Raisin' rhones: beyond voigner - wine variety

For its Fifth Annual Celebration, the Viognier Guild expanded its concentration from a single Rhone variety to encompass the whole spectrum of Rhone varietals in its seminars and tastings in Paso Robles. Greeter and host Gary Eberle, Eberle Winery, gave a brief but hearty welcome and introduced the first panel, headed by the irrepressible, Bob Cranston, The Wine Authority, who took the mike in his role as pastor of the Church of the Risen Rhone. "Our creed," he announced, in ringing tones, is, "We will not be won over by the demon wines of the main stream. Diversity is what we worship. Brothers and Sisters," he exhorted, "take that message of diversity and spread it around the world. Give thanks for these fine (Rhone) wines. Shout Hallelujah!" And the crowd of 350, easily converted, shouted choruses of "Amen."

Cranston's band of acolytes delivered the message of "Rhone Sales to Restaurants and the Retail Trade." Each, beginning with Brendan Eliason, Vintner's Bar and Grill at Santa Maria Hilton, described their experiences in marketing Rhone varietals. "Because we are new, we are still building our list," Eliason explained. "We have 230 wines; 220 by the glass. On our list are five Viogniers, two Rousannes and 14 Syrahs. What effort does it take to sell them? Once I pull the cork, the patron is hooked. All the wines are available by the glass. We will have 12 to 18 wines open at a time, and even though we have a wine-keeper that holds eight bottles, most bottles are empty by the end of the evening, so we hold very little wine over."

Ron Rawlinson, "The Wine Guy Wine Shop in Arroyo Grande," spoke about retail pricing, explaining that 10% of his shop's stock is Rhone, 70% regional Santa Barbara and Central Coast red. "These wines account for 8% of our total sales of red wines and 3.4% of the white," he told the group. "One surprising thing," he added, "is that the Rhone reds outsell Merlot by 50%. We find that offering affordable Rhones is a good way to separate people from the Char/Cab/Merlot syndrome."

Joel Butler, Master of Wine, Prima Trattoria, Wine Bar and Retail, Walnut Creek, approached the topic of wine styles, asking, "Why does style matter?" and answering his own question, "Because people want wines with a lot of flavor, not too aggressive in oak, acid or tannins. The red Rhones, which seem to have become adopted as New World varieties, have a great depth of flavor, high level of intensity, are rarely over-oaked and go with most foods. They are loaded with fruit and spice, and they don't seem to need high alcohol or tannins."

David Rosoff, general manager and wine steward, Michael's Restaurant, Santa Monica, continued Butler's emphasis on the food friendliness of the Rhone varietals. "I don't believe that people prefer to drink Cabernet, Chardonnay and Merlot," he remarked. "I think when you introduce them to the Rhones, you introduce them to flavor variations they have never experienced before. The Rhone varieties are very exciting, and work more amicably with a wider spectrum of foods. There is no magical matching, but a broad match is found in pairing of lamb and Syrah or scallops and Viognier, for example.

"We pour a lot of Rhones by the glass," he said. "Admittedly, it's a hand sell, but anything new is a hand sell. To encourage our customers to try these wines, I open a different Rhone wine each day and have the staff become familiar with it, so they will be able to make recommendations. During the dinner hours, they carry an open bottle of the wine around to their tables and offer tastes, at no charge. In addition, our regular customers are urged not to order the same wine every time they call at the restaurant, but to try something different."

The second presentation of the morning, "Raisin' Rhones on Two Continents," was delivered by Bob Lindquist, owner/winemaker, Qupe Wine Cellars, and, since 1996 winemaker at Chateau Routas, Couteaux Varois, France.

Lindquist's first job in the wine industry, in 1979, was as a tour guide at Zaca Mesa. His interest in the Rhone varietals he credits to Kermit Lynch, who featured those wines in his wine shop. Lindquist tasted them and fell in love with them and, in 1982 opened his own winery, Qupe. His involvement with Chateau Routas he attributes to serendipity. He and Philippe Bieler, owner of the chateau, had a common distributor, and they met when they tasted each other's wines at an event, and liked them.

Bieler had bought an old vineyard in 1992 in the center of Provence at Cote-aux de Varois, where he built his winery into a rocky hillside on a north slope, where it nearly always rains at harvest. If the wines reach 11% a.c. it's considered wonderful; 13% is well nigh impossible.

In 1995 Lindquist and his wife, Louise, took a trip to France and spent a week with Bieler, traveling around to wineries. The following spring, the two met at Qupe, and Bieler described his idea of having a California winemaker, namely Lindquist, make his wines. Lindquist said it was impossible, since Qupe and Chateau Routas harvested at the same time, but Philippe kept after him and insisted France was only a day's flight away. An agreement was reached with the proviso that the Lindquists would work with Bieler as a team, with Bob based in Paso Robles and Louise in France.

