Whenever I mention Bonny Doon, the response I hear most often is ‘I know that guy!’. But in case you don’t know Randall Grahm, the man who created this famous otherworldly brand, now’s your chance – along with the chance to discover Le Cigare Blanc, which I’m making an early call as my wine of the year.
Forget the chicken wine, you need the alien wine. The one with the flying saucer on the label and the alien face on the screwcap. The one whose plushy-toy texture and peach-perfect fruit appeals equally to casual drinkers and seasoned experts. And yet which doesn’t cost the earth.
It all began in the 1980s, when Randall Grahm’s flying saucer landed in the Central Coast region of California. He brought with him a selection of vines from the Rhône Valley, which were indeed alien to the region back then, and made them into a red wine he called Le Cigare Volant, which was joined a few years later by the white-wine version.
Like so many of the whites that I enjoy, this wine is not defined by acidity. Just like the Rhône versions that inspired it, Le Cigare Blanc feels soft and cushioned rather than zingy and sharp. The fruit flavours are mostly from the stone-fruit family: peach and nectarine, plus a bit of tropical pineapple, too, and there’s a drizzle of honey underlining the ripeness. It’s charismatic but has a sense of restraint.
That restraint is thanks to early-picked grapes, which is reflected in the modest alcohol level of 12.4%. The 2022 vintage is a blend of 60% Vermentino and 40% Grenache Blanc, fermented in stainless steel, lees-aged for four months and with no malolactic conversion, adhering to their manifesto of making wine in an ‘old-fangled way, with a minimum of adornment and special FX; wines moderate in alcohol, not over-ripe or over-extracted and emphatically made with the minimal use of new oak.’
Before the 2018 vintage, the blend of Le Cigare Blanc was Grenache Blanc with Roussanne, which is more typical for the Rhône (Vermentino is little used there). The change reflects Bonny Doon’s aspiration to make ‘wines of place’ rather than ‘wines of effort’, responding to the vineyard rather than relying on winemaking intervention.
Accordingly, the blend changes from vintage to vintage and in 2023, the proportions of Vermentino (39%) and Grenache Blanc (61%) are almost exactly opposite to the 2022. These variations are just what you’d expect from a blended old-world wine such as a Côtes du Rhône, so I wouldn’t expect any huge stylistic change between vintages, despite the difference on paper.
The wine is expertly made by Nicole Walsh, who has chalked up more than 20 vintages at Bonny Doon and obviously knows what she’s doing. Grahm still consults, and his personality still shines through. A wine like this, which reflects a place while retaining its individuality, is exactly the sort of wine that deserves to go viral – although the volumes produced (around 3,400 cases annually) are far below the likes of La Vieille Ferme, the so-called Chicken Wine. At the very least, I have no hesitation in making Le Cigare Blanc my wine of the year – for value if nothing else.
A range of vintages are available quite widely, especially in the US, and Bonny Doon’s website has a handy comprehensive list of global distributors. There was no sign of any fatigue in the 2022 when I tasted it in Singapore this month, thanks to Randall Grahm’s enthusiastic adoption of screwcaps – he notoriously staged a funeral for cork at Grand Central Station in 2002. Grahm is evidently as charismatic as his wines, and he shows no sign of fatigue either.
To know the man, know the wine.
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