Rhone Rangers – 19th Annual San Francisco Bay Area Wine Tasting
I attended the 19th annual San Francisco Bay Area Rhone Rangers tasting in June, and wrote a report for the Grape-Nutz.com website. A portion of the report is below – there are more comments, photos, and tasting impressions of over 90 wines from 29 producers here:
Rhone Rangers – 19th Annual San Francisco Bay Area Wine Tasting
Report on the 19th Annual San Francisco Bay Area Celebration of American Rhône Wines presented by the Rhone Rangers, on Friday and Saturday, June 10-11, 2016, and held at the Golden Gate Club in the Presidio of San Francisco, California. The event focuses on current releases of Rhône-varietal wines from member wineries in the United States.
This year’s event started on Friday evening with a walk-around tasting reception, winemaker dinner catered by Sonoma’s the girl & the fig, and live auction at the Golden Gate Club in the San Francisco Presidio. At the dinner, Bill Easton of Terre Rouge Wines was presented with the Rhone Rangers Lifetime Achievement Award, a well-deserved honor. Saturday featured a seminar followed by the Grand Tasting and silent auction in the afternoon. Both auctions benefited the Rhone Rangers Mission and its Scholarship Fund. I attended the Saturday morning seminar and the afternoon Grand Tasting – the tasting impressions below are from those parts of the overall event.
The Rhone Rangers organization is a non-profit group, which promotes the enjoyment of Rhône-varietal wines produced in the United States. Although the term “Rhone Rangers” has been used since the 1980s to describe some of the early proponents of Rhône-style wines in the US, the organization itself was not founded until 1997. There are now around 150 wineries from California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Michigan, New York, and Virginia that are members of the Rhone Rangers. In addition to the San Francisco Bay Area event, there is a Rhone Rangers event held in Los Angeles as well as various regional chapter events.
Bill Easton of Terre Rouge
Seminar
I attended a Saturday morning seminar this year in addition to the Grand Tasting that immediately followed it. This year was a bit of a departure, with a single seminar rather than two, though it was almost like two separate ones since the wines were presented in two flights with two different winemaker panels. Sunset Magazine wine editor Sara Schneider moderated the seminar, which was entitled “Pushing the Limits of Syrah.” Notes on all of the wines presented at the seminar are included in the Tasting Impressions section below.
The winemaker panel for the first flight of wines consisted of K.D. Organ of Tenet Wines, Ben Crane of Westwood Estate, Steve Gower of Crux Winery, Bill Easton of Terre Rouge Wines, Chris Pittenger of Skinner Vineyards, and Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyard. The second panel featured Christopher Whaley of Wrath Wines, Carl Bowker of Caliza Winery, Bob Lindquist of Qupé, Craig Jaffurs of Jaffurs Wine Cellars, Peter Stolpman of Stolpman Vineyards, and James Callahan of Rune Wines. The Syrahs were presented in order from north to south (from Washington for Tenet to Arizona for Rune) – something that was not explained and that I only picked up on this when the seminar was nearly finished.
Overall, this was a very straightforward seminar, with the vintners giving a brief talk about their wineries, vineyards, and Syrahs, and the seminar handout provided plenty of winemaking detail on each Syrah that was poured. Randall Graham told us that he felt Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie is the “fullest expression” of Syrah, and James Callahan talked about the high-altitude (4,000+ foot) elevation of his vineyards in Arizona. There was some talk about own-rooted vines, with Bill Easton telling us that all the Syrah in his Sentinel Oak Vineyard is own-rooted, and Peter Stolpman pointing out examples of own-rooted Syrah in Santa Barbara County, though this line of discussion didn’t really develop. This topic, as well as dry-farming, another topic that was touched on very briefly, would be interesting to pursue at a future seminar.
Bob Lindquist may have had the most entertaining presentation. He “blamed” Kermit Lynch for getting him into Syrah, and told us that he was guilted into naming one of his bottlings (“Sonnie’s”) for his mother after she mentioned to him that John Alban had named his “Reva” Syrah for his mother. And Bob had the quote of the day – “Syrah delivers what Merlot promised.”
I enjoyed the seminar and the diversity of the Syrahs that were presented, though there did not seem to be any real defining thread tying things together. The wines showcased Syrah’s diverse character but I found few if any of the wines were truly “pushing the limits.” Sara Schneider did a fine job of keeping the discussions on track and keeping the seminar on schedule, but with the limited time available, there was little opportunity for any of the discussions to get into much depth. As I often feel with the Rhone Rangers seminars, having fewer panelists would have been beneficial. This was still an interesting seminar, and it’s always good to taste wines and listen to the vintners in this type of setting.
Grand Tasting Impressions
As always, many well-known American producers of Rhône varieties poured their wines at the event’s Grand Tasting. There were just over 65 wineries pouring this year, a good representation of the group’s members though down in number from past years due to the smaller venue. This smaller participation meant that a number of past “regulars” – and some of my favorites – did not pour at this Rhone Rangers tasting, including Clos Saron, Folin, Kale, Lagier Meredith, and MacLaren among others.
