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Something new from California
Rhone Ranger wines charge ahead
Michael Vaughan
Weekly Wine & Spirits Columnist
National Post • Saturday, May 12, 2001

Next Monday’s California wine fair presents a great opportunity to take stock of what’s happening. As we all know, prices are through the roof - the strong US dollar being principally to blame. Nevertheless some great drinking value still exists.

Of the 245 wines being presented (click here for details), there are scads of standbys. Chardonnay is still king with 56 different wines or 23% on show. Of 20 Chards previewed, my best buy would be the classy Clos de Bois 1999 Chardonnay Reserve Alexander Valley. It was the only one in the 90+ range with its slightly smoky, lingering, ripe lemon-lime flavours – a terrific value at about $27 (CSPC 479527 coming soon to Vintages)! (www.closdubois.com)

Reds, of course, are California’s strong suit making up 71% of the wines on show. Cabernet Sauvignon is still king, closely followed by Merlot. Of 11 Cabs tasted at our preview ranging from $19 to $170, my definitive best buy is the extracty Gallo 1996 Cabernet Sauvignon Frei Ranch at $34.90. It was released in Vintages last December and a small quantity still remains at the LCBO (Crossroads has about 20 bottles). (www.Gallo.com)

One of my favourite grapes, Pinot Noir is surging ahead with 16 entries at this year’s fair. Great Pinot Noir is always hard to find and unfortunately 1998 was not the greatest of vintages meaning that you’ll have to buy with great care. For instance, both bottles of the previewed Carneros Creek 1998 Pinot Noir Côte de Carneros were off and their usually reliable 1998 Fleur de Carneros Pinot Noir (just released in the May’s Vintages at $19.95) was just ok. (www.carneros-creek.com)

Of course, there are always exceptions. Robert Mondavi 1998 Pinot Noir Carneros has fine complexity, structure and sweet ripe beefsteak tomato purée flavours. It was my winner at last weekend’s Santé comparative blind Pinot Noir tasting and will appear in a future Vintages release. Let me also recommend their very decent 1997 Pinot Noir Carneros (released in Vintages last February at $39.95) which will be at the fair and is still available. (www.mondavi.com)

Coming on strong is Zinfandel (29 entries), which shows ever-increasing strength. On the General List is a terrific best buy – the crowd-pleasing Cline 1999 California Zinfandel at $16.00. Its gently spicy, tangy, fruit-driven flavours brim with bright, ripe black cherries, strawberries, cassis and just a touch of vanilla. Beware; this quaffable smoothie has 14% of alcohol. (www.clinecellars.com)

Most exciting is the emergence of California’s “Rhône Rangers” an organization dedicated to traditional French Rhône Valley grape varieties grown in America. Although only formally established in 1997, many of these grapes have been grown in California for well over 100 years. It wasn’t until the 1980's that several maverick wine makers began experimenting with these wines. Best known in this movement is Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon who was one of the key players in 1988 when he and 17 others formed "The Rhone Rangers".

Today’s membership stands at 128 wineries - up almost 40% from only a year ago (including producers from Idaho, Virginia and Washington). To qualify, a wine must contain at least 75% of the traditional Rhone varieties. The most important variety is Syrah (which is also sold as Shiraz, Sirah and Petit Sirah). Under these four names, some 19 wines are being featured at Monday’s fair.

As Syrah is definitely on a roll, I made a point of visiting the recent annual Rhone Ranger tasting in San Francisco where hundreds of new wines were available for assessment. I discovered that they come in an amazing array of styles. Although technically “dry” with less than one-half percent of residual sugar, many seem faintly sweetish with fruit-forward flavours. Only a handful have the slightly smoky, meaty quality found in great Coronas from the Northern Rhône.

Visiting Cline (just a short 45 minute drive to Sonoma), home of the delicious Ancient Vines series, proved too enticing to resist. The winery’s tasting room is in a quiet and laid back 1850’s farmhouse. It’s the antithesis of many upscale Meccas designed for busloads of well-heeled tourists. You can taste 5 of the 13 items for free (six are ominously stamped “sold out”). For the 9 single vineyard designated items, it’s a buck a shot.

Modestly eccentric 44-year old Fred Cline purchased this new 350-acre farm in 1989. It permitted him to expand enormously from his original tiny 1982 Contra Costa Bay operation where his Mourvèdre, Carignane and Zinfandel are produced from dry-farmed, ungrafted 80 to 100 year old vines.

“It was Robert Parker who bailed me out back in 1988,” admits Fred. “I was totally in debt and couldn’t even afford to bottle the stuff I had in cask. I had tapped out my credit card at $25,000! When Parker put out a call to taste these new Rhone Ranger wines, his article put us on the map – we were inundated with calls. East coast distributors wanted to buy pallets (56 cases) of my wine and I didn’t even know what a “pallet” was! We had never had sold more than five cases at a time. I was eventually able to borrow the funds to get it bottled – all 1,400 cases of our 1987. Thanks to him, we’ve expanded to the point where we only owe $25 million!”

Prolific may well be an understatement for Fred, not only did he now whack out 78,000 cases of excellent 1999 Zin, but he has a brood of seven kids. At Fred’s side is his younger brother Matt, a Davis grad who makes these wines possible. While some are loathe to acknowledge vintage fluctuations, Matt knows the limitations of what he is working with. Better yet, he doesn’t appear to have sacrificed quality during this explosive expansion. His upper end wines are always on allocation and hopefully some of the massive 1999’s, which Matt states are the best of the decade, will make their way to Vintages.

Coming up: If you missed booking next Monday’s California fair (now sold out) at the Royal York, New Zealand’s annual tasting takes place on May 28th at Alice Fazooli’s. Details are on my website or cal1 705-444-5255 to reserve.

 

Copyright Food & Beverage Testing Institute of Canada 2004
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Contact Michael Vaughan at
mbv@total.net