Cel-ebrate the Rhone come on.
It's time to celebrate and have a good time ...
The Rhone just won Wine Enthusiasts magazine's "Region of the Year" award and they are thrilled.
Fresh off the trophy presentation they made a sojourn to Toronto where a small contingent of writers and Rhone Valley principals got together to taste some wines and have a little lunch at George Restaurant on Queen Street.
The first part of the days program was the tasting of some 15 wines that represented the region, from $10 simpletons to $59 behemoths, and there were many values along the way. I'll rank 13 of those wines below, from 3-star (good) to 4.5-star (excellent), with a few words about each.
But first, a few words, (or numbers) about the award wining region ...
The Rhone Valley is France's second largest AOC wine region in surface are and production:
77,175 hectares
6000 wineries
420 million bottles sold in 2007-2008
Exported to over 150 countries
The wine industry is the premier employer of the region
The Wines: (to see the wines, the lunch and the award - in pictures - click here)
