GRAPE ESCAPE: The 'Rhone Rangers ride' again - The Daily Progress
We all have our favorite wine regions. That place in the world where they make wine that continually and consistently exceeds our expectations. Their products, while influenced by the brand of terroir in their vineyards, usually speak to the places, people and viticulture that inspired them to begin with. There was one group of winemakers that took the love of a single appellation to new heights in the late 1980s, forming a loosely tied together band of renegade California wine artists known commonly as "The Rhone Rangers. " As their name suggested, the 22 grape varieties of the aforementioned French appellation comprised the palette they would paint with, the entirety of the California AVA, their canvas. Before too long, he had the company of some talented growers, converts that saw the promise in a diversified varietal base that offered the traditional wine buyer more choice than the Cabernet and Chardonnay that had been so widely planted. With household names like Joseph Phelps and Fred Cline on board, the group expanded and innovation followed. Elegant expressions of Viognier and blends that mirrored composition of Chateneuf Du Pape dazzled the critics and introduced the American palate to the wines of a region it had yet to embrace. Source: www.dailyprogress.com
