1999 Bonny Doon Vineyard Le Cigare Volant

Community Tasting Notes (12) Avg Score: 89.5 points

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  4/8/2022 - Dancing with bottles Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Perfect filling and condition. Needs a lot auf aeration. Good grip, pretty long, nice acid and balance, red fruits. Very good and much better than expected.
  I met Randall Grahm, the winemaker, 1997 in Western Australia. A very intelligent guy with a wonderful sense of ironic humour.
  Drink now. Some bottles will last some more years.

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  3/1/2014 - oldcorke Likes this wine: 90 Points

  Bottles of the '99 Cigare Volant, now in it's 14th year, may have experienced many differing standards of care. Ours was fabulous, and completely delivers on the Rhone Ranger's proposal. Aromatically it presents the mature complexity that could be mistaken for an elegant Burgundy, or an older northern Rhone.... tho lacking anything similar to cured meats or bacon. And interesting melange of thyme, roasted meat, anise, and menthol... maybe from the eucalyptus thereabouts.... it completely emulates the profile of an older Chateauneuf (modulo producer). Relatively abundant acid is modulated with vibrant black cherry/berry fruit that might seem too slight without a proper lean (sirloin) steak, or tartare... or venison. Respectable tannic structure, not overpowering, served well with substantial grilled food. Per my rating method... fruit 2.8/4 vibrant but perhaps only 2-4 years left, acid 3/4 may seem overly abundant without proper food, oak- not evident, tannin 3.5/4 properly in relation to fruit, density/persistence 2.8/4 on the more elegant side.... overall 2.7/4 or about a "90-91" in my book. (note... these are not arithmetic scores for those out there reaching for calculators....)

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  2/25/2011 - fullpour wrote:

  My first thought was that this was some kind of mataro bomb: rich, meaty, smoky, with coffee and roasted notes... and also too old at this point to really be drinkable, alas. The fruit seems to still be there, but all of that turn of the century microoxygenation and wacky tannin management appear to have left it without a supporting framework. Bummer, dude.

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  3/13/2010 - pheck Likes this wine: 89 Points

  And again, I was surprised by the fact, that this wine is still enjoyable after all those years. I have to admit, that the wine was better some years ago when I tasted him the last time, but nevertheless the smell of black fruits, coffee notes and dark chocolate shows a smile on my face!

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  3/30/2009 - chj wrote: 85 Points

  Had this in a vertical tasting '99-'03 was not as good as the rest, the '02 stood out as superior. Paired nicely with gilled lamp, stuffed grape leaves and such.

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