8 Outstanding West Coast Rhônes at 90+ Points

For many years, Rhône-style wines made outside of France have been part of a somewhat smaller market, but one filled with a variety of styles. Here, we have assembled a list of eight wines from the 2022 and 2021 vintages in California and Washington state, now coming to shelves after much of the 2020 vintage was affected by wildfire smoke. All of these wines earned outstanding scores of 90 points or higher on our 100-point scale; they also demonstrate that some leading West Coast producers have shifted their styles to give their post-2020 wines sleek and zesty profiles well-suited for earlier release and consumption.

Kokomo partners, winemaker Erik Miller and grower Randy Peters, focus on vineyard-designated wines in California's Sonoma County. Peters farms Pauline’s Vineyard, located across the street from the Dry Creek Valley–based winery.
In 2022, for the first time, the Kokomo team bottled Grenache from Pauline's Vineyard as a single-variety wine. This red was aged in 500-liter barrels, giving the wine less new oak influence and resulting in fresh cherry and raspberry flavors highlighted by cinnamon, rose petal and savory spice notes.

This lineup also includes Carlisle's Grenache Sonoma Valley Rossi Ranch 2021, the top scorer in this lineup, an energetic red with red fruit, pepper and cinnamon notes. Read on to get our full score and tasting note for this outstanding West Coast Rhône wine and seven others!

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