Rhône Rangers

May 6, 2022 1

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Pink Wine of the Earth

Pink wine of the earth. That is what Randall Grahm calls his rosé. Its official name is Vin Gris de Cigare. The reference to “cigare,” a French term for flying saucer, is a nod to the 1954 law in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation which outlawed flying saucers from flying over the vineyards. Vin Gris typically refers to a very, very light rosé wine that results from next-to no maceration time (compared to the traditional rosé methods).

Seven grapes come “to the table” to create this wine; together, they make a unique and delicious rosé. But I am getting ahead of myself… [...]

March 8, 2020 15

KITÁ WINES: FOR NATIVE AMERICAN WINEMAKER TARA GOMEZ, DREAMS DO COME TRUE

By the time Tara Gomez graduated from high school in 1991, she knew she wanted to be a winemaker. In many ways, she had been preparing for that role her whole life. But, she probably never imagined she would be making wine for her tribe, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians in the American Viticultural Area (AVA) of Santa Barbara, California, or that she would also co-own a nearby winery, Camins 2 Dreams, with her wife Mireia Taribó, a winemaker, that specializes in natural wines. Dreams do... [...]

October 30, 2017 12

OFF THE VIA DOMITIA
NAPA’S KALE ROSÉ GOES TO PROVENCE

Rosé continues to take the United States by storm. France drinks the most rosé by a long shot, accounting for 35% of world consumption or 8.5 million hectoliters (mhl) of rosé, but the United States comes in a second (3.4 mhl). A distant second, yes, but we drink 14% of the rosé consumed by the world. That’s nearly 453 million bottles of rosé a [...]

August 5, 2017 7

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
AZ Puts the Pizzazz in Rosé

There I was, minding my own business, sipping a Provence rosé at Revel in Tucson with friends celebrating their engagement. I chose the rosé, of course, and mentioned to server that I was a big rosé fan. By coincidence, the rep from Rune Wines was in that day and, unbeknownst to me, they were tasting Rune’s 2015 rosé. The server brought me a glass “just because.” Apparently, while I was minding my own business, he was paying attention. I was really astonished at the nose, and how unctuous it was on my palate, and how well it paired with our [...]

June 19, 2017 14

OFF THE VIA DOMITIA
THE RHÔNE RANGERS RAISE THEIR GLASSES IN HONOR OF SONOMA RESTAURATEUR SONDRA BERNSTEIN

It was the perfect assemblage to honor the woman who created the “Rhône Alone” wine list: an unusually glorious June day in San Francisco; the Golden

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October 29, 2016 22

OFF THE VIA DOMITIA
IT ALL STARTED WITH A WHITE CHÂTEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE

When I attended the Wine Bloggers conference in mid-August in Lodi, California—one of the largest appellations in California and one intricately tied to Old Vine Zinfandel wines—I did not expect to visit a winery dedicated to producing [...]