Hospice du Rhone - Walla Walla

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Hospice du Rhone - Walla Walla - 4/21/2024 6:32:19 PM

Hollowine

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From: Hood River, OR
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Who's attending and what are your plans?

Post #: 1

RE: Hospice du Rhone - Walla Walla - 4/21/2024 7:35:19 PM

Hollowine

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From: Hood River, OR
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Pretty much the full slate Wed - Sat, though passed on the South Africa tasting and the Bowling.

The only HdR dinner I opted for was the Yves Cuilleron on Saturday.

(in reply to Hollowine)

Post #: 2

RE: Hospice du Rhone - Walla Walla - 4/23/2024 7:57:08 PM

Wine Gopher

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I planned to attend and even had a reservation at The Inn at Abeja that we booked the day it was announced. However, we had to cancel a while back because our 3 year old had a planned spinal cord surgery today.

Please post highlights in the thread because I'm a glutton for punishment on what I'm missing out on.

(in reply to Hollowine)

Post #: 3

RE: Hospice du Rhone - Walla Walla - 4/24/2024 1:53:00 PM

Hollowine

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Joined: 7/25/2008
From: Hood River, OR
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Wine Gopher

I planned to attend and even had a reservation at The Inn at Abeja that we booked the day it was announced. However, we had to cancel a while back because our 3 year old had a planned spinal cord surgery today.

Please post highlights in the thread because I'm a glutton for punishment on what I'm missing out on.

I'll try to post some details as I can, sorry you couldn't make it out but totally understand. I was on "pending" up until last week as my mother was urgently admitted to the hospital last week.

Doesn't seem to be much of an event of interest anymore among the forum. There was a time past when it garnered a lot of attention...

(in reply to Wine Gopher)

Post #: 4

RE: Hospice du Rhone - Walla Walla - 4/25/2024 9:44:05 AM

ChrisinCowiche

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From: Cowiche, WA
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I considered it, even looked into camping options, since it's first time in my backyard, but my work and family obligations made it impossible. Hopping on a plane in a few hours to do the Yakima-Seattle-Juneau-Haines-White Horse-Vancouver-Seattle-Chicago-Forsyth-Chicago-Seattle-Yakima loop. The Yukon Golden Circle is in there somewhere.

Looking forward to your highlights, Scott!

< Message edited by ChrisinCowiche -- 4/25/2024 9:46:46 AM >

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(in reply to Hollowine)

Post #: 5

RE: Hospice du Rhone - Walla Walla - 4/26/2024 11:13:31 AM

Wine Gopher

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From: MN
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Hollowine

quote:

ORIGINAL: Wine Gopher

I planned to attend and even had a reservation at The Inn at Abeja that we booked the day it was announced. However, we had to cancel a while back because our 3 year old had a planned spinal cord surgery today.

Please post highlights in the thread because I'm a glutton for punishment on what I'm missing out on.

I'll try to post some details as I can, sorry you couldn't make it out but totally understand. I was on "pending" up until last week as my mother was urgently admitted to the hospital last week.

Doesn't seem to be much of an event of interest anymore among the forum. There was a time past when it garnered a lot of attention...

Sorry, I hope your mom is doing ok.

I did one of the HdRs at Blackberry Farm and it was awesome. I had tickets to 2020 but it got canceled for COVID so I haven’t had a chance to make one of the big ones. I really wanted to go to it in WW.

(in reply to Hollowine)

Post #: 6

RE: Hospice du Rhone - Walla Walla - 4/29/2024 8:21:05 AM

stuart10er

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Joined: 5/10/2022
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We went to a variety of events - but not all of them. We did the Focus Tasting on Paso Robles (Wed), Focus Tasting on South Africa (Fri), a winemaker dinner with Bedrock (Fri evening), and the Grand Tasting (Sat).
On the Focus Tasting of Paso Robles, the standouts for us were from Turtelrock Vineyards, who were serving some very tasty GSMs and also a killer Graciano-based blend (ok, not really a Rhone grape). Also really enjoyed the wines from Copia, Law Estates, and Tablas Creek.
On the Focus Tasting of South Africa, we really liked a Grenache Blanc from Scions of Sinai, represented there by their importer (Culture wines).
At the grand tasting, there were so many lovely wines, but some really special ones were a single grape Tablas Creek pouring of Bourboulenc - light, acidic, and a little bit grassy - but really interesting by itself.
Loved the Herman Story wines (tried Tomboy, On the Road, and Casual Encounter). Also enjoyed the Lassiter, Torbreck, and Chapoutier offerings. Lots of WA and CA wineries and a lot of French wineries - but a bit sparse in other places. Only 3 wineries from Spain, a few from Australia, and one nice winery from Canada (BC) but who are not available in the US. Server a really amazing Rancio from Perinet (Priorat) which is also not available in the US.

