Bonny Doon Winemaker dinner with special guest Randall Grahm at Cafe Maxx

 

 “I’ve never owned a vineyard, but I’m pretty sure I’ve drank an entire one by now.” – Anonymous

 

The best way to get into the wine business is to own a vineyard and that is just what Randall Grahm did in 1980 in the Santa Cruz Mountains region of California.

Since then he has shook up the wine world with his quirky, edgy  marketing techniques as well as his unique wines made from less popular varietals and a sense of humor that makes it easy to like both himself and his wines.

We have hosted several events with Randall over the years but this will be the most exclusive with only 26 seats in the back room at Cafe Maxx featuring all of the wines that Bonny Doon Winery currently has in the market.  Oliver Saucy has a special tasting menu to accompany the 13 wines that you will experience this evening.  The fee for this dinner is $115 + tax + gratuity, for reservations call 954-782-0606.

 

Bonny Doon with Special Host Randall Grahm Dinner at Cafe Maxx

Wednesday, August 20th

7pm

 

Reception:

Sea scallop lollypops with pink peppercorn

Grilled grouper fingers and sweet chili remoulade

Double cream brie and dried fruit on crostini

Bonny Doon QUERRY SPARKLING HARD CIDER 2011

Price: $15.00       Sale $13.20          Case $153.00

Query: What might a blend of apple, pear, and quince taste like naturally fermented (with indigenous yeast)? Result (not surprisingly): The ethereal suggestion of pineapple quince; the pungent, heady, dusky perfume of pear; and the earthy succulence of apple. I never thought I'd see... a pome as lovely as Querry. Crisp in acidity and bone dry, Querry is the perfect accompaniment to, well, essentially everything. It is composed of virtually everything, but most significantly: 58% pear, 33% apple, and 9% quince.

Excellent with charcuterie, Asian food, seafood, and poultry—fare as humble as meat pie or as elegant as lobster. Querry pears with everything. Open very carefully, as contents are under some pressure.

Label Notes:  The label was designed by Chuck House, based on a free-hand drawing by Randall Grahm, who, while sitting at the table with Chuck, attempted to show him more or less how he was thinking about the label design. The cider is shipped with two variant labels - a white and a black background - with the theoretical outcome of receiving any combination of the two.Vital Statistics: Alcohol by Volume: 6.9% Ingredients: 58% pear, 33% apple, 9% quince Appellation: 91% California, 9% Oregon TA: 6.1 g/L pH: 3.53 Serving Temp: 58º F Cellaring: 0-2 years from release (Nov. 2012) Production: 1,639 cases Label Art: Chuck House

Bonny Doon WINTER NÉLIS SPARKLING PERRY 2011

Price: $16.50       Sale $14.52          Case $169

The Winter Nélis is a supremely unfashionable pear—prickly on so many levels. (It actually does have extremely sharp thorns; pickers tend to make themselves scarce at harvest time.) And the Winter Nélis fruit itself is prickly about how it presents itself; it requires time, lots of it—normally sitting on the tree until Christmas—before its unique dusky, heady perfume begins to emerge. (What, are there no birds?) We were glad for the wait and are very proud to present this most elegant, classic, traditional, bottle-finished perry. Crisp in acidity and bone-dry with a subtle, spicy pear aroma; exceptionally refreshing.Vital Statistics: Alcohol by Volume: 7.5% Ingredients: 100% pear Appellation: California TA: 5.8 g/L pH: 3.37 Serving Temp: 53-55º F Cellaring: Drinkable upon release (September 2013), 0-2 years ageability Production: 815 cases Label Art: Grady McFerrin

Bonny Doon VIN GRIS DE CIGARE Pink Wine of the Earth 2013

Price: $19.50       Sale $17.16          Case $199

Tasting Notes: Our Vin Gris, a Provençal-styled pink, is a rather pale salmon color, owing to the fact that it is made from the lightest pressing of bespoke grapes, harvested at the appropriate maturity, i.e. not quite as ripe as those picked to produce a red wine. There is a lovely chalky/smoky gunpowder tea aspect to the nose,1 with a suggestion of bergamot, wild strawberry and maybe even a delicate trace of wintergreen. The fragrance is discreet and above all, elegant and draws one to the wine rather than mounts a frontal assault on one’s sensorium. On the palate, the wine has a sleek, salty, savory, mouth-watering aspect and a refreshing acidity. There is a wonderful persistent finish, making this one of the most food-friendly wines conceivable.