The first wine Lindquist made for Routas was a rose, 65% Cinsault, 25% Grenache and 10%, Syrah, called "Rouviere," after the area where the grapes were grown. It was fermented 1/3 in stainless steel and 2/3 in barrels, and allowed to complete malolactic. The wine, with 12.5%, was soft and round. Harvesting on two continents at once, Lindquist admits, is difficult but successful due to the "blessing of phones, faxes and lots of calls in the middle of the night."

In order to make wine in the Qupe style, changes had to be made at Routas. All the equipment at the chateau was stainless steel for the roses and the whites, closed top fermenters for the red. Lindquist needed barrels and open top fermenters. He wanted to stack his barrels only two high, but the necessary racks were unavailable in France, so they had to be shipped from California. For fermenters, he found some old 60-hectoliter tanks, cut off the tops and put on valves and doors. He sent supplies of the yeast strains he uses at Qupe for the fermentations, because he felt more comfortable with something familiar than experimenting with the unknown on his first endeavor. He was adamant that his thought was not to make California wine in France, but just to introduce some new techniques.

The presentation concluded with a tasting for Lindquist's first Chateau Routas wines: the Rouviere; Routas Coquelicot, a Vin du Pays, 60% Chardonnay, 40% Viognier, and Routas Cyrano Syrah. All three were greeted with approval and applause.

A Grand Tasting followed a buffet lunch prepared by Paso Robles Chef Laurent Grangien of Bistro Laurent. With 39 wineries pouring a delightful assemblage of Rhone wines, it was, obviously, impossible to taste them all, even with judicious spitting. I decided to concentrate on the eight Rousannes present, and re-visit some of the Viogniers I particularly liked at the Fourth Viognier Celebration last year at McDowell Valley Vineyards.

All the Rousannes were from the 1996 vintage, and expressed the elegance of aroma and flavor I expected. If I had to pick one, above all the others, that one would be the Sobon Estate California Shenandoah Valley Rousanne. Leon Sobon, up there in California's gold country, blended 76% Rousanne with 24% Viognier for this wine, which he describes as having "floral aromas, touched with butterscotch and pear. The flavors are both honeyed and minerally." Suggested retail is a sensible $14.95 per 750ml bottle.

With the Viogniers, two reached out and grabbed me. One I expected to find delightful, the 1996 vintage from Iron Horse Vineyards (Sebastopol, Calif.), was every bit as nice as I remembered the 1995 being. I think the price has gone up a bit, and this vintage is $18 a bottle.

A second Viognier, which has all the squiggly marks next to its name that indicate I found it more than passably attractive, was Don McGrath's 1995 vintage - the sixth from his winery, Villa Helena in St. Helena. This release is disappearing fast, but while available it will be $16 a bottle. The 1996, which went through a string of devastating weather experiences, i, in extremely limited supply - only 400 cases were produced. Bottle price is $18.

Future Plans

At a wrap-up Champagne Brunch in the caves at Eberle Winery, the Sunday after the Celebration, Viognier Guild founder Mat Garretson announced plans and changes for the 6th, and future Viognier Guild Celebrations. He started by saying, "At the first Celebration, our participants were 28 wines and two wineries - Horton Vineyards in Virginia and Alban in Arroyo Grande, Calif. Now there are 39 wineries and almost all the people pouring at the tasting are winery principals.

"One of the things I've always wanted to see was the Guild encompassing all the Rhone varieties...from all around the world, Rhone wines in the United States are building, but we still need input from other areas - France, Australia, etc. In talking with overseas producers, they say they can't fly in for a one-day event, so we're going to two days in 1998. This will allow us to enhance the international perspective and to present more seminars, more tasings, more in-depth looks at the wines. The dates for next year are set, June 20 and 21. We have lined up two lunches and two dinners, with guest chefs, and have secured the Austin Lounge Lizards for entertainment.

We've been moving the Viognier Guild from winery location to winery location over the years; now we have found a home - the California Mid-State Fairgrounds, Paso Robles. Paso Robles is equidistant from two major markets: San Francisco and Los Angeles. At the fairgrounds there are lots of air conditioned buildings we can use. We can grow the event, and can expand the educational scope. The Paso Robles Chamber of Commerce and the Paso Robles Vintners and Growers support this idea enthusiastically.

"I'll always be there to carry the torch, but I want to have everyone involved. We realize more and more wineries are making Rhone wines, and we have to show the public how to recognize and enjoy these wines. We have to be more organized in ways to reach the consumers, perhaps by adding a consumer event next year.

"We are blocking out lodging rooms and have reserved an area for RV parking on the fairgrounds, and we are looking forward to seeing you next June in Paso Robles."

The Viognier Guild now has a permanent address: 1509 Las Brisas Drive, Paso Robles, Calif. 93446. The phone number is (805) 239-1205, fax: (805) 237-0344, and e-mail: [email protected].

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