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(in reply to Wine Gopher)

Post #: 7

RE: Hospice du Rhone - Walla Walla - 4/30/2024 7:42:18 PM

Hollowine

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It was a looong 5 days and I'm just now getting some time to put a few thoughts down.

Wednesday -
* Focus tasting on Paso Robles. I also really liked the wines of Turtle Rock, but as I was tasting with the winemaker (Don Burns) it made sense given I learned he was assistant winemaker at Saxum for 16 years. But my standout of the tasting were the wines of Hawks Hill Ranch Winery, which also turned out to have the winemaking done by Don Burns.
* Burgers @ AK's Mercado and Opening Bottle Share - A lot of fun when wine geeks bring some amazing shares. Notable wines were 2007 Allemand from Mag, 2012 Gonon Saint-Joseph Blanc, and a Alban Seymour's Mag.

Thursday -
* Garnacha of Spain seminar at Valdemar Estate with Paella lunch. It was really interesting comparing three takes on Grenache from Priorat, Rioja, and Aragon and learning what makes them so different, I actually really liked the wine from Aragon.
* Focus tasting on wines of The Rocks District - As a long advocate and fan of the Rocks district, this was a fun tasting, but very palate fatiguing. There are some great wines coming out of the Rocks AVA, many are as yet unknown...
* After the tasting, we had a private dinner out at Rasa Winery. The food was ok, the wines were amazing, the company was perfect. Standouts for me were 1978 Guigal Hermitage Blanc (long lost in Billo's cellar, didn't expect much but it was delicious and fresh), 1997 Chateau Montelena Estate, 1997 Clarendon Hills Astralis, 2007 Chateau Rayas, and 1963 Taylor Fladgate (a last minute addition to my bag, it saved the day when the 1977 Croft was corked). All told, 9 of us killed 18 bottles plus a full bottle of Port...

Friday - (9:00 am seminar came waaaay to early after the night before)
* Seminar 1 - Chateauneuf du Pape - Three producers each with a Blanc, 2009 Rouge, 2019 Rouge...Really fun seminar which explored nuances of CDP as dictated by terroir and varieties used.
* Rose of Tavel: Masterclass and Rose Lunch - A really fun and vibrant presentation about the Tavel region and the lovely pink rose wines.
* Paella Dinner with friends at Airbnb. A bunch of us decided we'd do better cooking in, so I brought my Paella rig from home and we cooked off both a Seafood and a Chicken/Chorizo version. Again, the wines everyone shared were a testament to the generosity of the crowd and this hobby, my wines of note were 1998 La Turque, 1998 Penfolds Grange, and 2011 SQN Estate Paletine Syrah.

Saturday -
* Live Auction Lunch - Fun small gathering of crazy bidding for various lots. It was really nice to see my friend Travis have his Kobayashi lot go for the highest price at the event.
* Grand Tasting - The Auction Lunch ticket gets you early admission to the Grand Tasting. Not gonna lie, having that early hour makes all the difference in getting in to taste your priority list of producers. Did a blitzkrieg tasting of about 20 and then wrapped up another 5 or so after the crowds flowed in.
* Winemaker dinner with Jeff Cohn Cellars and Yves Cuilleron @ Saffron. Good wines paired with good food, but I wasn't emotionally moved by any of it. Not sure what I was expecting, just something more...

And the piece-de-resistance...

There is a local sandwich shop called Graze that every year does a Seasonal Panini I've always wanted to try...locals post pics on the socials and I curse that I've not made it up there yet, but this year the planets aligned. Fresh blanched Asparagus, roast garlic puree, bechamel, aged white cheddar, and provolone. Heaven in a sandwich. Was able to have one while in Walla Walla, and grabbed one for the drive home...

(in reply to stuart10er)

Post #: 8

RE: Hospice du Rhone - Walla Walla - 4/30/2024 9:34:52 PM

Wine Gopher

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Joined: 3/12/2012
From: MN
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Nice way to end the post. We've had sandwiches from Graze for picnics at wineries and they're delicious in general. That sounds like a very good sandwich.

(in reply to Hollowine)

Post #: 9