Vineyard | Production Notes:  The grenache for our Vin Gris came from bespoke sections of the McDowell Valley, Mesa Verde, Rancho Solo and Ventana Vineyards, harvested at the appropriate maturity level for this elegant style of wine. About 15% of the wine is composed of traditional white Rhône varieties, which add a surprising richness and foundation. We also employed the practice of bâtonnage–the stirring or re-suspension of lees after fermentation–to give the wine a creaminess of texture. 1 Where this derives from I could not say, but not inconceivably from the extended lees ageing and bâtonnage that was performed on this wine.Vital Statistics Varietal Composition: 55% grenache, 23.5% mourvèdre, 10% roussanne, 2.5% carignane, 2% grenache blanc, 7% cinsaut Appellation: Central Coast, California Alcohol by Volume: 13% TA: 5.5 g/L pH: 3.33 Production: 14,800 cases Bottle Size: 750 ml

 

First Course - Amuse Bouche

Medallion of spiny lobster with tropical fruit and fried plantain

Bonny Doon ALBARIÑO 2012

Price: $19.50       Sale $17.16          Case $199

Until 1989 Albariño was one of the rarest wine varieties in the world, rarely glimpsed outside the Iberian Peninsula. Since that time, this light yet vibrant white grape has become a darling of wine geeks worldwide with its preternatural ability to pair with all types of seafood, cheese and salty dishes.

Tasting Notes:  Very pale chartreuse color.  In the nose, citrus (mostly lime and tangerine) peel and leaf with a vague hint of peach and pineapple.  Impressively bracing natural acidity (no acidification was doon), and a slightly richer and more savory mouthfeel than we achieved in the ’12 (perhaps because we were able to do a little more bâtonage.) The wine has come together nicely since bottling, but is still pretty tightly wound, and certainly will keep its freshness for several years to come.  Still absolutely the perfect wine to serve with cracked crab.

Vineyard | Production Notes:  The Kristy Vineyard in the Salinas Valley, from which derives the dominant component of this blend, is a bit of a wind tunnel, and as such, remains almost preternaturally cool in temperature during the growing season. (It is aided and abetted by the Jespersen Vineyard of Edna Valley, perhaps even cooler.)Vital Statistics Varietal Blend: 100% albariño Vineyards: 73% Kristy Vineyard, 27% Jespersen Ranch Appellation: Central Coast Alcohol by Volume: 13.2% TA: 7.8 g/L pH: 3.36 Production: 1,592 cases

 

Fish Course

Florida hog snapper with pistachio green bean strudel beurre blanc and macerated citrus segments

Bonny Doon LE CIGARE BLANC BEESWAX VINEYARD 2011

Price: $27.00       Sale $23.76          Case $276

Le Cigare Blanc is the white analogue of Le Cigare Volant, our homage to the complex blended wines of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The great white Cigare is not unlike the great white whale; rarely seen, difficult to catch, yet its name is legend. It’s a rich, savory wine with greater power and extraction than one typically finds at Bonny Doon.

Tasting Notes:  Pale gold with green-gold highlights, the grenache blanc dominant blend has a somewhat different aromatic profile from the 2010 vintage. A very strong impression of melon, along with Asian pear, pineapple and grapefruit pith, and in the mouth, very rich, sporting a certain modicum of tannin; this bodes exceptionally well for great longevity. The wine’s unique flavors will pair exceptionally well with hard cheeses, seafood (lobster especially), roasted poultry, and savory vegetarian strudels or gratins. Paired with sushi served with freshly grated wasabi will also be a profound revelation.

