The Winery

Bonny Doon Vineyard, located in Santa Cruz, CA was established in 1983 by the inimitable Randall Grahm, a man of many interests, not the least of which is “thinking of fiendishly cunning stratagems for producing wines which express a sense of place and which actually make the world a more interesting burg“. He’s an interesting man. In fact, as I write this, based on what I know of him from his bio, and blogs about Bonny Doon, and social media, the first thing that popped into my head is that he could be the real life “Most Interesting Man in the World” (This from his Twitter profile – “Founder, Winemaker, Terroirist/Vinachrist and Prez-for Life @BonnyDoonVineyd, Defender of the Misunderstood and Underappreciated Doon-trodden Cépages of the Earth” – check out the bio here).  The wines Bonny Doon produces are a reflection of Grahm – they’re thoughtful, eclectic, often unique, and interesting wines. )  Sure, the packaging is clever with inventive names, and beautiful art work.  But don’t let the slick marketing fool you into thinking the wines aren’t serious. Nothing could be further from the truth. The wines are seriously good.

The Wine

I turned to a perennial favorite to kick off this year’s Rosé.  I picked this up at Whole Foods, and it was good to see it can still be had for under $20.  With the popularity of dry-style Rosés escalating, I’m seeing an unwelcome increase in pricing, especially on the domestic front.  It’s becoming more and more challenging to find dry, food friendly pink wines of this quality for under $20.

This an atypical Rosé in that the blend of 55% grenache, 23.5% mourvèdre, 10% roussanne, 2.5% carignane, 2% grenache blanc, 7% cinsaut includes both traditional red and white Rhône varieties.  A typical Rosé is composed of solely red grape varieties. Additionally, Bonny Doon employed the practice of bâtonnage–the stirring or re-suspension of lees after fermentation–to give the wine a creaminess of texture.

My tasting notes follow:

Pink color with orange hue with promising grapefruit, strawberry, and a hint of floral aromas. On the palate, it approaches medium-bodied, is dry and crisp with generous strawberry, citrus, and spice flavors, and very good length.  This wine newly released.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it tastes even better in June/July. 13% alcohol. SRP – $18

Rating:  B+: A perennial favorite that continues to deliver! Will buy more!

Pair with: Traditional Provençal fare including charcuterie, pâté, salade niçoise, and the aïoli platter. It’s an incredibly flexible partner at the table, complementing everything from international cuisine—curries, tagines, or chiles rellenos—to a vast array of seafoods, poultry, salads, and cheeses.

Sample purchased for review 

Martin Redmond is a Financial Executive by day, and a certified wine geek with latent foodie tendencies the rest of the time. In addition to the wine lifestyle and food he enjoys family, fitness and traveling. He likes to get thoughts of wine off his mind by sharing experiences on his ENOFYLZ Wine blog, which features wine reviews, wine country travel, and wine and food pairings.

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This article is original to ENOFYLZ Wine Blog.com. Copyright 2014 ENOFYLZ Wine Blog. All rights reserved.