The Rhône Rangers began as an informal band of like-minded renegades who were convinced that the grapes traditional to France’s Rhône Valley would thrive in the Mediterranean climate of California. As recently as the late 1980s, there were only a few dozen such producers on the entire West Coast.

The ideas of those pioneers caught on rapidly in the 1990s and 2000s, and the 31 wineries that gathered for the Rhône Rangers’ first grand tasting, held in 1998 in San Francisco, grew to 90 by 2000. During the organization’s nearly two-decade history, more than 450 wineries have counted themselves as members, and tens of thousands of Rhône-loving tradespeople and consumers have attended Rhône Rangers tastings in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., thus changing deeply the way of American drinkers.

Over the years the Rhone Movement has lost its influences but is still very much there, it’s evolving and moving to other varieties and there still passioned producers.

In this episode, I spoke to author Journalist Patrick Comiskey. He, however, never lost his passion for either the true Rhone wines produced in the Rhone Valley in the south of France or the American Rhones being made primarily in California and Washington. Comiskey, a writer and critic for Wine & Spirits magazine, has penned the definitive work on the Rhone movement, "American Rhone, How Maverick Winemakers Changed the Way Americans Drink."

Comiskey, a gifted writer and storyteller, spent the better part of six years by his estimation researching the topic, conducting interviews, tasting the wines and eventually writing the book.
We have also talked about the difference between Syrah and Petite Syrah and the new styles that contemporary Rhone Ranges are exploring.

Randal Grahm and the white horse –
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/357543657887272599/


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