Since 2003, we’ve produced this wondrous blend of grenache and roussanne from a single vineyard source, the Beeswax Vineyard in the Arroyo Seco region of Monterey County. Farmed biodynamically, surrounded by wilderness, and shielded from the cool Pacific Coast winds by the Santa Lucia Mountains, Beeswax Vineyard grows complex, concentrated and mineral intensive grapes from deeply rooted vines. The ‘11 vintage was a particularly cool growing season, allowing us to produce an intensely flavored wine at a relatively modest degree of alcohol; the ‘11 Cigare Blanc underwent a complete malolactic fermentation.Vital Statistics: Blend: 62% grenache blanc, 38% roussanne Vineyard: Beeswax Appellation: Arroyo Seco, Monterey County Serving Temp: 45-55ºF Alcohol by Volume: 12.5% TA: 6.3 g/L pH: 3.58 Cellaring: 2-5 years from release (March 2013) Production: 1,650 cases

Bonny Doon  LE CIGARE BLANC RESERVE 2010

Price: $54.00       Sale $47.52          Case $551

I have written in various places about the inspiration to age wine in demijohns/carboys/bonbonnes. Some of it has come from my fascination with oxidation/reduction chemistry, an aspect of wine art/science not well understood and its importance greatly unappreciated. Years ago, as a young pup I tasted wine from carboy with Dan Wheeler of Nicasio Cellars in his do-it-yourself-handdug cave in Soquel, and was astonished at how youthful were the wines, twenty plus years later, almost as if they had been placed in suspended animation. At about the same time, I also happened to taste the wines from Emidio Pepe in Abruzzo, who also aged his product in demijohns, likewise evincing extraordinary youthfulness and vitality.

We did some small encouraging experiments years ago, then more or less forgot about them until relatively recently, at which point we began the carboy ageing project with red Cigare. It wasn’t until ’09 that it dooned on me that perhaps there were even more interesting things to discover with the white. The ’10 Cigare Blanc Réserve, our second vintage of this wine, is absolutely amazing, an advance over the ’09. To refresh everyone’s memory, this wine is more or less the same blend as our standard issue Cigare Blanc, apart from the fact that we’ve allowed it to undergo malolactic fermentation, and at that point, we gave it a light SO2 addition, racked it to glass demijohn (bonbonne), where it reposed for a year and a half, getting anaerobically stirred more or less fortnightly.

The wine derives entirely from the Beeswax Vineyard, located at the mouth of the Arroyo Seco, and is farmed biodynamically and produced according to biodynamic specifications (very easy on the extraneous additions).

I’ve had the pleasure of tasting this wine over the last year, and what is most remarkable about it is that every time I taste it, it gets younger and younger! The wine was not filtered, and therefore is partly cloudy, though lately, it is curiously, getting brighter and brighter. The wine has a rich, unctuous texture, despite its modest (12ish%) alcohol, as well as possesses the most satisfying savoriness. In the nose, there is a wonderful suggestion of hazelnuts (hmm, white Burgundy, anyone?), as well as a beautiful fragrance of wintergreen and a wine-like pear. A great gastronomy wine, one that will perfectly suit rich, cream-based dishes.Vital Statistics: Blend: 56% roussanne, 44% grenache blanc (Certified Biodynamic®) Vineyard: Beeswax (Certified Biodynamic®) Appellation: Arroyo Seco Serving Temp: 50-55ºF Alcohol by Volume: 12.4% TA: 6.2 g/L pH: 3.62 Optimal drinkability: Drink now-2020 Production: 497 cases

 

Charcoutierie Course

Assorted artisan salamis and sausage with a bit of cheese and currant-cherry jam

Bonny Doon A PROPER CLARET 2012

Price: $19.50       Sale $17.16          Case $199

A blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Petit Verdot, 8% Tannat, 7% Syrah and 1% Petite Sirah from our good friend Randall Grahm, thus the screw cap enclosure. A good amount of currant and dark plum fruit with notes of sweet tobacco spice, clove and some earthy notes, nice complexity on the nose. A brawny claret with juicy currant berry fruit, plum and cherry with notes of tobacco spice, cigar box and some loamy earth notes as well, a jolly good example of claret. Finish 40+ Excellent

 

Pasta Course

Pappardelle pasta ribbons and shredded duck confit with button mushrooms  leeks, crumbled blue and mixed berry demi glace

Bonny Doon CLOS DE GILROY 2012

Price: $19.50       Sale $17.16          Case $199

For a long time I went to bed aïoli, clovèd in nothing but the barest essential oils. The Wine Formerly Known as Clos de Gilroy (TWFKaCdG) pays homage to the quaint, rustic town of Gilroy, the spiritual locus of all matters alliaceous. However, note well, the fruit for this wine does not, despite its name, derive from Gilroy (clos, but no Cigare), but instead from the Alta Loma vineyard in Greenfield (a particularly cool site for grenache) the gravelly Alamo Creek Vineyard near Santa Maria and some truly ancient mourvèdre vines in the sleepy Sacramento Delta town of Oakley, CA. Grenache is really the star of the show, and the wine exhibits all the hallmarks of exceptional coolth—bright raspberries, red fruit, a strong suggestion of white pepper, and a supple, lingering finish.

