What's Your Rhône Name?

Like the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano or the annual mating of the wildebeests in Africa, certain events indicate a particular time of year. In the wine world, especially in the Rhône world, it’s a sure sign that Spring is near when you hear the thundering herd of Rhône Rangers ride into town for the Annual Rhône Rangers event held at Fort Mason in San Francisco.

The 15th Annual Rhône Rangers will be held March 24-25, 2012. I went to the event last year and can tell you first hand it’s something you don’t want to miss. The wines are fantastic and the winemakers are real mavericks. Rhône’s and the people who make Rhône wines tend to follow the beat of a slightly different drummer. My kind of peeps!

Three seminars and a winemaker dinner will be held on Saturday and The Grand Tasting on Sunday. This year one of the seminars involves bacon! And the Grand tasting will have over 500 wines! I know you want to go to that—and you could for free— This is what you have to do:

Tell me what your Rhône Name is. Don’t know what it is? Here’s how to find out-- It's kind of like that game where you invent your porn star name, um, I mean stage name, by combining the name of a childhood pet and the name of the street you lived on as a kid. So for example my stage name would be Fluffy Lakeview.

But to find your Rhône Name do the following:
(Name of Favorite Childhood Pet)  + (Favorite Rhône Variety) = Rhône Name

So for example my Rhône Name could be-- Fluffy Viognier or Jake Carignane

And here are the never before revealed Rhône Ranger Names for the winemakers who will be pouring Grenache Blanc, Picpoul Blanc, Carignane, Cinsault, Counoise and Mondeuse Noir in the Rare Wines seminar Saturday, March 24, 2012.

Tablas Creek – 2010 Picpoul Blanc – Jason Haas  (Binky Picpoul)
Two Shepherds – 2010 Grenache Blanc – William Allen  (Flash Grenache)
Holly’s Hill – 2010 Counoise – Josh Bendick  (Spanky Counoise)
Lagier Meredith – 2009 Mondeuse Noire – Carole Meredith  (Muffin Mondeuse Noire)
Ridge – 2009 Carignane – David Gates   (Astro Carignane)
Clos Saron – 2010 Cinsault — Gideon Beinstock  (Buster Cinsault)

So what’s your Rhône Name?

Leave it in the comments section below and then tweet your Rhone name to me at @marcygordon and @RhoneRangers and tag it with #RRSF. You could win a pair of tickets to the Grand Tasting in San Francisco on March 25th. Enter Now! Contest closes March 7th.

Here is a list of Rhône grapes to get you started.

Details and ticket information available here:

Website: http://www.rhonerangers.org/
Ticket sales: http://rhonerangers2012.eventbrite.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RhoneRangers
Twitter: @RhoneRangers Hashtag #RRSF