PatrickComiskey, one of my most favorite of wine writers, has been laboring for a goodly number of yrs on a book on the US Rhone movement. It is due to be released in Oct: American Rhone: How Maverick Winemakers Changed the Way Americans Drink".
It is available for pre-order on Amazon: Amazon:ComiskeyBook
I suspect “How Maverick Winemakers Changed the Way Americans Drink” subtitle may be a bit of hyperbole and an attempt at humor, much like “How I Saved the World from Parkerization” was, but the book itself should be a very good read.
I’m excited for this book as well. He’s been talking about, and researching for, this book for so long - great to see it come to fruition.
It’ll be interesting to read what he feels are the key moments in the movement - and where he sees things going from here. Not from an individual producer standpoint, but from trends re: varieties, blends, etc . . .
Pardon the thread drift - does anyone have any book recs on the actual Rhone, Parkers is about 15 years out of date by now-still worth it? or are there better new ones?
MD, did your book arrive yet? I am about 100 pages in, working now on the Randall Grahm chapter. The book goes into quite the detail on some points, a lot of that in the earlier chapters, which got a little dry for me. But, the chapters surrounding Jim Clendenen, Adam Tolmach, etc, the SBC area, that is where I really got into it.
Curious about one thing, maybe Larrry Schaffer knows…the Black Bear Block at Zaca Mesa is now around 40 years old. For vines of this age, with this legacy and history as the oldest in the area and in a small group of old vine syrah in CA, why don’t we hear more about Black Bear? Zaca Mesa seems to price the wine as if it is special (in the $50 range), but I have never seen a TN or anyone talk about the plot before. Why?
Heard you pinged me so I figured I’d jump on I always enjoy this wine, and it remains a ‘classic’ among those produced here in SB County. Why no notes? I’ll take a stab:
Larger producer in an area dominated by smaller producers, so no one takes much notice of the wines produced by ZM on this board and others
They have only recently started selling fruit to others, including some ‘big name’ Paso wineries, so you may start to see that vineyard itself get more recognition (and no, I don’t think they sell any of this block)
Since Ken Brown, Jim Clendenon, Adam Tolmach, and Bob Lindquist left, they haven’t had a ‘known’ entity as winemaker. Clay Brock did a great job with the wines there in the 2000’s, including a WS Top 100 wine sometime in the mid-2000’s. Their current winemaker, Eric Mohseni, is awesome and deserves a lot more credit than he’s given . . .
Would love to see more love for them, not only for this wine but for their Roussannes, which should be considered in the same ballpark as Stolpman and Qupe around here.
Gotta agree w/ Larry on this one…especially #3. I. Also think that Eric does a particularly good job, especially with the Roussanne. I always make a point of tasting ZM when I get a chance and always think I should be following these wines more closely.
I think if ZM would sell some of the BBBlock to Qupe/Ojai/Jaffurs, it would do a lot to enhance the vnyd’s reputation.
Tom (recovering in Atlanta from a 10 he flight from Munich)
Hmmm, maybe I am being idealistic, but if there is a plot of land that speaks, that has something unique to offer and it speaks to people from the glass, why would it have to be in the hands of a small producer? Examples that come to mind for me are Brosseau (COPAIN), Rosella’s (CARLISLE)…would we deem these to be small producers? Maybe I want Bear Block to be good, to be distinct b/c of its history, age, where is sits in the syrah narrative for CA. But, if it’s not distinctive like for example the 2 I mentioned, or is not being farmed to its potential, than I have to get over my idealism, then. What would make the fruit being sold to Qupe or Jaffurs matter? Not trying to be a troll or stir things, just trying to u/stand.
By the way, finished the chapters this week on Steve Edmunds and Manfred Krankl. Really now enjoying the book and just 1/2 way in.
Thanks for the mentions here, gentlemen. The Black Bear Block is only 3.5 acres, and yields low, so selling its fruit doesn’t work for us. We’ve planted the Estrella clone in other locations in the vineyard, and have brought in 9 other clones of Syrah. Eric and Kristin have developed several new small lot Syrahs (including a a pretty special single block called Chapel G, and a single block Estrella clone bottling aged in clay amphorae), and our larger production estate Syrah has a crazy QPR right now. If anyone is coming to SB County and wants to see what we’re up to, please reach out to me. I’ll make sure you get the Berserker treatment!
This book sucks big time. Just got home ystrday morning from over a month in Europe (Austria/Slovenia/Friuli/Croatia). The book is buried in this big pile of mail.
It’s the first thing I open. Sit down and start hop-skipping around and spend the next 3 hrs going thru it. Not unpacking, not doing laundry, not paying overdue
bills, not unpacking my 7 boxes of wine…nothing I should be doing. It sucks.
The book is exceedingly well written and chock-ablock w/ facts, many of which I didn’t even know. Patrick has done an extremely good research
job on this. It’s a must read for anybody interested in Calif wines.
Tom
Wow…just wow. Started reading it today in detail & got thru the Acknowledgements/Introduction and Chap 1: The '60’s…Headwaters of the Rhone Movement.
This book is incredibly well-written and meticulously researched. Of course, as somebody who followed the US Rhone movement
“from the very start” (as they say), it is of particular interest to me. And I’m learning a lot of new facts I’d not known before.
Chap 1 focuses on Berkeley in the '60’s. How the intersection of AliceWaters and KermitLynch laid the groundwork for what became the Rhone
movement in Calif. Lots of familiar names: SteveEdmunds/BillEaston/JohnOlney/the Peyrauds/Narsai David/MichaelWolf/SeanThackrey…all came together in the '60’s-'70’s
in this cosmic intersection. As someone who was introduced to Clape/Juge/Verset/Chave/Tempier in the '70’s by Kermit…I always felt he deserved more recognition
for inspiring the likes of those early Calif Rhone pioneers. And now realize that AliceWaters was closely intertwined w/ laying that foundation.
