Hospice Du Rhone - Paso - Apr. 22 - 23

Excited to be pouring once again and wondering who’s going to be attending this year? Roll call? Any plans for inpromptu get togethers?

Cheers.

I’ll be there as part of the photography team. Not attending any of the wine dinners ($250-$350) so I’d be up for something. Not planning on a BYOM BBQ this year. Looking forward to trying whatever you are pouring!

I’ll be there pouring for first time, so all new to me. I am bringing my wife and this is the first time we’re away from the small 5 year old terrorist at home, so might focus on just having a few nice moments with her and not go “full wine industry” in the evenings. But I’m sure there will be a little bit of both.

We are looking forward to our 4th HdR! See you there.

I’m attending the Friday tasting. See you there

New layout for the event. The big tastings are in the open air pavilion.

I’ll be there with a few friends. We have “invested” in the Guigal dinner. All the money not spent during COVID – blown on one meal

Hospice dy Rhone wrap up and thoughts:

What a fun event! My first tasting ever and it was so nice to see how many WB’er stopped by and said high to me and the wife - special thanks to Steve Anderson and Misuk who brought over a lot off people to the table, MikeY and his wife and many others!

A lot of people obviously run for the big players like Saxum, Alban and Turtle Rock, E. Guigal etc, so they pour out quick. Healthy business for the known players. Paul Lato was just behind me and there was always people there. Fulldraw across me had good foot traffic. Epoch certainly, as well. Winemaker Jordan Fiorentini is such a lovely and talented lady. Tooth and Nail had good traffic with the inimitable Lefferts holding court. But certainly the French part of the venue had the most people - it was positively rammed down that corner. For us more unknown producers, it was a little harder to get people to stop. I also think the Los Angeles placing under the winery name makes it a little harder - you can tell they read the sign and when they come to the Los Angeles part they move on. I poured about 1.5 bottles of each of the 4 wines on each day, 2oz pours, so that gives you an idea. I think Paul Lato behind me probably poured 10x that, if not more!

I was a little nervous leaving my table for too long as my wife doesn’t know as much about the wines as I do, but did have an opportunity to sneak away and try a few. For me, the absolute standout was Travis Allen’s Kobayashi. Every wine he served, both days, blew my mind. The Syrah, the Viognier, the Marsanne. Outstanding stuff and he’s a very passionate and talented winemaker. I can see why he sells out his stuff. For me personally, this was the best stuff there, but his style aligns pretty hard with mine. Jack Edwards had a Condrieu that was off the charts good. Larry at Tercero poured me some of his new whites and they were all excellent and so distinctive. Tried two different Saxums that my wife managed to go get for us. No idea what they were, but they were both almost identical. Good, in that opulent way. E.Guigal’s white and red (sorry, not sure what they were) were also excellent. Fulldraw, ONX, all good Syrah’s in a medium-to-bigger bodied way. Royal Nonesuch Farm was right next to me and they had some delicious Rhone blends. Think the winemaker is also the winemaker at Denner, who were also there. Missed Tablas Creek, but inimitable wine waxer Stephen McConnell, wine1percent, said they were pouring some beautiful whites. A small winery from Ojai, Walson Holland, had a few beautiful Grenache blends, very nice. Alban of course - it’s pretty far removed from my preferred style, but certainly a crowd favorite. And props to John Alban himself for stopping by a lot of tables to taste stuff. Never stopped at mine, but he stopped at the two adjacent ones;) I’ve always liked Paul Lato’s Syrah’s better than his PN’s and from tasting a few yesterday I’d say that’s still holds true. They’re powerful, but much more subtle somehow than Alban and Saxum in my book. Great stuff.

Wish I could have tasted more.

In the evening, we had dinner at Les Petites Canailles and the food was very good. Not as good as the dinner we had the night before at Bell’s in Los Alamos, but the duck paté at LPC almost made up the slack - it was divine. Drank a 2018 Jean-Marc Brocard Chablis to our dinner, and it was amazing. A wine nerd sitting next to us shared som of his very rare 2002 Nikolaihof Wachau Trocken Riesling, and it was also absolutely magical - what a treat. Thanks Scott!

All in all a very nice weekend and I will be back!

Oh, I forgot, Peachy Canyon Winery right behind me had a magical Petite Sirah. Very impressive.

while we did not meet, I did take your photo!
sorry to have missed your wines!

Thanks Mel - sorry to have missed you. Hope my mug didn’t shatter your lens - aint getting any prettier with age, that’s for sure!

Adam and Mel - great to meet both of you at HdR! Also wonderful to meet up and have dinner/bottles with Larry, Jeff King, Mike Stoneking, Brian Bohr (and a late drop in by Mel) on Thursday night.

Hospice du Rhone is still our favorite wine event, and one of the last large “wine fest” tastings we attend.

My photos can’t hold a candle to Mel, but here are a few I took:

Adam and his better half:

Travis Allen (Kobayashi), Anne Charlotte Melia-Bachas(Dom Font du Loup), Steven Maxood (right to left)

Paul Lato visiting Mario at the Kobayashi Table

Jeff King (with hat) and the Cleveland Crew

Catching up with Paul Lato

1998 Alban Seymour’s Grenache HdR Bottling shared with our table mates and a few special guests

Sharing a glass of the Alban with Mark Adams (Ledge)

Part II with Sabelli-Frisch product placement* *Not intentional, but wanted to share it with friends attending who had not tried it.
Adam mentioned up thread the difficulty for small producers getting people to stop by. We had at least two wine buyers (an importer from Denmark who sat at our table at the Farewell Dinner, and store owner from Colorado whom we met at the Horsepower Dinner) taste. They were enamored with Adam’s 2019 La Malinche Mission, and at first stunned, then disappointed when I told them he had been pouring his Rhone bottlings the past two days. Hopefully they will reach out to Adam.

and Part III, with the Alban Crew (Jared Alban said it was older than he)

Friday Rhone Around Dinner - Horsepower at BL Brasserie

Sharing the 1999 Cayuse Walla Walla Valley with our table mates and Christophe (yes, my eyes were getting droopy at this point)

Thursday Pre-HdR Dinner at our place, with Berserkers Mike/Dana Stoneking, Jeff King (and friends), Brian/Jennifer Bohr, Larry/Jill Shaffer (Tercero), Darren Delmore (Delmore Wines) and Mel Hill (not all in this photo)

A small sampling of the Thursday bottles…

And yes, we had a great time!

Looking forward to HdR 2024!

Cheers,

Steve