Wine Tasting at the Washington Wine and Cheese Seminar: A Tour through the Rhône Valley, Presented by Annette Schiller, 2023, Washington DC, USA

 

Great Rhône tasting at the Washington Wine and Cheese Seminar led by Annette Schiller. 

 

Annette presented 5 wines from 3 Rhône producers. They were all purchased at MacArthur Beverages in Washington DC. 

 

We have visited all 3 producers - Domaine Jean-Michel Gerin, Domaine des Pasquiers, La Bastide Saint Dominique - on a previous Rhône Tour by ombiasy WineTours led by Annette Schiller. The most recent Rhône Tour took place in 2022 (see below).

Invitation

 

Washington Wine and Cheese Seminar: This Tuesday, May 9, the class will again be given by member Annette Schiller who has generously presented two prior excellent classes this spring.  Here is Annette's announcement:

Dear All,

 

I invite you to join me on May 9^th for a tour through the Rhône valley. You will taste 5 different wines -all red-, a classic Syrah from the Northern Rhône, 3 wines moving up the quality ladder from the Gigondas area in the Southern Rhône and finishing with a gorgeous Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

 

The Rhône Valley is one of the oldest wine regions in France, and the second largest after Bordeaux. The Greeks introduced viticulture in the 4th century BC. Later the Romans came and brought viticulture to a different level. In the 14th century the Papacy moved to Avignon and the clergy had a tremendous influence on the development of the Rhône Valley wines.

 

Since then the world has discovered Rhône wines and some of the most famous and expensive wines come from the Rhône Valley. Just think Guigal’s La-La-La wines and the world famous Châteuaneuf-du-Pape.

The vineyards are located on both sides of the river. The Rhône Valley is divided into two distinctively different regions: the Northern Rhône and the Southern Rhône. The Northern Rhône stretches for 60 miles from Vienne – south of Lyon – to Valence, and produces just 5% of Rhône wines. The region has a continental climate with pronounced seasons. The soils are granitic and schistous and the vineyards are located on very steep terraced slopes. The red grape of the Northern Rhône is 100% Syrah. 

Depending on the appellation the red wines are often blended with 5 – 20% of the white varietals Viognier, Marsanne, and Roussanne. 

As the Rhône river flows southward and the valley widens the climate changes. It becomes more Mediterranean with long, warm summers and mild winters. Here we find the big brother of the Northern Rhône, the Southern Rhône wine region which accounts for 95% of the production and with Grenache being the principal variety in most red wine blends. There also is Syrah, Mourvèdre, ( “GSM” blends) and a variety of other red and white grapes. The landscape is much flatter than in the north and a variety of soils can be found: alluvial soils, limestone subsoils, sand, gravel, stones. The Châteauneuf-du-Pape region is famous for the “galets roulées”, those large, rounded stones that have been smoothed by both glacial and fluvial actions over time and deposited in the region dominating the character of the soil which gives the Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines its distinctive character.

As usual we will have two cheeses and baguette accompanying the wines. This is a 25$ tasting.  

 

No reservations are required.

 

WHERE & WHEN WE MEET: The Seminar meets at 7:45PM every Tuesday (except for July, August and the weeks of December 25th and January 1st) at St. Patricks Episcopal Church at 4700 Whitehaven Pky, between Foxhall Road and MacArthur Blvd.

 

The Tasting

 

At the Washington Wine and Cheese Seminar, we always have 5 wines, 2 cheeses and fresh baguette. We sit at up to 10 tables of 8. Each table of 8 gets one bottle. We always buy a case of each wine. The The left-over wines are sold at the price we bought the wines. 

 

The evening starts at 7:45 pm with an introduction to the tasting of up to 25 minutes.

 

This time, 64 people participated.

 

 

The 5 Wines

 

 

 

The Rhône Valley Tour 2022 by ombiasy WineTours took place from June 20 - June 29, 2022. The group comprised 10 wine lovers including Annette and Christian Schiller.

