High Ho Silver it's the Rhone Ranger!

I obviously post a lot of Cabernet and Cabernet based wines at Bobby Van's, but the grapes of the Rhone also go really well with the food at Bobby V's. So for this event, I become a Rhone Ranger and I present wines from both the Southern and Northern parts of France's Rhone! I'll leave the New World Rhone type wines for another night.

We will have 1 Rhone white wine, followed by 4 Rhone reds, 2 from the Southern Rhone and 2 from the Northern Rhone.

We will return to perennial favorite, Bobby Van's on Park for a 7pm reservation.

Here is a link to their menu...
Bobby Van's on Park Menu

Just a reminder of our usual rules:

** The cost of this event is $42 and is for the cost of the wines only.

NOTE: Meetup has started charging a "Partner Fee" that is above and in addition to the listed price of the event. It comes to approximately $4 more for each RSVP. You will see this charge when you complete your rsvp and pay for the event. Sorry! Meetup+ members are exempt from this charge.

You will also have to pay the cost of your food (plus 33% for tax and tip). Please order at least two courses (i.e. a main dish and either appetizer or dessert) for your dinner. There are very few restaurants that allow us to bring our own wine for a Zero corkage fee. We must be good guests to encourage the restaurant to continue to be generous to us.

Please read and understand the group's cancellation policy. If you take spot, then cancel, and no one else takes the spot, you will not receive a refund or credit. No refunds or credits will be given for no-shows or late cancellations (unless someone else takes your spot). All cancellations are subject to a $6 service fee.

Please use public transportation - NO DRINKING AND DRIVING!

The Wines :
2022 Marc Sorrel Crozes-Hermitage Blanc ($59) - To start us off a Northern Rhone white. Stuart Piggott 95 points, "A dense, concentrated, textural and intense blend of 90% marsanne and 10% roussanne. It shows notes of green apples, blanched almonds, white flowers and a hint of chalk. Medium-bodied with a very refined and precise development. So much concentration. Funneled and lively. So much tension with a vibrant finish, excellent persistence and plenty of mineral undertones. Drink or hold."

2007 Domaine Paul Autard Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Juline ($60) - CT 92.8, my final bottle. It has been reviewed by the WA 3 times, most recently March 2017, for 94 points, "The modern styled 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Juline (mostly Grenache vinified and aged in new barrels) has elegant yet rich and decadent notes of cassis, currants, toasted spice and sweet oak. Full-bodied, perfectly balanced and layered, it has plenty of integrated oak but has a beautifully Provencal, lengthy style that will keep it drinking nicely for another 10-15 years. (2012-2032).

2012 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape ($70) - CT 92.4, JD 96 points, "What I think might end up being the best Beaucastel since the 1990 or 2001, the 2012 Châteauneuf du Pape offers a full-bodied, decadent style to go with awesome black and blue fruits, garrigue, licorice, crushed flowers and violets. The purity here is truly something, and it has fabulous mid-palate concentration, building tannin and massive texture. Given all of the fruit and texture here, it will no doubt drink well in its youth, but it should still be alive and kicking after two decades as well."

2022 Clusel-Roch Côtes du Rhône Les Vergers ($45) - 100% Syrah (although one user on CT said "100% Serine (an old clone of Syrah)", John Livingstone Learmonth 4.5 stars, ""Dark red robe; this has a bold, iron-blood filled bouquet, intensity in the red fruit, smoky fissures, rose petals on the premises. The palate presents an appealing flow of red cherry fruits, has flair, and a tight line of tannin, clear tannin. It finishes with a lightly floral precision, is most harmonious, gives cool, crystalline drinking, on the naked side, very pure. There are notes of the scented Lapsang Souchong tea on the palate. “I judged the harvest date just right this year,” Guillaume Clusel. July 2021"

From the importer "This is the third time bottling of what is for all intents and purposes a Côte Rôtie in Côtes du Rhône clothing that should resultantly offer an outstanding value proposition. I am told that at the time of classification, the family already had enough Côte Rôtie and thus didn't propose this parcel to be included in the appellation, as they didn't want to have to pay the higher taxes required.....One should pay attention to overachievers like this that offer all of the substance, just not the label licker appeal."

2021 Domaine Vincent Paris Cornas La Geynale ($60) - CT 91.2. I don't know why, but BOTH WS and WA reviewed the 2020 and 2022 vintages but not this one...JD (91-93 barrel sample) points, "The clear standout is the 2021 Cornas La Geynale, a classic, old school-styled beauty offering meaty, iron-laced red and black fruits, medium body, building tannins, good mid-palate depth, and a great finish. It's up with the crème de la crème of the vintage." NOTE: About the 2022 vintage, WA said, "the only cuvée at this address fermented with 100% whole clusters,"