The "New, Improved (?) Rhone Rangers"

[Randy Caparoso]

During the past few months a few new producers of Rhone style blends have entered the market, upping the ante in this category of wine.

First, an assessment of the "first generation" of so-called Rhone Rangers:

1. Their heyday -- or period of real excitment (or forgiveness for less-than-perfect quality) -- was 5 to 10 years ago.

2. Some of the more aggressive marketers of this style of wine (i.e. Cline, Jade Mountain, McDowell Valley, Bonny Doon, et al.) have experienced their ups-and-downs -- producing a few truly heady, daring, flavorful things, but probably more coarse, rough, disjointed stuff which have proven (to me, at least) to be a lot less food-worthy than what they were touted to be.

Let's put it this way: I have found few products by the original California Rhone Rangers to be as interesting as the bevy of good, solid, better-priced products available from the Rhone and South of France, or from Australia for that matter.

Now, for the new:

1. Tablas Creek -- Beaucastel's project (a combination of a producing estate and Rhone varietal nursery of authentic Rhone clones) in rocky, limestone rich hills of Paso Robles -- has just released its second vintaged red. It is a 30% Syrah/30% Grenache/34% Mourvedre/6% Counoise blend that is slightly duller than it sounds. The flavors are tight, fairly juicy and sweet; but the structure, overpowering itself with hefty, plodding tannin. The individual components (tasted at the site last spring) are intense and significant enough (these new clones will eventually make an enormous impact on the market), but so far the Tablas blends have lacked two essential components: brightness, and the supple, sensuous (or "hedonistic,"
as Parker would put it) feel which are part and parcel of the attraction of Rhone style wines.

2. The first vintage of the new Mondavi project called Io -- based in the old Byron facility on Tepusquet Rd. in Santa Barbara -- is a 64% Syrah/19% Grenache/17% Mourvedre blend from the '96 vintage. It is (predictably) generously oaked, but stupendously rich -- smoky/flinty, sweet violet aromas and dense, thick, plummy fruit, meaty and beautifully textured. Unlike the still-evolving Tablas, it will be interesting to see if subsequent vintages can match it.

At any rate, these are the two major players here at the end of the Millennium. Meanwhile, I'm happy to report that the newly released 1997 Bonny Doon "Le Cigar Volant" -- the seminal Rhone Ranger blend -- is probably the best of the past decade by this highly respected producer. Everything, for once, is here -- ripe, smoky (burnt leaf), peppery spiced aromas with lush fruit and tea-like nuances, and powerfully full yet round, elegantly balanced flavors giving a suave, masculine feel. Randall Grahm appears to be back in the saddle!

As far as the original Rangers are concerned, the most consistent producer over the past decade has probably been Bob Lindquist of Qupe. But I'm not talking so much about his fine yet fun, bouncy "Central Coast" Syrahs and "Bien Nacido Cuvees," but his piece de resistance cuvees bottled as "Bien Nacido Hillside Select" (one cut above the Qupe "Bien Nacido Reserve") -- enormously perfumed and plush, gravity defying, pure Syrahs from a just coming-into-maturity planting on a slope overlooking the bulk of the Bien Nacido Vineyard and Au Bon Climat/Qupe winery in Santa Maria Valley.

Other producers which I would in a "1st" category for these style of wines (blends as well as pure Syrahs): Sine Qua Non, Babcock, Havens and Neyers. I've just added Bonny Doon back in; and one to keep an eye on (but, like Tablas Creek, is not quite there yet) is Alban Vineyards.

All for now from this reporter.