My 422 mile, one day marathon to Hospice du Rhone

Yesterday was the last day of Hospice du Rhone, the three-day annual gathering of the world’s top Rhone producers in Paso Robles. I usually go for at least three and sometimes four days but this year the stars didn’t line up and I was contemplating not going at all. Then all of a sudden, I decided to make a one day, marathon round-trip to the event. 422 miles = six hours of driving to attend a three hour tasting. Am I crazy? Not exactly…

Since the house that I usually rent (the one with the hot tub overlooking the fairgrounds) was not available this year, I had already decided not to have friends fly in for the event.

Work schedule pinched out the traditional Rhone n’ Bowl launch on Thursday night and also the Friday tasting. As no more seminar media passes were available (including the one I was most interested in) with my Winemaker of the Year, Morgan Peterson, of Bedrock Wine Company, and Joey Tensley, it looked like I might just pass this year. At the 11th hour, something spurred me say ‘yes’ to spending the better part of the day on a long drive, interrupted by three hours of tasting (not drinking) high alcohol wines.

I decided this would be a direct trip with no intermediate tastings along the way. To further streamline the trip I grudgingly axed the detour to Los Osos for my regular breakfast stop at The Sculptured Egg, home to the best Eggs Benedict in the world. Usually if I am within 30 miles of the place I make it a point to go, as many others do as well.

The reason I went is I knew there would be a lot of the producers from Oregon, Santa Barbara, Paso Robles and Orleans (alright, Cabot), that I don’t get too much face time with. I wanted to get a fix on how their wines are showing and make some notes to share with you briefly and make plans to followup with them in the coming months.

I also wanted to hand out the announcement for the upcoming launch of 

the purely domestic wine report

If I liked the wines I tasted at a particular table, I offered an envelope containing details of the new publication to the winery principals. Receiving what I took as widespread approval informed me that this change is happening at the right time.

Wineries commented they are ready for a new voice who will bring potentially dozens of new producers to the attention of consumers. Furthermore, they realize that because my reviews get published within a few weeks of tasting subscribers will have a better chance of actually getting the wines discussed.

Because of the time pressures, crowded tables and desire to see as many producers as possible I reduced my notes to assigning two or three stars to wines I tasted.

• Two Stars (**) represent very good quality in the range of 89 - 93  
• Three stars (***) represent excellent quality in the range of 94 -98

Below is a list of the producers I liked enough to assign either of the scores to:

Alban

Arcadian

Cabot 

De Su Propia Cosecha

Epoch

Fausse Piste 

Herman Story 

Jonata 

Keplinger 

Mark Herold

 Renard

Tensley 

Tercero 

Torrin 

Westerhold 

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