A Kessler favorite---and now a favorite of many more---served at their Cassoulet Dinner 2016:
Cowhorn Roussanne-Marsanne, Applegate Valley, Oregon, 2013
Lou discovered this winery about three years ago on one of their sojourns up to Ashland’s Shakespeare Festival in the Rogue. The Applegate is a tiny, narrow valley, cooler than the nearby greater Rogue but warmer than the Umpqua or Willamette to the north. It is an AVA to watch, brethren. And this nifty little organic-biodynamic (Cowhorn? Get it?) boutique producer may be the one to watch the closest: they’re small but they’re fiercely dedicated. This is a 50/50, no malo, full throttle expression of Rhone-y goodness, with abundant acacia flowers and hay and ripe melon and honey and all sorts of other good things. Succulent. Mouth-filling. Pleasure-inducing. You should get some. This is a cult wine if ever I have seen one (and I have seen a few.)