Wine Lover: The rise of Rhone wines

Rhone wines are a unique bunch. They can be bottled as single varietal wines or as a blend. They seem to do well all over the world (especially Syrah) with few exceptions, and they have made huge gains in popularity in California during the past couple of decades.
The usual suspects in a red Rhone wine are Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsaut and, lastly, Carignan. In white blends, the most common varietals are Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne.
Not all Rhone wines are blends, though. In southeastern France, the Rhone region is essentially split in half both in geography and paradigm. What Pinot Noir is to a Burgundian, Syrah is to the vintners of the Northern Rhone. They do little blending in the north and try to let the rugged terroir speak through their Syrah.
In Southern Rhone, it’s just the opposite. The southern winemakers sympathize with the Bordeaux model. They make almost exclusively blends and feel that the sum is better than its parts. It is also important to note that Grenache is the principal grape of the south, and not Syrah.
In California, and especially Santa Cruz, We blend the Rhone varietals but make single-varietal wines as well. It is not uncommon to visit a local winery and see that they have a Rhone blend and each grape in that blend available as a single varietal, too.
My co-op friends and I recently did a bottling at which we had Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre to work with. So how did we decide to blend or not? We did what all other winemakers do — we thieved wine out of the barrels and tasted them individually and as blends.
In the end, we decided that the sum was better than any part, and we made a southern-style blend.
Syrah is certainly the most common and best-known Rhone varietal, but for my money, I will take Mourvedre. It makes a wonderful stand-alone, medium-bodied red wine that often displays notes of pepper, leather, game, plum and strawberry, among others.
For a great local example, try Poetic Cellars. The winemaker, Katy Lovell, is a Rhone wine master. I always keep some of her Mourvedre on hand. Cheers!
Austin Twohig is a certified sommelier and partner in The Santa Cruz Experience, which conducts winery tours in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Contact him at au****@th********************.com.