The New Rhones

Maybe it’s a legitimate quest to find new tastes or perhaps just a way to combat Cabernet Sauvignon elitism, but many California winemakers are now making fine red wine from the grapes of the Rhone Valley.

Interest in these southern French varieties is relatively new, but belief in their potential is growing rapidly. Until recently, wines made here from top Rhone grapes such as Syrah, Mourvedre, Grenache, Carignane and Cinsault have been scarce and of little note.

These New Rhones began appearing in 1985. The most famous was a wine called Le Cigare Volant from Bonny Doon, which has achieved a sort of cult status. The wine is excellent, with an earthy/spicy character and good cherrylike fruit. It has had no trouble selling at $15 a bottle.

Other vintners have made wines from these varieties in the last few years, some with prices as high as Bonny Doon can command. Earlier this year, the small Qupe Winery in Santa Barbara County released a small amount of a Syrah (genuine Syrah, not the familiar California Petite Sirah). The price was $25.

This, I felt, would test the wine fanatics. I tasted the wine and found it to be exciting, if unusual, because it had a stylish herbal character, like green peppercorns. It also was so dense I wondered if the public would bite.

The wine sold like mad. I suspected that the New Rhones had gone from fad to trend.

In the last few months, other wineries came out with expensive wines from the Rhone varieties. Wine lovers still haven’t balked, indicating that this was no passing infatuation.

To test the wines, a Los Angeles Times tasting panel (wine consultant Mike Rubin, wine writers Harolyn and Bob Thompson, Meadowood wine school director John Thoreen and John Buechsenstein of McDowell Valley Vineyards) met at Meadowood Country Club in the Napa Valley in late September to evaluate more than 40 of the Rhone-type wines. A few ringers were tossed in to keep the tasters honest. The results were surprising.

Group 1:

1) 1989 Santino Satyricon ($14): Attractive Grenache-cherry fruit and lively finish. Excellent now or for cellaring. 2) 1989 Chateau La Voulte-Gasparets, “Cuvee Romain Pauc,” Corbieres ($8): Powerfully made, huge structure, very deep and dark, thick finish. For hearty foods. 3) 1989 Les Violettes, Moillard ($7): Light pepper and spice, nuances of fruit and earth. 4) 1989 RS, William Wheeler ($10.50): Faint earthy-tarry notes, oak-fruit elements, attractive balance. Well made. 5) 1989 Cline, Cotes d’Oakley ($6.50): A Carignane blend that has light but ample flavors.

Others tasted: 1989 Cotes du Rhone Villages, Chateau St. Esteve; 1989 R.H. Phillips EXP; 1989 Allure, Rabbit Ridge. All wines were well made, scores were close.

Group 2:

1) 1989 Joseph Phelps, Vin du Mistral Rouge ($14): Marvelously complex aroma of pepper, spice and fruit, incredibly complex on the palate, a superb wine with a long future. 2) Tie: 1989 Cotes du Rhone, Guigal ($10.50): Wonderful balance of spice, pepper and fruit with hints of orange peel in the aroma and wonderfully pleasing fruit in the finish; and 1989 St. Joseph, Jaboulet ($13.50): Deeply complex aroma of the Rhone with huge sandalwood and spice notes and loads of fruit and dry herbs in the finish. These three wines were far ahead in an otherwise very good flight of wines.

Others tasted: 1989 La Vieille Ferme Reserve; 1988 Hop Kiln Napa Gamay (Valdiguie); NV R.H. Phillips Night Harvest Cuvee; Boeger Hangtown Red, Lot 16; 1989 Seghesio Strata; 1989 Clos Pegase Grenache.

Group 3:

1) 1989 Cotes du Rhone, Chateau St. Esteve Grand Reserve ($11.50): Complex notes of herbs/coffee and fruit; lean in the finish but attractive. 2) Tie: Cotes du Rhone, “Tradition,” Chateau St. Esteve ($12): Earthy, sandalwood, with decent fruit; and 1989 Corbieres, Chateau St. Auriel ($7): Very dark, dense with opaque flavors; not for the meek.

Others evaluated: 1989 Cline, Oakley Cuvee.

Group 4 (Petite Sirahs):

1) Tie: 1987 Cilurzo Proprietors Reserve (not yet priced; to be released soon): Deep, dense fruit, complex, silky finish, lovely flavors; and 1988 Clos Pegase ($14.50): Toasty notes from French oak, good fruit, overall balance and charm. 3) Tie: 1988 Guenoc ($12): Pepper and spice with long, complex aftertaste; and 1986 Louis Martini Reserve ($11): Attractive green pepper and spice components, lighter in style, nicely matured.

Others evaluated: 1986 Black Mountain, Bosun Crest; 1984 Cilurzo.

Group 5 (Mourvedres):

1) 10 Reserve St. Martin, Minervois ($7): Earthy, ripe, rich wines, dense color and deep flavors with a complex plumy finish. Excellent value. 2) Tie: 1988 R. H. Phillips EXP ($13.50/half bottle): Attractive flavors, a bit one-dimensional; expensive (but it’s in a stunning bottle!); and 1989 Cline: Deep, rich, complex flavors with minty finish.

Others evaluated: 1988 FranCal; 1989 Red Zeppelin.

Group 6 (Syrahs):

1) 1988 R.H. Phillips EXP ($13.50/half bottle): A lot of new oak beefs up an interesting wine that finishes on the lean side. 2) Tie: 1987 Phelps Vin du Mistral Syrah ($14): Very complex aroma, with spice, cherries and sandalwood, already showing complexity from time in the bottle; and 1987 Taltarni Shiraz (Australia) ($13): More complexity and oak than fruit, but deep and rewarding. 4) 1988 Edmunds St. John, Sonoma ($12): Intriguing aroma of pepper and clove, a rich, rewarding wine. 5) 1988 Meridian: Dark, intense and complex notes of green pepper and herbs, cherries and spice with a smoky overlay. Packed with stuff to age.

Others evaluated: 1987 Edmunds St. John; 1988 Kendall-Jackson, Durrell; 1989 Edmunds St. John (barrel sample). An excellent flight of wines, all well made.

The Rhone explosion is new. Acreage of the Rhone varieties in California was declining until about 1988.

That year a tiny amount of Rhone grapes were planted in California, and in 1990 and 1991 plantings swung up rapidly. In 1990 and 1991, Sonoma Grapevines, the world’s largest grapevine bench-graft sales company, alone sold the equivalent of 600 acres worth of Syrah vines, more than the amount of Zinfandel stock it sold.

The loose banner under which the California Rhone followers operate is called the Rhone Rangers. Most of these are winemakers who don’t make Cabernet, though a few of them (such as Craig Williams at Phelps) still do.

I found it interesting that two of the real Rhone wines, from Guigal and Jaboulet, scored very well and were reasonably priced for what you get.

But what was evident most was that all the wines offer a spicy/fruity aroma and flavor profile that differs from Cabernet Sauvignon enough to provide diners with a real alternative.

Wine of the Week

1990 J. Rochioli Sauvignon Blanc, Estate Bottled, Russian River Valley ($16)-- Many great Sauvignon Blancs from the excellent 1989 vintage are hitting store shelves, a number of them from the Russian River area of Sonoma County. This one is a surprise because it reminded me more of a Graves from Bordeaux. More complex and layered than many California Sauvignon Blancs, it has a multitude of subtle flavors, including faint herbal notes, a trace of vanilla and a wonderful, creamy finish. This wine appears in a unique, antique-color Burgundy-shaped bottle, and though it is more expensive than some Sauvignon Blancs, it’s worth a try.