Simple Hedonisms

Archive for the ‘Events’ Category

It’s fitting with today commencing the Weekend Celebration of American Rhones, in San Francisco, to celebrate this amazing, unique release of Cigare Blanc, the flagship Rhone white  blend from Bonny Doon Vineyards.

It’s creator, Randall Grahm, tonight at a very special ceremony will be awarded the first ever Rhone Rangers lifetime achievement award. As I wrote in For The Love of Rhône: Randall Grahm Lifetime Achievement Award; A Rhône Weekend in SF  the American Rhone winemakers and consumers owe Randall this, and much more.

The Re-Emergence of The Original Rhone Ranger, Pioneer’s Vision

In his spot-on keynote speech at the Wine Bloggers Conference in Portland, (video or transcript )  Randall gently chided the wine industry, for being a victim of its own success, almost ‘selling out’ and lamenting the world of unique wines, that had some risk to making them.

‘Modern winemakers live in an era of tragic self-consciousness about the economic consequences of their winemaking decisions, utterly aware of the peril of somehow falling outside of the stylistic parameters of accepted wine styles.’

On a macro level this is sadly true. Wines, especially whites, are made risk free, manipulated, and churned out by the container load for mass market.  “Flash Detente’ – seriously? I’ll go return to my beer brewing roots before I ever cross this line. Every article I read on it gives me hives – where does this end?

But there is a burgeoning new movement, a tiny but growing population of bold winemakers who return to the risk taking Randall laments, making wines of unique varieties, vinification, climates and more. (Teaser, also watch for notice for a special tasting of a gang of 13 of these upstarts in Healdsburg in May.)

These vintners of passion often selling their crafts for a modest price, keeping the approachable.  Sommeliers are loving this re-birth. Some old school journalists have no clue what to do with it – why not keep just writing about Cabernet & Zinfandel. Other visionaries like Jon Bonné of the Chronicle embrace  and support the change, and even has a book coming out. (You can pre-order now, I did.)

Leading By Example and Creativity – Winemaking With Risk (Equals Reward.)

Randall leads the path again (one that I follow, inspired, with my own  Rhone project.) His special 2010 Cigare Blanc Reserve and 2008 Cigare Volante are aged ‘en bonbonne’ - glass carboys, protected from light and air, and stirred….magnetically.  As only Randall could do.

Why? Randall was inspired by wines of Dan Wheeler tasted from carboy, and astonished by how fresh the wines were, 20 years later, followed by a similar experience with Emidio Pepe.

At the Wine Bloggers Conference, Randall held a special semi private tasting of some of his wines, including the 2010 Cigare Blanc reserve & 2008 Cigare Volant Reserve ‘en bonbonne’. The gift was lost on some, but it was a special experience to taste these the normal and en bonbonne’ side by side. There was a clear, textural and flavor difference.

It inspired me to taste them both again later several times, where I could focus without Rex Pickett of Sideways making drinking from dump bucket jokes to impress a nearby female. Not a problem as I am a DOON Club member, and regularly order, and have, including a re-order of this wine.

Review: Bonny Doon Vineyard 2010 Cigare Blanc Reserve en bonbonne

A certified biodynamic blend of 56% Grenache Blanc and 44% Rousanne. (You had me at Grenache Blanc.) As Randall’s own tasting notes concur, it continues to improve in bottle, and was changed, even more favorably from last fall. 

The 2010 vintage  was allowed to go through secondary malo-lactic (a personal preference for me, as I think many white wines, with sufficient acidity, should do to enhance mouth feel and complexity.)

• To The Eye: Slightly cloudy, but clearer than previous tastings.  Its turbidity makes me  love it even more. It’s about time the consumer world understood a tad of turbidity in whites might make it better. I will follow with less trepidation.

• 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.  The front palate starts off bright and fresh, the mid palate shows the wondrous texture, mouth feel  ripe pear, yellow peach, citrus.  The finish is of ripe Meyer lemon, lingering pleasant acidity.

