2015 Denner The Dirt Worshipper, USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles, Wine Review

Another winner from Denner. A blend of 96% Syrah, 2% Roussanne, 2% Viognier. Inky purple in color, a thin ruby rim. The nose is big and warm. Black raspberries, black pepper, slight roasted meats, slight black olives. On the palate, this is delicious. Full bodied. Black raspberry fruit, roasted meats and herbs and a bit of black pepper. Lush texture. Long finish. This is easy to drink. On its own, this is perfect, however, it will continue to evolve over the next five to seven years and be more complex and food friendly. It will go well with roasts and meat casseroles.

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2015

America's Best Rhone Style White Wines: 11th Annual Rhone Rangers Tasting Reviewed

The Rhone Report: About Rhone and Rhone-Style Wines and Winemakers is part of an ongoing series. Like many lovers of Rhone style wines from America, we have just returned from the 2008 edition of the annual Rhone Rangers tasting event at Fort Mason in San Francisco (March 18). This was the 11th year that the Rhone Rangers , a group of about 200 American producers of wines using 22 varietals traditional to France’s Rhone Valley, have shown off their wines at this public tasting event. This year, about 138 wineries presented approximately 520 wines. During the tasting, we enthusiastically tasted as many wines as we could within the 5 hours (3 public and 2 trade/media) the event was open. We tasted 30 white wines first, and then we tasted 50 reds. We skipped the rosés, not because we don’t love them, but because we didn’t have time. Kudos to Rhone Rangers for providing eco-friendly paper spit cups instead of the plastic cups so common at other tastings. We divided our attention between wines and producers we have known previously, producers new to us, and specific bottlings we didn’t already know. While we found many wines to admire, we are sure we missed other gems.

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2008 Hospice du Rhone Events: Highs & Lows of American Rhone-style Wines Tasted

The Rhone Report: About Rhone and Rhone-Style Wines and Winemakers is part of an ongoing series. The 16th annual Hospice du Rhone events in Paso Robles, California from May 1 to 3, 2008 was an opportunity to consider Rhone-style wines from a fresh perspective. Unlike most tasting opportunities, these events included Rhone-style wines from the Rhone Valley itself (51 wineries), elsewhere in France (4 wineries) as well as from Spain (4 wineries), Australia (17 wineries), South Africa (6 wineries), Chile (2 wineries), Argentina (1 winery) and the United States. The American wines were mostly from California (144 wineries), but a few examples from Arizona (2 wineries) and Washington State (5 wineries) were also included. While this is a California-dominated event, and while many of the Rhone Valley’s best producers aren’t represented, there is still sufficient European and other entries to make for interesting comparisons and contrasts. The events included two general tastings and a series of focused seminars.

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America’s Best Rhone Style Red Wines: 11th Annual Rhone Rangers Tasting Reviewed

The Rhone Report: About Rhone and Rhone-Style Wines and Winemakers is part of an ongoing series. Last month we discussed the white Rhone style wines offered at the 2008 Rhone Rangers tasting event at Fort Mason in San Francisco on March 18. This month we turn to the reds, of which we tasted 50. Among those we tasted were some old favorites and some wineries or bottlings with which we were not yet familiar. We don’t pretend that we tasted a representative group of wines, because our sample was skewed to wines we have loved in the past and others about which we have heard positive comments.

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Top Ten California Syrahs - 2016

I tend to taste and drink a lot of wine over the course of a year. I am in a few tasting groups, sometimes the wines are consumed at various local wine store tastings and a number drunk with friends and family.

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2015 Denner The Ditch Digger, USA, California, Paso Robles, Wine Review

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2015

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$70.00USD

Another great wine from Denner. It is a blend of 55% Grenache, 20% Mourvèdre, 10% Syrah, 5% Counoise, 5% Cinsault and 5% Tannat.

2015 Denner The Dirt Worshipper, USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles, Wine Review

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America's Best Rhone Style White Wines: 11th Annual Rhone Rangers Tasting Reviewed

2008 Hospice du Rhone Events: Highs & Lows of American Rhone-style Wines Tasted

America’s Best Rhone Style Red Wines: 11th Annual Rhone Rangers Tasting Reviewed

Top Ten California Syrahs - 2016

2015 Denner The Ditch Digger, USA, California, Paso Robles, Wine Review