Santa Cruz...known for its beach, but has great wine too!
Focusing more on Rhone grape varieties
and purposefully eschewing the usual California grapes of Cabernet Sauvignon
and Chardonnay, Bonny Doon’s wines are unique in many ways. Graham lists the actual ingredients of his
wines on the back labels of the bottles, making him a pioneer in this
practice. This ingredients list is
generally quite short, due, in part, to the Biodynamic and organic growing
processes of the grapes he sources. Doon’t
be fooled, however; though Graham is a bit of an “eccentric” and this shows up
in his wines, he produces some amazing, one-of-a-kind juice.
Syrah: The 2010 Jespersen Syrah is a special treat with
smooth, balanced tannin and acid, alongside green pepper and mixed dark
fruit. The surprise of the day was the
2011 Sparkling Syrah. This refreshing
wine is the perfect summer wine for red wine lovers. This bottle has all the characteristics of a
quality Syrah, with the fun of bubbles.
Serve slightly chilled and this checks all the boxes of a summertime
red wine.
Blends: The Rhone Valley influence really shows up in
Bonny Doon’s old-world inspired blends.
But these aren’t stuffy or old-fashioned bottles. These are California cool blends—cool because
of the quality of the vino and the backstory of the name. (Look up the meaning, but it deals with the
French and UFOs…the makings of a great wine title!) The 2009 Le Cigar Volant Normale and 2008 Le Cigar
Volant Reserve start with Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, and Cinsault (and sometimes
Carignane) grapes. The Normale is smooth
with baked cherries on the palate, while the Reserve’s smoothness is tempered
with more fig and over-ripe plum from being aged additional time on the lees. Both would be age-worthy, with the Reserve
cellaring well over fifteen years…even with the screw cap closures of which
Graham promotes the use.
The tasting line up.
The bottles.
Doon’t believe for a minute that the
only places to taste great wines in California are in Napa and Sonoma. I’m definitely not saying these wine regions
aren’t stellar…because they are!
(Upcoming blogs of me practically squealing like a 1960s teenager seeing
the Beatles while I was in Sonoma will be published soon.) My point is that there are so many tremendous
wineries all over northern California, Doon’t focus only on Napa or
Sonoma: look to small producers, look at
different regions, look for different varietals. Doon’t miss out on a special stop that might
be slightly off the beaten path. You won’t
be sorry!