Tasting Notes:  The strawberry-rhubarbity of grenache is complemented by some discreet meatiness from the mourvèdre and syrah’s discreet herbal, mentholated calling card. Brilliant rubescent pink with a fuchsia rim, the wine is intensely aromatic, with notes of strawberry, raspberry, white pepper, and wild herbs. Supple and mediumbodied, the dominant flavors on the palate are of red fruits: strawberry, red currant, kirsch, and rhubarb. The ’12 vintage is perhaps slightly riper than Gilroy’s d’antan, but remains remarkably nimble on its feet. Fruity and spicy but fully dry, this wine is the perfect foil for all manner of grilled meat or vegetables, roasted poultry, the aïoli platter (naturellement), and anything prepared al fresco—especially when anointed with olive oil.

Vineyard | Production Notes:  Bonny Doon Vineyard’s winemaking practice is exceptionally light-handed, with minimal intervention and manipulation. We created the 2012 Clos de Gilroy from hand-harvested grapes deriving from three Central Coast Vineyards. The fruit was hand-sorted, gently de-stemmed, and cold soaked to enhance flavor and color extraction, and each lot was fermented separately. Extended maceration and fermentation took place under slow, cool conditions, and the lots were carefully blended to ensure a harmonious balance in the resultant wine.Vital Statistics Varietal Blend: 84% grenache (Alta Loma Vyd.), 11.5% syrah (Alamo Creek Vyd.), 4.5% mourvèdre (Del Barba Vyd.) Appellation: Central Coast Alcohol by Volume: 14.4% TA: 5.6 g/L pH: 3.65 Production: 1,444 cases Serving Temperature: 53-55º F Optimal Drinkability: Drink now - 2018

Bonny Doon CONTRA OLD VINE FIELD BLEND 2011

Price: $19.50       Sale $17.16          Case $199

Contra is a wine that reflects the opposite of modern winemaking sensibilities, meaning wines overworked and amped up, pushed and prodded into Procrustean palate-numbing sameness. À rebours, this wine is a contrarian blend of the most old-fangled grape variety, carignane, from several extremely old (100 year+), nongrafted, dry-farmed head-trained vineyards, located in Contra Costa County, and the puer aeternus syrah, young, vibrant, racy and peppery. Contra is a somewhat contradictory flashblack/forward to the straightforward, frank wines of yester- and future-year. A field blend that contravenes contraindicated convention, with aromas of cherries and licorice, flavorful cassis, blackberries, and silky tannins. A wine (hardly) contraindicated for gastronomy, it is above all, contrapuntal.

Tasting Notes:  The 2011 Contra marries the fresh blackberry and cranberry aromas of old vine carignane with the classic old vine mourvedre character of licorice and leather. This vintage provided a bright acidity with black cherry, blackberry, and a mix of spice on the palate. The silky tannins provide this wine with a texture to savor.

Winemaking Notes:  Dedicated to producing wines in a more unaffected, hands-off style, with a particular emphasis on the expression of terroir, or unique sense of place, Bonny Doon Vineyard fashioned the 2011 Contra from hand harvested grapes from the Central Coast — from the northernmost reaches of old vines from Contra Costa County’s Del Barba and Evangelho Vineyards, and its more Southern climes, Arroyo Seco's Ventana vineyard, San Luis Obispo's Alamo Creek vineyard, Monterey's Rancho Solo vineyard, and Santa Maria Valley’s famed Bien Nacido Vineyard. Hand sorted, indigenous yeast fermented in individual lots, extended maceration and 100% ML, before blending to achieve to a wine that is bursting with life, exuberance and deep vitality.Vital Statistics Varietal Blend: 56% carignane, 28% mourvèdre, 9% grenache, 6% syrah, 1% zinfandel Vineyards: 54% Del Barba, 34% Evangelho, 9% Ventana, 3% Alamo Creek, 2% Rancho Solo, 1% Bien Nacido Appellation: Contra Costa Alcohol by Volume: 13.5% TA: 6.0 g/L pH: 3.53 Production: 2,256 cases