Annette Schiller in her Announcement

Join us as we explore in detail the wines of the Rhône Valley. We start in vibrant, cool, sophisticated Lyon, the capital of Haut Cuisine. We stop in the Northern Rhône where names such as Côte Rôtie, Crozes-Hermitage make us crave a glass of wine. We follow the eponymous Rhône river south to Avignon, the city that was the seat of the papacy for the better part of the 14th century. We stop in Châteauneuf du Pape. We do a side-kick to the gorgeous Dentelles de Montmirail where we find the wines of Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Séguret, and the sweet wines of Rasteau. The southern Rhône belongs to Provence. Provence: this immediately ignites a deep yearning for the fragrance coming from Lavender fields, for the special light the Impressionist artists masterfully captured in their paintings, for a very special "savoir vivre", and for the dark red, fruity, spicy wines. This year we travel during the height of the flowering season and we will experience a sea of purple Lavender fields. 

See:  Summary: Rhône Valley Tour 2022 by ombiasy WineTours - Wine, Culture and History, France

schiller-wine: Related Postings 

Announcement: Exciting ombiasy Wine Tours in 2023

ombiasy WineTours: Wine Tour Schedule 2023 - Austria, Germany/East, Burgundy/ Champagne, Germany/ North

Announcement: Austria 2023 by ombiasy WineTours - 12 Days: May 28 - June 08, 2023

Announcement: The Wine, Concert, and History Tour - Germany-East 2023 by ombiasy WineTours - Monday, June 19 - Thursday, June 29, 2023 

Burgundy and Champagne 2023: 12-day Total Immersion - From Lyon to Paris by ombiasy WineTours

Maison Guigal in Ampuis, Côte Rôtie, Northern Rhône: Cellar Tour, Tasting and Vineyard Tour - Rhône Valley Tour 2022 by ombiasy WineTours: Wine, Culture and History, France

Tour and Tasting at Château Haut-Bailly, Graves, Appellation Pessac-Léognan, Grand Cru Classé, with Cellar Master Jean Christoph - Bordeaux Tour 2022 by ombiasy WineTours, France

Cellar Tour and Tasting with Daniel Wagner at Weingut Wagner-Stempel (VDP) in Siefersheim, Rheinhessen - Germany-South and Alsace 2022 by ombiasy WineTours

Tasting with Helmut Dönnhoff and Sascha Johannes Schömel at Weingut Dönnhoff (VDP) in Oberhausen, Nahe - Germany-South and Alsace 2022 by ombiasy WineTours

2022 Annual Riesling Party at the Schiller Residence in McLean, Virginia, USA 

Christian Schiller`s SCHILLER-WINE Blog on Corking Wines` Top 101 Wine Writers of 2020 List

The Wines of Germany: Presentation by Annette Schiller at the German Embassy in Washington DC/ Consular Conference December 2021

Massive Tasting of Bordeaux 1982 - the Vintage that made Robert Parker a Star, USA/ France

Carl Willner, Christian Schiller and Ken Bensley of the German Wine Society/ Washington DC Chapter (Re-)elected to the National Board, USA, Germany 

The American Wine Society National Conference 2022 in Bellevue/ Seattle, Washington State - Seen through Christian Schiller`s Camera Lens

The End of the "Grosslage" in Germany - Seminar about the new German Wine Law of 2022 at the 2022 American Wine Society National Conference in Bellevue/ Seattle, Washington State, led by Annette Schiller

Christian Schiller: Re-elected to the Board of the "Weinfeder", the Association of German Wine Journalists

2022 Holiday Party of the German Wine Society (Washington DC Chapter) at the Cosmos Club in Washington DC Downtown, USA/ Germany

All Sorts of Sparklers: How do the Bubbles get into that Bottle? - Tasting at the American Wine Society (NoVa Chapter) led by Annette Schiller 

Germany's Weingut Künstler #2 on James Suckling's List of the Top 100 Wines of the World (2022)