In the early 1980’s, several maverick American winemakers and wine growers began experimenting with Rhone-style wines. By the mid-80’s, several California Rhone producers including Steve Edmunds of Edmunds St. John, Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyard, and Bob Lindquist of Qupé, were meeting informally to share winemaking information and insights. 

In 1989, Grahm was featured on the cover of the Wine Spectator in a blue polyester cowboy outfit with a white horse under the headline, “Randall Grahm, California’s Rhone Ranger”. In his book American Rhone: How Maverick Winemakers Changed the Way America Drinks, Patrick Comiskey writes, “In that single indelible, iconic image, the course of the movement’s next several years was established.” He continues, “Tucked behind a feature article about Grahm was perhaps the most comprehensive critical assessment of American Rhone wines to date, with the first formal evaluation of the wines.”