 

Roasted meat

Herb and mixed peppercorn-crumb crusted roast rack of lamb Chimichurri rissole potatoes and eggplant

Bonny Doon SYRAH LE POUSSEUR 2011

Price: $27.00       Sale $23.76          Case $276

Tasting Notes:  We’ve been in a nice aromatic groove of late with Le Pousseur, largely in virtue of the string of very cool vintages, and sourcing our fruit exclusively from cool climate sites.  The ’12 Pousseur (who is to say why) is still in a Marlon Brando-like bit of a sullen funk, but there is no question that underneath that brooding exterior, there beats the heart of a Wild One.  The Alamo Creek component (possibly in virtue of its extremely gravelly soil) seems to add a strong mineral/earthy/bloody note, not utterly unreminiscent of Cornas. With more air, you begin to gradually discern the characteristic anise/licorice character that typifies Syrah.  On the palate, the wine has a refreshing acidity, tannins well-resolved and is remarkably savory with an exceptionally long finish. This wine is still amazingly young and will benefit from several years of ageing (if you can wait).  If you can’t wait, decanting is well advised.

Vineyard | Production Notes Dedicated to producing wines in a more unaffected, handsoff style, Bonny Doon Vineyard created the 2012 Syrah “Le Pousseur” from syrah sourced from four exceptional cool climate Central Coast growers in the Santa Maria area, known for exceptional quality and close care of their vineyards. The grapes from each vineyard were hand harvested, sorted, and fermented individually. The result is an elegant blend of concentrated black fruits, spice, and earth. For optimal enjoyment, we suggest a gentle decanting, allowing the wine to breathe.Vital Statistics Varietal Blend: 100% syrah Appellation: Central Coast Vineyards: 48% Alamo Creek, 18% Bien Nacido, 18% Spanish Springs, 16% Ventana Alcohol by Volume: 13.4% TA: 6.3 g/L pH: 3.7 Production: 2,126 cases

Bonny Doon SYRAH BIEN NACIDO VINEYARD BLOCK X 2009

Price: $43.50       Sale $38.28          Case $444

Bien Nacido in Santa Maria Valley is a very tony neighborhood, vitaceously speaking. It's my own personal (unproven) theory that the clone of Syrah planted in the X-block (the "Estrella River" clone) may in fact be identical to "Serine", the aromatic Syrah variant of Côte Rôtie. The rub is that Serine only really expresses its unique qualities when grown on very cool sites, which, of course, very accurately describes Bien Nacido.

An exceptionally cool and elegant vintage, this bottling shows off the typical smoked meat/bacon fat character that typifies Bien Nacido. In recent vintages, we've been including a more substantial percentage of whole cluster fruit in this wine, and the stem inclusion does add rather nicely to the structure of the wine and perhaps an enhanced degree of herbal spiciness. Very peppery and minty, with excellent fresh acidity (another trademark of Bien Nacido Syrah), rich dark fruit, and moderate but firm tannins. Immense savoriness (somewhat of a Bonny Doon signifier), with an exotic herbal element, that rather subjectively reminds me a bit of chimichurri. This wine calls out (bleats?) for roasted lamb.

Note Well: The wine is exceptionally locked up (closed for business) for several minutes after opening, and will benefit enormously from decanting or even just sitting a half hour in a large glass; this is a great portent of the wine’s great aging potential. A most successful vintage for Bien Nacido Syrah.Vital Statistics Blend: 100% syrah Vineyard: Bien Nacido Appellation: Santa Maria Valley Alcohol by Volume: 13.3% Serving Temp: 55-60ºF TA: 5.7 g/L pH: 3.80 Cellaring: 20+ years from release (Nov. 2012) Production: 843 cases

 

Dinner Course

Grill braised short rib of beef over wild mushroom polenta truffle oil and shaved Reggiano

