The Hospice du Rhone event in Paso Robles is the most amazing Rhone wine event in the world!!! Well, at least the most amazing Rhone wine event we have been to, and the weekend all kicked off Thursday evening with a pre-party at Paso Robles Inn.
We were upstairs in the bar area at the Inn and had a chance to taste some sparkling Shiraz out of Australia, and hang out with some of the peeps that would be at the event in the coming days. As luck would have it we ran into our awesome friend Amy Butler (her wine is Ranchero Cellars) and her friend Jon (who we met last year at HdR) so we ended up hanging out with them for most of the evening.
How Does a Hospice du Rhone Evening End Up?
After a couple of hours of eating some snacky snacks (I coined this phrase) and Annie watching me sip on some of that delish sparkling Shiraz (truth be told, she had a couple sips too…let’s see how many hate emails we get over the pregnant lady having a couple sips of wine) we decided to take off and head over to the infamous Villa Creek Restaurant…cuz that’s where the after-party always is.
This is the one time of year we can hang out at Villa Creek and hear Spanish, French, and an assortment of english accents and not think it’s odd…they are here from all over the world to get their Rhone on. As per the usual we ran into many of our local friends as well. Villa Creek is one of our most frequented bars in Paso Robles for some of these very reasons; it’s the hangout for winemakers and other wine industry peeps. It’s also just a generally cool place with a great vibe, tasty drinks, and delicious food. In other words, the perfect spot for a Hospice du Rhone after-party!
Stay tuned for more on our Hopsice du Rhone weekend experience; we’ve barely scratched the surface on this Rhone extravaganza and can’t wait to tell you all about it.
Related articles
- Hospice du Rhone: Our Weekend Indulgence (hootnannieblog.com)
Fun, fun, fun, thats what you had, and wishing I was there too. I do remember stopping in Paso Robles Inn when we were staying at the Apple Farm and our package deal was a road trip to the Lavendar Farm, Olive Oil, and three wineries which ended up in PR not knowing the area so we just stopped in the “PR Inn” to look at a room (spa in the patio) and drove around town before heading back to the Apple Farm, we were tired from a long day so we didn’t do or look for more wineries. My co-worker recommended “PR Inn” on our next visit, unfortunately we haven’t been back…yet! Looking forward to more news about the Hopsice du Rhone. Cheers! (No harm in a couple sips Annie, no worries) Love you guys!
Hey Bev! Sounds like you guys had a great adventure up our way! And yes, you’ll definitely have to come back and do it all over again so we can meet you and toast you! The PR Inn is a very cool place…lots of history and beautiful grounds. Don’t worry, there’s more HdR to come…hold on to your seat! Love you, too!!!
Love the blog, but I miss Annie’s ‘live’ video spots! And of coure, I miss Matt’s interjection commentary….
No worries, Mo! We’ve got more videos comin’ your way! It’s been fun taking lots of pics, lately…but getting back into some videos! Cheers!
Many thanks for taking the time to stop by and try some of the sparkling shiraz that we presented at HdR. And thanks for the pix as well. This was the first time many of these wines have ever been presented in the US and it was great to see the positive reception from yourselves, the VIPs and especially winemakers like François Villard and Pierre Gaillard. Hope to bring new wines back next year!!
Keep drinking the red fizz!!
Chuck Hayward
JJ Buckley Fine Wines
Chuck, we had a blast tasting through the “red fizz”. We certainly have not had much, if any, of it before and obviously don’t get it here in Paso RObles where we live. So, thank YOU for bringing it in and letting everybody try them out. Hope to see you around next year!
Cheers