Bonny Doon Cigare Volant -- A shift in the wine landscape, and a final opportunity.
Nicole diGiorgio - sweetnessandlightphoto.com
It's not an exaggeration to say that Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyards is a major reason why I have spent so much of my life in wine. When I was an impressionable young lad, I encountered first the wines, and then the (mad)man, and was completely seduced. Bonny Doon was an exhilarating counter to the stuffiness of the traditional wine business, and the wines were both exciting and exotic. Nowadays, the idea of a California Grenache or Syrah is commonplace, but in the mid-80s, the idea that you might make a serious wine (with a serious price) out of these grapes was incredibly risky. If you were foolish enough to put an insouciant label on it, and call it something too-clever-by-half, well you might as well hang up your vintner's cap. Randall Graham did all this and more. He wrote newsletters about wine filled with dizzying verbosity. He championed obscure foreign grapes and American terroir.
He rankled Robert Parker and didn't care!
The flagship wine of Bonny Doon Vineyards since 1984 has always been Le Cigare Volant Red.
This wine began as a tribute to Chateauneuf du Pâpe, and takes it's name from a village ordinance passed in 1954 by the concerned citizens of Chateauneuf-du-pâpe, France, prohibiting flying saucers (flying cigars) from landing in the esteemed local vineyards. The wine has evolved subtly over the last 30-plus years, but has always been a complex and important blend that was far ahead of its time for Californian wine.
And now Randall is going to stop making it.
What?!?!
Well, sort of.
I leave it to him to explain the shift. Beware, he loves footnotes!
The important information is that there is one last chance to buy this wine before it transforms into something completely different.
Our store has had a many-decade relationship with Bonny Doon and with their East Coast distributors, so we are able to offer you some of the
Very last vintages of Le Cigare Volant.
Ever.
If you want to get a case to lay down to delay the demise of the Cigare, I'd recommend getting the 2012. But I also highly recommend getting a vertical (2008 is in VERY short supply) to see how a master winemaker responds to the pressures and opportunities of different vintages.
-TM
Here are the vintages on offer.
ALL bottles will cost $52.99, regardless of vintage.
Normal 1/2 case (10% off) and full case (15% off) discounts apply.
2008 Le Cigare Volant
"Sleek and engaging, with ripe, supple, polished cherry, currant and dried berry flavors that glide across the palate, ending with gravel and spice box. Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsault and Carignane. Drink now through 2021."
Wine Spectator
2010 Le Cigare Volant
"In this vintage Grahm leans heavily on Cinsault (17 percent), Mourvedre (17 percent) and Carignane (16 percent), more so than you would find in Chateauneuf, although Syrah (28 percent) and Grenache (22 percent) have the leading roles. If it’s not a masterpiece of the blender’s art, it’s close. This vintage is complex, with layered fruit aromas, and beautifully structured, built as it were to improve over time. There is a cool-climate note to this wine, with peppery notes that lend pizzazz. Impressive now (2016), but likely dazzling in three to five years. It has every right to improve."
Wine Review Online
2011 Le Cigare Volant
"Blend of 37% Mourvedre, 34% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 9% Cinsault offers intriguing asphalt, black pepper, boysenberry, and a tiny bit of barnyard funk on the nose. It's dark and brooding, with flavors of black pepper, leather, and black fruits on the palate, light and lean in texture, with a solid amount of tannic grip."
Wine Enthusiast.
2012 Le Cigare Volant
"39% Mourvèdre, 33% Grenache, 26% Syrah, 2% Cinsault
Production: 4,000 cases
Dark saturated color, with a very rich savory mouthfeel and a preternaturally long finish. Despite the fact that this wine is composed of scantly more than a third Mourvedre, the strong herbal/garrigue/beef bouillon cube character of the Provençal variety is rather pronounced. Not just red and black fruit, but there are stems and leaves of the red/black fruit as well. This likely makes no sense to the rational mind, but one is struck equally by both the rusticity and elegance of this wine—it is if the refined Burgundian Clement had a rustic cousin, Clem in Provence. I’m not certain why this wine is so appealing, even comforting, but perhaps it is the soft, enveloping tannins and the extraordinarily long finish; a wine to be consumed by a roaring fire. There is no more appropriate wine currently produced on the planet than this one to complement a beef daube."
Randall Grahm
Don't delay! There are only a few cases of these wines in the state!