2009 Bonny Doon Vineyard Le Cigare Volant

Price $43.50        Sale $37.32          Case $444

This is Randall Grahms flagship wine, it is a blend of 36% Syrah, 25% Grenache, 20% Mourvedre and 19% Cinsault .  This wine has a bit of that rustic quality of a Chateauneuf , dried flowers and herbs with fresh berry pie like fruit with notes of exotic, incense spices, nice complexity. Wow, an array of exotic spices, fresh floral notes and sweet herbs on the finish with a wonderful balance of fruit, zesty acidity and fine tannins very long nuanced finish, this wine is refined, elegant and complex at the same time. Finish 45+ Most Excellent

2009 Bonny Doon Vineyard Le Cigare Volant Reserve

Price: $97.50       Sale $85.80          CaSe $995

Winemaking, like life, is a bit of a dream. One imagined (some years ago) that one might produce a sort of hommage to Châneauneuf-du-Pape, a Rhônish-style blend in California, and somehow, miraculously, the wine materialized in this terrestrial sphere; it has been, in balance, a more or less viable, ongoing proposition. Over the years, I’ve had my ups and doons with the southern Rhône’s most well known appellation. In general, I’ve not been so crazy about its escalating levels of over-extraction and ripeness, seemingly in commercial call and response to its most avid Marylandian partisan. With the exception of the redoubtable Château Rayas, I find that I can, at this juncture, largely take or leave C-du-P. But, possibly more to the point, I’ve come to realize that everything in my winemaking world has really been a displacement of my deep, secret desire to produce pinot noir, or more accurately, red Burgundy.

The idea of “raising” the wine in glass demijohns was also a bit of a fever dream, occasioned in part by the many hours I spent in deep contemplation of the mysteries of redox chemistry; there was something dream-like (à la Carlos Castaneda and Don Juan) about the many hours driving around southern France with Patrick Ducournau, deep thinker about oxygen and wine (and inventor of microbullage, or micro-oxygenation). I’ve already written quite a bit about the nature of the esoteric élevage en bonbonne—bâtonage magnetique, etc., the opportunity for the wine to digest a substantial volume of yeast lees, and the extraordinary texture and savoriness this protocol engenders.

The ’09 Cigare Volant Réserve is, to my palate, the most elegant and complete Cigare we have produced to date; it is literally a dream, and dare I say, a very strange synthesis of the sensibilities of southern Rhône and Burgundy. It also contravenes one of the cardinal dicta I’ve established with respect to the style of the wine—that it predominantly be composed of grenache (or alternately, mourvèdre), but never, ever, syrah. (Syrah is or certainly can be, the loud-mouthed drunk at the party, whose presence, i.e. varietal character, is just so ubiquitous, it just takes over the whole show. Cigare Volant should really be an ensemble performance with grenache - humbly and respectfully - leading the quartet.)But this is not an ordinary wine, and all bets are off. What is most noteworthy about the wine is its amazing silky texture, savoriness and infinite length. One finds many of the flavor elements typically associated with Cigare, most dominantly that of Montmorency cherry, but there is also a wonderful suggestion of sarsaparilla, licorice, juniper and menthol, and of course the wonderful earthy notes of truffle. But it is (I believe) the extraordinary contribution of the lees as liaison, acting as the perfect host or hostess at a cocktail party, keeping all of the elements in graceful play.Vital Statistics: Blend: 30% syrah, 28% grenache, 22% mourvèdre, 20% cinsault Appellation: Central Coast Serving Temp: 58º F Alcohol by Volume: 13.4% TA: 6.0 g/L pH: 3.67 Cellaring: Drinkable upon release (September 2013), 10-15 years ageability Production: 465 cases

 

Dessert

Chocolate hazel nut fudge bar and banana caramel sauce

 

The price for this dinner is $115 + Tax + Gratuity, for reservations call 954-782-0606.

