Randall Grahm’s Greatest Adventure

Wednesday December 9, 2009
Dinner, wine tasting, book party and chat

Tasting: 2007 Le Cigare Volant (puncheon), ‘07 Cigare (upright), ‘08 Cigare Volant (normale), ‘08 Cigare Volant (glass carboy).

Dinner: 2008 Ca’ del Solo Albariño, ‘04 Le Cigare Blanc, ‘01, ‘03, ‘05 Le Cigare Volant, Large format bottle of Cigare (older vintage), ‘07 Le Vol des Anges

Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyard is currently all over the national wine press after the recent release of his book, “Been Doon So Long: A Randall Grahm Vinthology,” (University of California Press).  Randall is variously described as a genius, wine’s bad boy, compulsive punster, dreamer, provocateur and the Willy Wonka of the wine world.  We find him also to be generous, endlessly interesting, totally original and a good friend.  And, while he has already accomplished great things in his life, he is now beginning his greatest adventure.

Having learned many lessons in the wine world, Randall has come to believe that the most important pursuit for a winemaker is to make a wine that truly represents a sense of place.  The French use the word “terroir” to describe the unique qualities of a wine that derive from this sense of place.  While Randall freely acknowledges that his wines are not yet vins de terroir (for one thing, they are often blends from multiple terroirs), he feels that the wines he is currently producing are deeply imbued with a vitality or life-force.  He is deeply committed to the discovery of terroir in the wines that he is yet to produce*.

We will be following Randall as he talks about his great adventure – the highly complex history of his company, Bonny Doon Vineyard, his personal journey to attempt to become more congruent with his deepest ideals (soaring music here), his discovery of biodynamic farming practices, his commitment to the demystification of winemaking and to transparent business practices, particularly in the realm of ingredient labeling.  More to the point, he is an entertaining and generally very humorous person.

On Wednesday, December 9th, we’ll celebrate the publication of his book with a special dinner prepared by Chef Canales paired with Bonny Doon wines, including some older vintages.   We’ll hear about the preparations for his adventure, and wish him well.

Dinner, wines and your own copy of “Been Doon So Long: A Randall Grahm Vinthology,”(an excellent Xmas gift)–$125.00 plus tax and gratuity. 7:00PM

Pre-dinner talk and tasting will begin at 5:45 PM

Reserve by phone: 510-547-5356

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*The notion of producing an authentic vin de terroir de novo Randall feels is incredibly challenging.  Apart from the brevity of a human lifetime and the difficulty of identifying a site with distinctive geology and aspect, the crucial question is the felicity or congruence between the selected grape varieties, rootstock and the site itself, as well as of course all of the details of the farming practice.  Randall feels strongly that the way forward likely is the way back – embracing “old-fangled” vineyard practices of promiscuous culture, head-trained vines and above all, dry-farming, as potentiators of the expression of terroir.

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