Rhone Varietal Focus course at UC Davis

On May 25th, UC Davis Extension program hosted its second annual Varietal Focus course, this time on Rhone Varietals. After last year's amazing Varietal Focus on Pinot, I couldn't miss this one. The seminar included the origins of the Rhone varieties; their role in the regional wines of the area; their history in both France and the new world; the importance, development and selection of clones; and the role of terroir in the performance of the vines.

Remington Norman, author of Rhone Renaissance: The Finest Rhone and Rhone Style Wines from France and the New World commenced the day by describing the burgeoning interest in Rhone varietals and aspects surrounding their likely worldwide spread. He discussed in rather opinionated way the general problems involved in introducing new varieties, achieving wine quality, site specificity and dealing with market perceptions and stylistic considerations.

Francois Perrin, a proprietor of Chateau de Beaucastel-one of Chateauneuf-du-Pape's finest domaines, led us through a tasting of 2005 barrels samples of 8 rhone varietals. Several like Picpoul Blanc and Bourboulenc are rarely stand alone wines; it was an amazing opportunity to taste these varietals on their own and then as a final blend. His family is also a partner with Robert Haas (who spoke later in the day) in the Tablas Creek project in California.

Glenn McGourty, UC winegrowing and plant science advisor, Mendocino and Lake Counties, presented data and share observations from his trials with Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsaut, Marsanne and Viognier, as well as a Syrah clonal trial. He talked about the varietals' strengths and quirks (surprisingly several red varietals struggled to get ripe enough in Lake County) based on vine performance data for three years at the Red Hills Trial in Lake County, and five years from UC Hopland Research and Extension Center.

Wayne Farquhar, executive officer of the South Australian Vine Improvement Incorporated (SAVII), explainded the Australian Shiraz (Syrah) vine selection program and the performance of some Australian Shiraz clones now available in California. I was amazed that 95% of Australian Shiraz is planted from the same clone, 1654.

John Buechsenstein, winemaker, wine educator, and Rhone Ranger, discussed vinification schemes for the production of rosé with Rhone varieties in his talk "Elaboration of Rosé". We tasted through 8 roses with different percentages of Rhone varietals.

The day ended with talk and tasting of wines featuring Rhone varieties by Robert "Bob" Haas, general partner, Tablas Creek Vineyard. He is an experienced importer, vintner, and member and past president of the Academie Internationale du Vin. He will talk about Rhone varieties available in California currently and in the future and their appropriateness for our climate and soils. He shared the reasons for blending several varieties into a single wine and the marketing questions that the practice poses- i.e. Americans don't like blends and French don't mind them.