 

A bit about Bonny Doon Winery:

Randall Grahm is a curious sight with dark, unkempt, shoulder length, curly hair.  He has been labeled weird, genius, a spoiled brat, innovator, press hog, and a poor little rich kid.  His neighbors have complained about his wild parties and stymied his efforts at expansion.  Yet, in a very short time, Randall Grahm, founder, proprietor, and winemaker, of Bonny Doon Vineyard in California's Santa Cruz Mountains became a legend, a cult figure, and the enfant terrible of the California wine business.  He dared to defy all conventional means of marketing wines with outrageously humorous labels, and he dared to stake his future on his cockeyed theory that a world obsessed with Chardonnay and Cabernet would also one day be mad about unheard of wines like Roussanne and Mourvèdre.  He passionately believed - when all others thought him a humorous buffoon - that winelovers would open their hearts, minds, and palates to obscure Rhône varietals like Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne, Grenache, Mourvèdre, and Syrah.  Bonny Doon's smashing success and Randall Grahm's novel flair for marketing have given him influence far in excess of what his small 30,000 case production should warrant.  He has succeeded beyond his wildest imagination (which is the wildest in California), his peers have given him credit for popularizing wines that were formerly appreciated only as cult wines, and nobody today denies that Bonny Doon makes some of California's best and definitely some of California's most interesting wines.

Randall Grahm was drawn to California wine and the Santa Cruz Mountains by a phenomenal 1975 Pinot Noir from Ken Burnap's Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards.  Grahm had been kicking around for years as a "professional student" at institutions of higher learning like UCLA, MIT, and UCSC, where he even took literature courses and studied pre-med.  In 1980 he got the backing of his father to buy a fifty acre parcel about two miles from the Pacific Ocean and seventy-five miles south of San Francisco, and there he began an ambitious planting of his vineyards to some obscure Rhône varietals.  In the years after that Pinot Noir, he discovered the majesty of a great Rhône in the form of a 1971 Château Rayas and a 1978 Château de Beaucastel - both Châteauneuf-du-Papes.  Rayas and Beaucastel are blends of numerous Rhône grapes and are considered the greatest and longest-lived wines of the district.  Grahm reasoned that the warm conditions which prevailed in the Southern Rhône more closely paralleled those of California than did the conditions in Champagne, Burgundy, and Bordeaux.  Yet, for a hundred years, conventional wisdom had it that chardonnay, cabernet, and pinot noir - not Rhône varieties - were the vines to plant in California's Rhônish climate.

Pinot noir didn't last long with Bonny Doon (the winery even experimented with importing grapes from 700 miles away in Oregon from Bethel Heights Winery) - the last vintage was 1985.  From that point forward, Grahm sunk all of his energies into Rhône varietals. In 1990 he grafted over the chardonnay vines on his estate to Roussanne and Marsanne - the white grapes for Hermitage Blanc. Fortunately, a wine from Mas de Daumas Gassac in the Provence district of France, which was a blend of chardonnay, marsanne, and roussanne, persuaded him that he should keep some of the vines for future experimentation.  Grahm, who once went around preaching to everybody to 'just say no to Chardonnay" produced his last estate Chardonnay in 1990.  To some (us included) it was an unwise move to tear up this vineyard, for the property yielded impossibly small amounts of wine - approximately 3/4 tons per acre - and it delivered one of the best Chardonnays made in California!  Grahm also produced about 2000 cases of a rather austere Chardonnay with fruit purchased from La Reina Vineyard in Monterey; 1990 was the last vintage for that wine also.

Grahm's bread and butter wine, amounting to about half of his total production, is a very dry Rosé called Vin Gris de Cigare (Grahm calls it a "thinking person's rosé"). Bonny Doon also produces a red blend table wine known as Grahm Cru Vin Rouge, a 100% Mourvèdre known as Old Telegram, and a red Grenache called Clos de Gilroy. Grahm makes a few barrels of a delicious, honeyed Viognier and a hauntingly complex blend of roussanne and marsanne known as Le Sophiste.  Bonny Doon's flagship wine and the wine that really put the winery on the map is Le Cigare Volant.  The name was the result of Grahm's fascination with the mind set of the city fathers of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, after which he patterned the wine.  It seems that a law was passed in 1954 to forbid flying saucers (cigare volants) from landing and scaring the wits out of the local citizenry - the Bonny Doon label and name became a spoof on that ordinance.  The first Le Cigare Volant was produced in 1984 and was a smashing success - it was primarily a blend of Grenache and Mourvèdre.  In 1987, more Mourvèdre was added; and it resulted in an outstanding blend that just oozed with viscous black raspberry fruit.  We were so taken with this wine that we named it "Best Rhône varietal of 1990" in The Wine News.  More recent vintages of Le Cigare have been just as good.