I have yet to figure out how Bonny Doon makes these so wonderful in flavor and low in alcohol, as Roussanne and Grenache Blanc both require proper ripening, ever for my acid addicted palate. Bravo.

A wine that while wonderful solo, would be heavenly with rich seafood, creamy pasta, or roasted chicken.

• Recommendation: This is one to buy a case and drink 1-2 bottles a year. Buy online while you can.

94 points. Yes its pricier than every day wine. Life is short, live a little.

Related Articles

Drink 2013: Small Batch is the Second Coming of Local Wine SF Weekly

Pssst – Syrah Isn’t Dead: Tasting Notes: 2009 Bonny Doon ‘Les Pousseur’ Syrah

Winery of the Month: Highlights of Bonny Doon Vineyard’s ‘Day of the Doon’ at San Juan Bautista ‘Popelouchum’ Vineyard

Wine of the Week – Bonny Doon Vineyard Vin Gris De Cigare, Rosé

Winemakers Notes & Geeky Stuff

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

This Saturday (tomorrow!) is the  2nd Annual Micro-Winery Collective Open House at Inspiration Custom Crush in Santa Rosa.

Inspiration Custom Crush is located at Inspiration Vineyards & Winery, and is a second business managed by Jon Philips, where very small and/or new wineries can share facilities and knowledge to make their wine.

The Superbowl is the next day, so this is also excellent opportunity to stock up on adult beverages for your Superbowl party.

Try & Buy Wines You Normally Can’t

With the exception of Inspiration Vineyards, these wineries don’t have public tasting rooms. This is a special opportunity for you to TRY & BUY wines from seven uniquely different wineries, each with their own winemaker present to tell you their story and introduce you to their wines. Experience the small lot, artisanal wines from:

• Colagrossi Wines
• Desmond Wines
• Inspiration Vineyards
• Little Red Vineyard
• Orpheus Wines
• Premonition Cellars
• Wesley Ashley Wines

Food Pairings & Offers

Just in time for Valentine’s day, Sonja Schluter, owner and chocolatier of Eye Candy, sampling and selling her artisanal chocolates.  In addition,  two local cheese makers will be offering samples of their delicious artisanal cheeses.

No wine event is complete at without a food truck! David from FishOn will be here featuring the regular menu that includes his famous fish & chips, plus he’ll also have some fan favorites like his pulled pork sandwiches.

Your Ticket Includes $10 Wine Credit!

Upon check-in at the door, you’ll receive $10 back in wine bucks, redeemable on the day of the event at ALL seven wineries.  Tickets are $20 at the door, or buy today and save $5  – either thats a price of $5-10 to taste from SEVEN wineries

– beat that bargain for Saturday entertainment!

Details:

• When: Saturday, February 2^nd from 11am till 5pm
• Where: 3360 Coffey Lane – Suite E, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
• Cost: $20 at the door – SAVE $5 by registering online, using promo code: promoiv 
• Register: please visit  http://www.localwineevents.com/events/detail/458091

Visit Other Wineries Without Leaving the Parking Lot!

Still ‘thirsty’ after tasting – the business park has other wineries including Vinoteca, a collective tasting room for multiple wineries; famed Zin maker Carol Shelton; the geeky NPA & Salinia, and high end, appointment only Donelan Wines.

Or visit other nearby wineries on the Santa Rosa Wine Trail!

Have a great wine weekend – cheers!

The Members of The Santa Rosa Wine Trail  are hosting a special holiday tasting weekend on Saturday, December 8 and Sunday, December 9 from 11 am to 4 pm each day. The wine trail is a collecti

on of urban wineries and tasting rooms, restaurants, and a hotel, all located within a a close radius, and a few minutes of downtown Santa Rosa.

Guests will enjoy food trucks, live music, and exclusive tours and buy cialis online activities at ten wineries. Each guest will receive a special “passport” for the weekend. Passports with stamps from each location will be entered for a drawing to win prizes including a case of wine for only one cent!