In most books, I just ignore the footnote citations…dry/boring citations. But for this book, it’s important that you read most every footnote. In fact, I spent almost an hour
reading just the footnotes and then referring back to their citations. I am a sick person.
I finally completed my reading of Patrick’s book last night. One of the best wine books I’ve read in years. Of course, part of that is because I followed the American Rhone Revolution from the very start…the '74 Phelps Syrah…a wine that almost killed the Syrah market in Calif.
The book is incredibly well researched and very well written. Patrick’s take on the RhoneRevolution pretty much mirrors my take on the situation. He leaves no stone unturned and turns over a few that I never peered under. I actually learned quite a lot from the book. I think he’s given credit where credit is due to all the right people.
A few general (and specific) comments:
Based on the footnotes, he did most of his research for the book in the 2006-2012 time frame, tying up a few of the loose ends in the 2013-2015 time range. So the book is a pretty accurate take on the US Rhone scene thru early 2015. The concluding chaptre “What We Talk About When We Talk About American Syrah” is a very well-written chapter and has a lot of insightful comments. I wish Patrick would have said a few words about what are his predictions for the future of the American Rhone market and, particularly, the impact of Rhone-style wines from other/emerging countries.
My thoughts on that subject below.
It is well-known about the decline/stagnation of the Syrah market in this country. His chapter on “The Rise and Fall of American Syrah” pretty accurately charts the course of that market. Early on, the Syrah market was highly touted by the US wine writers (Parker/Laube/Steiman) as “the next big thing”, something these guys are always looking out for and wanting to be the first kid on the belock to discover “the next big thing”. This led to a lot of winemakers, especially NapaVlly Cab producers, jumping on the Syrah bandwagon…having no clue or vision as what they wanted to do with Syrah…they just knew it was the “next big thing”. Patrick (rightfully) attributes the Syrah decline to: a.) the impact of big/ripe/jammy/overblown Oz Syrahs, and b.) the impact of Parker/Laube’s preference for overripe/oaky/over-extracted/alcoholic Syrahs (though we are, of course, told by Parker that he does, indeed, appreciate elegant/subtle/finessy/complex/nuanced wines…a statement that always amuses me) and their award of big points for this style as distorting the style of Syrah. Consumers eventually found that these kinds of Syrahs are really not much fun to drink. Though this style still has its adherents (SQN/Alban/Saxum/Konsgaard), many winemakers are recognizing the folly of this style…that it’s a dead-end.
“The Curious Case of American Petite Sirah” is a particularly noteworthy chaptre and very well researches all the confusion behind this grape and its history.
“The Pioneers and Players” chaptres accurately captures the early proponents in Calif of Syrah (Phelps and Eberle, in particular) and their important contributions to the movement. I remember well when I tasted the first Phelps Syrah '74 and the great disappointment I had. It wasn’t until I tasted the first Eberle Syrah from barrel that the light blinked on…“Calif can, indeed, potentially make great Syrah”. The “Artists and Iconoclasts” chaptres accurately describes the contributions of Grahm/Edmunds/Thackrey/Krankl and their personalities.
The “Boomtime” chaptres very accurately describe the birth of the RhoneRangers and Hospices du Rhone. Most people attribute the “Rhone Ranger” term to RandallGrahm, but Patrick accurately traces its lineage to SteveEdmunds.
The “The Movement Starts to Move” chaptres address the usage of “suitcase clones” and their contributions. Patrick attempts to unravel the mystery of Randall’s Roussanne/Viognier screwup, with the conclusion that we’ll never have the accurate details on that subject. Extremely well-researched,
The “Academic Backup for the American Rhone Movement” details the important contributions of RobertMayberry and his influence on the early Rhone movers & shakers. This is a topic about which I was entirely clueless. I’d read his book and was not very impressed by it. But it was vitally important to those Rhone pioneers. So now I know & plan to go back and re-read the book.
All in all…this is a must-read for anyone w/ an interest in Calif wine and Rhone wines, unless your sole interest is NapaCabs and RRV Pinots. One of the most important and best wine books I’ve read in years.
So…back to #1. Where does the US Rhone movement go from here?? Clearly, Rhones are not going to ever be the “next big thing”. But they will continue to occupy a (less than) small and important niche in the US wine market. And, for me, that’s just fine. The people who are making really/really good, terroir-driven Syrahs and Rhones will continue to thrive (at least, at some certain level). SteveEdmunds/AdamTolmach/BobLindquist/CraigJaffurs/EhrenJordan/PaxMahle/CaroleMeredith…we all know who they are. Those who are making the Syrahs that garner huge Parker-points will continue to thrive, based on those scores. Which is fine with me and clearly has their adherents. These wines just don’t much interest me anymore.
For the Rhone Movement to truly thrive, it’s important to expand the market. I think that RhoneRangers taking their show on the road can be an important contributor to this growth. What role HdR can play is not altogether clear to me. Whether it will thrive or just limp along is a question to me.
But, still, when you look at Syrah and other Rhone varieties, particularly in comparison to NapaVlly Cab and RRV Pinot, these wines blow away, in value, those latter two. It’s a great time to be drinking American (and French) Syrah, I think.
Tom
Just finished the Mayberry chapter last night, Tom. There is such a great history and recounting in this book, for a grape I really enjoy and fervently support and drink. I’m eager to get to the chapter, really now at the end, where they talk about Wells, etc. I really dig the Copain syrahs and they are now for me what embodies the syrah I drink, where balance is really what’s being made. I want to see what he has to say about this era of syrah, where we are today.
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