At the beginning of the 1990's Bonny Doon continued to expand into other possibilities with varietals that caught Grahm's fancy. One such wine was Le Gaucher (first introduced in 1991) that is an unusual blend of Barbera and Mourvèdre.  The winery's most successful new offering has been its Pacific Rim Riesling.  Grahm describes this wine as an example of "our ongoing compact with Ugly Duckling varieties."  Grahm seems to have his finger right on the pulse of the American winedrinker on this wine - it has been enormously successful in new-style American restaurants, where its exquisitely crisp, spicy, floral flavors perfectly complement piquant Asian or "fusion" cuisine.  Grahm soon recognized that his small vineyard could not possibly produce enough wine to meet the exploding demand for Bonny Doon, so in 1988 he acquired an 80 acre parcel (30 of it plantable) about two miles from his original winery.  Then he acquired a 160 acre parcel in Monterey, where he has begun experiments with a multitude of Italian grape varieties.  The first of these wines appeared in the early 1990's under the Ca' del Solo name, described by Grahm as an "imaginary kingdom located somewhere near the Soledad - Piemonte border, whose inhabitants speak a grammatically unique dialect." The Ca'del Solo lineup currently features the following wines: Malvasia Bianca (a dry, aromatic white); Il Pescatore (a dry, barrel-fermented Friuli-style blend); a Barbera; a rustic blend of Rhône and Italian varietals called Big House Red; a provocative blend of Tuscan varietals called Il Fiasco; and a low alcohol, slightly sparkling wine called Moscato del Solo.  Ca' del Solo is a work in progress; and according to Grahm, we can expect in the coming years "a proliferation of eclectic Italian varietals" under the Ca' del Solo name.  As if this mind-boggling array of wines were not enough to dazzle even the most avid of winelovers, Bonny Doon now produces a number of distilled spirits including a marc brandy, a grappa, a eaux-de-vie from pear orchards nearby the winery, and various fruit-flavored brandies.  With his incredibly diverse palette of offerings, it is no wonder that one writer said of Grahm: "he is to wine what Van Gogh was to painting."

 

Fast Forward to Donn 2014:

Excerpt from Been Doon So LongDoon to Earth | page 260

In 2009, two years after the sale of Big House and Cardinal Zin brands, there is still considerable confusion about what precisely has been sold and exactly who or what constitutes Bonny Doon in its current incarnation.  Most disturbingly, it now appears to be karmic payback time after my years of pushing the envelope, marketing- and promotion-wise.  The wines we are now producing are much better and more “serious” – if by that we mean as winegrowers we are more focused and attentive – but I fear my reputation as a jocular marketeer may forever-doom (or doon) my chances of the world ever taking the wines themselves seriously.1  Our distributor in New York somewhat facetiously suggested that I consider taking out an advertisement in the Wine Spectator to dispel the confusion within the industry about the company, with the ancillary benefit of improving diplomatic relations with the Spectator.  I was nervous about taking out the ad for a number of reasons – it was quite dear for a winery our size, seemed to be advertising was that you were in trouble.

DoontoEarthThe piece was revised numerous times.  When I first wrote it, I attempted to channel the spirit of Robert Crumb (in the vague and unrealistic hope that I might persuade him to draw the strip).  The early versions were perhaps a bit too raw, self-deprecating, and self-revelatory.2  Maybe a little too self-consciously, I ended up toning it down more than I should have.  I had tried to make the case that many company was really all about transparency, and it seemed that a little brutal honesty would likely be well appreciated.  Or not.

Crumb was, not surprisingly, unavailable, but we were fortunate to find a wonderful cartoonist in Ed Piskor.  Ed was infinitely patient with my unending requests for revisions, and in the end of the strip, shown in the following spread, turned out great, with a lot of fine detail.  The strip ran, and the Wine Spectator loved it.  We turned it into a lovely poster, and many customers called us to obtain a copy.  But it did not seem to drive sales a whit, one very important metric of how one’s brand is valued.  Maybe there is more karma to be worked out.  Alternative explanation: people are now too absorbed in their own problems to pay much attention to almost anything that does not hit them squarely over the head.  (FALL 2008)