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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Drinking window: Drink between 2013 and 2019 (based on 16 user opinions) |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 92.3 pts. and median of 92 pts. in 16 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by cmmatthews on 3/7/2021 & rated 91 points: Just so good. Wish I had more. Shame the winery sold out. (665 views) | | | Tasted by 560 B&W on 2/6/2015 & rated 90 points: Yummy but not my preferred flavor profile. 12.4% (1895 views) | | | Tasted by yofog on 3/16/2014 & rated 92 points: Fuller color than the regular bottling, this is super linear on the palate, with grapefruit/lemon-pith flavors, earthiness, and a kind of cidery quality, not quite like orange wine, but vaguely reminiscent. (2233 views) | | | Tasted by Gestalted on 12/29/2013 & rated 92 points: Not being a fan of Bonny Doon wines, this wine floored me. Reminds me of the famous Booker White from Paso. It's beautiful cloudy, almost olive oil colored. Nose isn't terribly complex, white wine, lemon oil and quinine aromas. Mouthfeel is really great, thick and mouthcoating. Finish is remarkble with lemon oil, lemon custard, some nuttiness and a touch of acidity that makes it mouthwatering and juicy.
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Consumed at at cellar temp: 60°-65° F. Friends don't let friends drink red wine at room temp! (2415 views) | | | Tasted by alex.lewis on 12/9/2013 & rated 92 points: outstanding white for the red wine lover. Great balance, full body. Marilyn Monroe in a bottle. (2386 views) | | | Tasted by SonomaWilliam on 7/16/2013 & rated 94 points: Consistent with previous notes on 3/19 below. This wonderful, slightly cloudy blend of Roussanne & Grenache Blanc is stunning.
Only Randall has the cajones to age wine in 5 gallon glass carboys or BonBonne, stirred by magnets.
I am hoarding the rest of my stash for 3+ years! (2278 views) | | | Tasted by SonomaWilliam on 3/19/2013 & rated 94 points: I have had the good fortune to try this wine several times, first at the Wine Blogger Conf in Portland last August.
As Randall's tasting notes concur, it continues to improve.
This is another of those projects only Randall would do - elevage (aging) is 'en bonbonne' aka glass carboys.
Inspired by wines he tasted decades ago and their freshness 20 years later.
A certified biodynamic blend of 56% Grenache Blanc and 44% Rousanne. (You had me at hello.)
The 2010 was allowed to go through secondary malo-lactic (a personal pref I think many white wines, with sufficient acidity, should do.)
To The Eye: Slightly cloudy, but clearer than previous tastings. For which I love it even more. Its about time the world understood a tad of turbidity in whites might make it better. I will follow.
On The Nose: wondrous nose of yellow pear, stone fruits, hints of white grapefruit and hazelnut.
On The Palate: Amazing. Lush, but in a restrained way. Textural and 'grown up' but with a vibrant acid backbone that lingers beneath in balance.
Front palate starts off bright and fresh, the mid palate shows the wonderous texture, mouthfeel; ripe pear, yellow peach, citrus.
The finish is of ripe meyer lemon, lingering pleasant acidity.
I have yet to figure out how BDV makes these so wonderful in flavor and low in alc. Bravo.
A wine that while wonderful solo, would be heavenly with rich seafood, creamy pasta, or roasted chicken.
This is one to buy a case and drink 1-2 bottles a year. Buy online while you can:
http://shop.bonnydoonvineyard.com/storefront.aspx (1412 views) |
| By Josh Raynolds
Vinous, November/December 2013, IWC Issue #171
(Bonny Doon Vineyard Le Cigare Blanc Reserve En Bonbonne Arroyo Seco) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Vinous. (manage subscription channels) |
| Bonny Doon Vineyard Producer website
Bonny Doon was sold in early 2020 to "WarRoom", a wine production and marketing entity formed in 2018. Per a January 2020 Decanter article - https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/californias-bonny-doon-sold-430550/ - "Graham will retain creative control of Bonny Doon’s wines, but production will change from 35,000 cases of 15 different wines annually to just four wines: the flagship red Rhône blend Le Cigare Volant; Le Cigare Blanc (based on Vermentino); Vin Gris de Cigare (a Rhône varietal rosé); and a 100% Picpoul."2010 Bonny Doon Vineyard Le Cigare Blanc Reserve En BonbonneFrom the winery:
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-hand-dug 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 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 Reserve, 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, 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 Biodymaic)
Production: 498 cases
TA: 6.2 g/L
pH: 3.62
Appelation: Arroyo Seco
ABV: 12.4%
Serving Temperature: 50-55 degrees F
Optimal drinkability: Now-2000
White Rhone BlendA white wine containing two or more Rhône varieties, including: Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne, Clairette, Grenache Blanc and Bourboulenc. USAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Central Coasthttp://www.ccwinegrowers.org/links.html
http://www.discovercaliforniawines.com/regional-wine-organizations/
http://beveragetradenetwork.com/en/btn-academy/list-of-winegrowers-association-in-central-coast-california-274.htm
Central Coast AVA Wikipedia |
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