Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 96
BOOKS
Inherent
Wildness
Cyrus Limón reviews
American Rhône
John Alban on his way to Château Rayas
in Châteauneuf-du-Pape (undated).
American Rhône,
How Maverick Winemakers
Changed the Way
Americans Drink,
by Patrick J. Comiskey
(University of California
Press, $34.95).
96
WINE & SPIRITS
In the US, wines from the Rhône were historically a
footnote to Bordeaux, Burgundy and German riesling. Then came Berkeley-based wine importer Kermit Lynch, who found a market for Rhône wines
with a new generation of restaurateurs like Chez
Panisse's Alice Waters. California winemakers like
Steve Edmunds, Bob Lindquist and Randall Grahm
tasted the wines in the early 1980s, and were so
captivated that they set out to explore what Rhône
grapes-particularly syrah-might be able to do in
California's Mediterranean climate.
Comiskey, the Los Angeles-based wine critic for
Wine & Spirits, gives an intriguing account of these
early risk-takers, including superstars like Grahm of
Bonny Doon Vineyard, Manfred Krankl of Sine Qua
Non and Christophe Baron of Cayuse. He also profiles lesser known contributors to the cause, like Robert Mayberry: Edmunds and others who had staked
their livelihood on Rhône varieties developed a blueprint for best practices through his 1987 book, Wines
of the Rhône Valley: A Guide to Origins, and his lectures at UC Davis Extension.
Comiskey offers plenty for insiders craving a
detailed backstory of Rhône-style wines in the US. In
a chapter called the "Purloined Rhône," for example,
OCTOBER 2016
he relates the story of vine material that Grahm and
fellow winemaker John Alban smuggled into the
United States. Some of these "lifted" vines created
unintended problems when they were propagated
and distributed. The winemakers have kept mostly
mum on the subject, and Comiskey does a bit of
detective work to unravel the full story. The result is
a fascinating read.
Comiksey also traces the rise of syrah in the first
decade of the 2000s, when global production soared
as syrah from Australia garnered critical acclaim and
consumers flocked to the highly rated wines. But,
as Comiskey relates, an overproduction of benign,
boring syrah resulted in a serious contraction of the
market. He quotes UC Davis scientist and Mt. Veeder
syrah winemaker Carol Meredith: "People don't have
a clear picture of what syrah is. It still has no history
for Americans; it hasn't had a Judgment of Paris, it
hasn't had a movie. What it has is a lot of schlocky
wines that have really worked against it."
Ultimately, however, Comiskey sees hope in a
growing cadre of vintners who have learned to produce syrah in a way that reflects and celebrates the
place where the fruit is grown and, as Comiskey likes
to say, embraces its "inherent wildness." ■
Top image courtesy of John Alban, and reprinted from American Rhone,
copyright 2016 Patrick J. Comiskey. Published by UC Press.
Berkeley in the 1960s may be remembered for student sit-ins and anti-war protests, but it was also
a flashpoint for shifts in American culture that went beyond politics. "With an expansion of cultural
consciousness came an expansion of the possibilities in food and wine, so that by the time the
seventies arrive, the climate is right for a series of seminal events that, taken together, become the
antecedents of the American Rhône wine movement," Patrick Comiskey writes in American Rhône, his
book about a group of maverick winemakers who broke from tradition to introduce a new category
of American-produced wines.
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - October 2016
Contents
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - Cover1
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - Cover2
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 1
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 2
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 3
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 4
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - Contents
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 6
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 7
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 8
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 9
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 10
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 11
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 12
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 13
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 14
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 15
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 16
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 17
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 18
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 19
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Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 21
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Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 23
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 24
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 25
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Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 27
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 28
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 29
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 30
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 31
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 32
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Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 34
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 35
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 36
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 37
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 38
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Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 40
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 41
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 42
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 43
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Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 47
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 48
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 49
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 50
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 51
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Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 58
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Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 60
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Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 95
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - 96
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - Cover3
Wine & Spirits - October 2016 - Cover4
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