9th Annual Rhone Rangers Tasting

Rhone Rangers
Fort Mason, 3/18/06
Shane’s Notes

We traveled to Fort Mason on Saturday for our second Rhone Rangers festival. The Rhone Rangers festival attracts a lot of wine bores (Jen and I are wine geeks – not wine bores!). At our first stop, Tablas Creek, a guy ahead of us held up the line while he talked about some Tablas Creek varietal clones that he was growing. I can understand being excited about growing Tablas Creek clones and wanting to briefly discuss this with their representative. However, only a pompous, wine bore would hold up the tasting line while going over the minutiae of the purchase contract. We were becoming anxious because we only had two and a half hours to drink our forty dollar’s worth of wine. Next time, We’ll pull a “Mr. Burns” and bring a cattle prod to shock these bores and get them out of the way.

We finally got around the guy and sampled Tablas Creek’s offerings. We are huge fans of Tablas Creek so our expectations were high. Their wines were good, but we a little disappointed. They didn’t seem as fruit forward as the wines we tasted last year. Perhaps they just need some bottle age.

$27, 2005 Rosé Mourvedre/Grenache/Counoise – This was the best of the bunch. This Rosé has a juicy, tangy watermelon/raspberry palate. It seems like no one extracts as much flavor out of a Rosé as Tablas Creek.

$22, Red Blend Cotes de Tablas - The Cotes de Tablas from 2002 was one of my favorite wines of the year. The 2003 offering is well-structured with a cranberry palate, but it just isn’t as concentrated as the 2002. We liked it but we wouldn’t go out of our way to find it.

$22, 2004 White Blend Cotes de Tablas Blanc - The Cotes de Tablas Blanc was a little better than it’s red counterpart. It is perfumey, minerally and displays a taste of blood orange on the palate. With some bottle age, this could develop into a really good wine.

$35, 2004 White Blend Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc - We were really anxious to try the Esprit de Beaucastel White. We bought a bottle a few months ago but it was corked. The palate was minerally and earthy. The flavors were so subtle they were hard to detect. Once again, we hoped it would be more concentrated.

I’m reading Matt Kramer’s book on California wines and am really enjoying it. He raves about Beckman, so we headed over there for stop number two. Beckman turned out to be the best of the tasting. At Beckman’s, our way was blocked by another wine bore. This one delighted in showing off his wine acumen. He kept drunkenly asking Mr. Beckman for vital statistics on his wine, like the amount of sugar prior to fermentation. Mr. Beckman politely listened and then offered to email the information to him. Mr. Beckman handled the situation quite well, but I still would have preferred to shock the guy with a cattle prod.

$18, 2005 Grenache Rosé – Tablas Creek’s Rosé is a tough act to follow but Beckman’s Rosé is almost as good. It is juicy and sweet with a hint of watermelon on the palate. We really enjoyed it.

$25, 2004 Grenache Estate Santa Ynez Valley – We prefer our Grenaches blended, but this is one of the more interesting Grenaches we have tasted. It is smoky with a very distinct plummy flavor and good astringency. It is stylistically like a Syrah.

$38, 2004 Grenache Purissima Mountain Vineyard – We weren’t thrilled with this one. The flavors are really muted, and we suspect it may have been over oaked.

$16, 2004 Red Blend Cuvee Le Bec – The Cuvee was quite enjoyable and very French in style. It is smoky, woody and has sweet berry fruit.

$38, 2003 Syrah Purissima Mountain Vineyard – This is one of the better Syrahs I’ve had. It is peppery and has good concentration.

We next stop was Alexander Valley Vineyards. They craft a wide variety of wines and usually do a very good job of it.

$25, 2004 Viognier Alexander Valley, Wetzel Family Estate – This was one of the better Viogniers we tasted at the festival. It displayed a honeysuckle flavor and showed sweet spice (nutmeg). It had just a bit too much residual sugar. We tasted too many sweet Viogniers at this festival.

$20, 2003 Syrah Alexander Valley, Wetzel Family Estate – It was soft and perfumey. I thought it was generic and uninteresting but Jen liked it.

By the time we sauntered over to Kathryn Kennedy, we were feeling pretty good and Jen spilled a little wine. She said, “Geez, I’m not even drunk.” To which I replied “Yes, but you are always clumsy.” I’m still working on my relationship skills, but I have learned how to save face when I blurt out something inappropriate like that. I quickly smiled and gave Jen a big hug so that I wouldn’t be lonely in bed later that night.

$85, 2002 Syrah Reserve, Maridon Vineyards, Santa Cruz Mountains (Kathryn Kennedy) – It was spicy, oaky and woody. Definitely interesting. Pushing the line of well oaked versus too much oak - not bad but not worth the hefty price tag.

Justin Vineyards was our next stop.

$22.50, 2005 Mourvedre Rosé - You don’t see too many Mourvedre Rosés. It showed tea leaves on the nose and the palate was juicy with a touch of funk. It was dry with a lingering finish. Jen remarked that it was very much in the French style.

At this point, we noticed a man with a guide dog in training. It was a massive, black Labrador, and Jen couldn’t resist petting him. The man warned Jen that she might get a big, sloppy kiss, and she laughed as the dog slobbered all over her face. I didn’t get jealous but we had better keep it a secret from Pepper (our dog).

Jen didn’t want to try Fess Parker but I talked her into it (unfortunately).

$22, 2004 Viognier Santa Barbara County - The Viognier was absolutely awful. It was so sweet that it tasted like sugary syrup.

$10, Red Blend Lot 51 “California” - Their red blend was a touch spicy and juicy, but the palate was generic - not bad but not good either.

The last winery on our list was Qupe. We tasted their Viognier and several of their Syrahs. We only have notes on the Viognier. I don’t remember why we didn’t take notes on the Syrahs but not being able to remember why probably explains it.

$30, 2005 Viognier Ibarra Young Vineyard – This was the best Viognier we tasted at the festival. It was perfumey, floral and showed lemon curd on the palate. Most importantly, Qupe didn’t ruin it with too much residual sugar. Bravo Qupe!

I couldn’t talk Jen into trying Renaissance so I sauntered over there myself. Once again, this was a Matt Kramer recommendation. They are a religious/philosophical organization up in the Sierra Foothills. I think Kramer compared them to a monastic order. I went up to the table and asked for the Viognier. The guy held up the bottle and robotically intoned “Viognier” ($20, 2004 Viognier) and poured it for me without saying another word. I felt like I was in some Invasion of the Body Snatchers horror movie. Anyway, the Viognier was absolutely awful and had to be spit into the bucket. There were so many problems with it that it’s not even worth discussing them. I decided to try the red blend. Once again, the guy held up the bottle and robotically intoned “Red Blend” ($35, Red Blend Le Provencal Syrah/Cabernet Sauvignon). It was almost as bad as the Viognier. I thought about asking the guy if he was being held captive but let it go.

We tasted sundry, generically bland wines that just didn’t justify any note taking efforts. The Rhone Rangers are producing far too many of these wines. The Rhone Rangers’ wineries should adhere more closely to their French counterparts – red Rhone varietals (including Syrah) should be blended! Except for an occasional Grenache Rosé, the red Rhone varietals usually aren’t interesting enough to stand on their own. As for the Viogniers, quit making them sweet!