worth keeping your eye on. I think Adam pretty much has the entire vnyd locked up for his wines, at least I hope so. Adam's othe wines are also pretty special... even his Chard... if you like that kind of wine! He has a Benjamin Lorenzo (his son born in '95) Pinot '95 from Bien Nacido that's a blockbuster; atypical of Pinot and more like Syrah... killer stuff. Please, not a word to Parker about this curly-haired wild-eyed guy back up in the canyon in lower SB Cnty!!! Let's keep him to ourselves!
The Hamel Syrah was a weird one. Very intense fruit but a bit hot & fumey & a bit rustic in style. Problematic for long-term aging. But I liked it a whole lot. Better than anything Kevin has made under the Preston label, where he is (or was?) winemaker. It reminded me a bit of some of the old- style Ridges.
And the Eberle wines continue to get better. Most of the Syrah plantings in Calif I understand come from his original Estrella River plantings. I tasted Gary's first Syrahs there at Estrella with him way back when & it was the first time that I saw some real potential for the variety in Calif. They were a bit overdone on the pencilly French oak, but they had that fragrant, perfumey, high-toned character his Syrahs always seem to have; rather than that brooding powerful blockbuster character that many of the others have (which I like too). This was back when the first Joseph Phelps Syrahs were pretty miserable wines; it took them about 10 yrs for them to figure Syrah out. Ken Volk's Wild Horse Syrahs also seem to have that fragrant high-toned character to them.