A little more insight into Hospice:

From part of aWine Spectator, Aug 31, ’02 – “Dream Weavers” article by James Laube

The article was about the 10^th anniversary of what had become Hospice du Rhone and is about hold the twentieth version of that event. Beginning with an idea called the Viognier’s Guild, twenty eight people attended the original event, held in Georgia and hosted by Mat Garretson. There were more viogniers to taste than there were attendees but one of them was John Alban. He convinced Garretson to move the event to his Edna Valley winery near Paso Robles, CA and include Rhone style wines from anywhere they were made. Some well respected producers took part and attendance grew to one hundred fifty.

Now a decade old, the event had grown from a one day event to a three day weekend of all things Rhone-ish and offered the over 3,000 people who came more than one hundred fifty wines from a half dozen countries.  Laube noted that, “Overnight, the city of Paso Robles, a sleepy cowboy-town midway between LA and San Francisco, is transformed into an international mecca of Rhone-wine fanatics.”