In contrast to the past couple of years at Richmond’s Craneway Pavilion, where there was plenty of space but attendance lagged, this year’s event was packed. It was tough to tell what the overall number of attendees was in comparison to the past few years due to the smaller space, though. The Golden Gate Club is a fine venue, with wonderful views of San Francisco Bay, but the winery tables were squeezed pretty tightly to fit in all the participants for the Rhone Rangers tasting. I’ve been to other tastings at this site, and there were more tables packed into the space for this event than I’ve seen before. It was sometimes difficult to move between the rows of tables, and the crowds in front of some tables made it difficult to get to them – I ended up not tasting with a couple of producers I’d wanted to check out because of that.
In all, I tasted over 90 wines from 29 producers. As is always the case with larger tastings, I ran out of time before I was able to get to all the winery tables I’d hoped to, but I managed to taste at most that I’d wanted to visit. I’d hoped to try out a few more producers that were new to me at this event, but in the end I focused more on those I’d enjoyed in the past. There were a few wineries I decided to skip since I’d tasted many of their wines (which are very good!) recently – Acquiesce, Adelaida, and Withers. And there were other producers whose wines I’d tasted recently so I tried to limit myself to bottlings I hadn’t tried at earlier tastings – Qupé, Skylark, Tercero, Terre Rouge, Two Shepherds, and Westwood. And although there was food available at the tasting, I tried to focus on the wine…although I couldn’t resist the delicious cassoulet from the girl and the fig!
Maybe it was the seminar that got me in the mood for Syrah this year, but it’s clear that my list of Favorites is heavy on Syrahs – something that hasn’t been the case in the past. It’s a variety that by most accounts is still a tough sell in the marketplace but that can produce some exceptional wines. Favorites on the white and rosé side were much more varied. Of note is that five of the Syrahs that made my lists are from the 2011 vintage – another example that many wines from this vintage have been taking their time to show their best but are blossoming now.
Craig Jaffurs and Dave Yates of Jaffurs
Overall favorite producers include a couple that have been consistent standouts in the past – Qupé and Tablas Creek – while several others including Andrew Murray, Jaffurs, Pax Mahle, Skinner, Skylark, and Terre Rouge were also among my favorites this year. Familiar names to be sure, and they continue to produce top-notch wines.
The Rhone Rangers tasting is one of the annual wine events I look forward to most. While their new venue did limit the number of producers at the Grand Tasting, there were still more than enough excellent wines being showcased there. The smaller size of the tasting made it seem less overwhelming and more intimate than in the past. The Rhone Rangers San Francisco Bay Area tasting remains a great opportunity to check out the diversity and quality of domestic Rhône-style wines – as always, this is a “must” for Rhône fans.
Bob Lindquist of Qupé and Ethan Lindquist of Ethan / No Limit
Some Favorites
Whites and Rosés
Andrew Murray 2015 Viognier
Andrew Murray 2015 “Espérance” Rosé
Brecon 2015 “Conviction”
Campovida 2015 Trails End Vineyard Rosé di Grenache
Jaffurs 2015 Thompson Vineyard Grenache Blanc
Qupé 2013 Marsanne
Skinner 2015 Rosé
Tablas Creek 2014 Grenache Blanc
Tablas Creek 2013 “Esprit de Tablas Blanc”
Truchard 2014 Roussanne
Two Shepherds 2015 Trimble Vineyard Carignane Rosé
Reds
Anglim 2013 St. Peter of Alcantara Vineyard Syrah
Pax 2012 Castelli-Knight Ranch Syrah
Qupé 2011 “Hillside Estate” Bien Nacido Vineyard Syrah
Qupé 2012 “Sonnie’s” Syrah
Ridge 2011 Lytton Estate Syrah
Skinner 2013 Syrah
Skinner 2014 Mourvèdre
Skylark 2012 Rodgers Creek Vineyard Syrah
Stolpman 2013 Estate Syrah
Tablas Creek 2014 Counoise
Terre Rouge 2011 Sentinel Oak Vineyard Syrah
Wrath 2013 San Saba Vineyard Syrah
Others of Note
Bonny Doon 2013 “Le Pousseur” Syrah
Caliza 2012 “Azimuth”
Holly’s Hill 2013 Cinsaut
Jaffurs 2012 Bien Nacido Vineyard Syrah
Jaffurs 2013 Thompson Vineyard Syrah
Leverage 2014 “Trajectory”
No Limit 2011 “The Nuts” Syrah
ONX 2013 “Mad Crush”
Pax 2013 “The Hermit” Syrah
Sierra Vista 2015 Rayas Vineyard Grenache
Skinner 2015 Grenache Blanc
Skylark 2012 Grenache
Tablas Creek 2013 “Esprit de Tablas”
Tercero 2011 White Hawk Vineyard Syrah
Terre Rouge 2012 “L’Autre”
Verdad 2015 Rosé
Jeff Cohn, Pax Mahle, Tom Hill