Bonny Doon's 1st "Cigare"

Yup, the very first vintage of Mr Randall Grahm’s Californian interpretation of the Southern Rhône’s tip-top wine - Châteauneuf-du-Pape - is available on this week’s WineBid line-up.

In the words of the winemaker himself:

“…When I began years ago, I didn’t know much about Rhône wines, or indeed about much of anything at all. What I had read about Châteauneuf was that it should absolutely positively be Grenache-centric and never see much new oak or small cooperage. So, this injunction was pretty strictly adhered to, at least at first, and the first vintages of Cigare were quite successful, indeed, have held up well with the passage of time.”


From another diatribe:

“…We had already fermented the grapes in 1984 when I picked up a copy of John Livingstone-Learmouth’s The Wines of the Rhône and leafed through the chapter on Châteauneuf. (If I was going to make wine in this style, a little education was in order.) There I learned about the bizarre local French ordinance prohibiting the landing of flying saucers and ‘flying cigars’ in these Rhône vineyards, and I was utterly charmed.”

Gastromondiale blog
“Excellent Aged California Wine: Le Cigare Volant”
by Vedat Milor
April 20, 2010

“1984 ‘Le Cigare Volant’ from Bonny Doon: This one is even more elegant than the '85, but less dense. The nose developed some tarriness and an appealing underbrush character. There is more red fruit than the '85, but the same mineral backbone, and a medium finish. 18/20”


From a 2010 vertical tasting of 20+ vintages of “Le Cigare Volant”, reported by W. Blake Gray:


"1984: 72% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 3% Mourvedre, 1200 cases

"The first vintage of Le Cigare Volant was the best wine of the night, and I’m glad because Grahm said the 6-litre bottle he brought was the last bottle of any size that he had.

"Grahm started making Le Cigare Volant based on the old-vine Grenache from Gilroy. In 1982, Grahm had leased space from Josh Jensen at Calera to ferment some Grenache.

"‘It smelled like raspberries. I thought, “This is good”,’ he said. ‘I ended up blending Cabernet to it and screwing it up.’

"It wouldn’t be the last time. Had Grahm maintained Le Cigare Volant as a 1200-case Grenache-based wine, it might today be considered one of America’s greatest. You’ll see from the stats that he started tinkering with a successful formula within just two years.

"Grahm said '84 was a difficult vintage, and the Grenache didn’t ripen as much as he wanted.

"Perhaps that’s why it aged so well.

“The last night of this wine’s life was superb: pretty on the nose, with strong licorice notes along with raspberry, black cherry, earth and fresh herbs. The mouthfeel was sensuous, the raspberry fruit was delightful, and the strong anise/licorice notes kept it interesting throughout the long finish. I thanked this wine for letting me drink it. 98”


Obviously, the bottle on offer from WineBid is not an oversized behemoth that aids in the extension of a wine’s typical lifespan. Nevertheless, I found the fact that such a rare opportunity to get one’s hands on the very first vintage of a culturally significant vinous icon something worth sharing with fellow Berserkers.

Link: 1984 Bonny Doon Red Wine, Proprietary Red | WineBid

Great post and info! I didn’t realize that this goes back to 1984. I’ve also just recently learned that Grahm’s got the Rhone movement going back in the day. It’s a great movement and I couldn’t believe that there isn’t such a movement at the source of the Rhône ie. in Switzerland. Setting about to change this. If I’m taking the plunge wine producing some day, it will be with Rhône varietals in Switzerland. I’d love to try his first vintage.

Nice PSA Drew. I am sure that the grenache came from the Besson vineyard. I enjoyed many bottles of Cigare over the years and the 1984 was always my favorite.

I remember stacking this while I was a retailer in Chicago for ten bucks, and having one hell of a time selling it. I loved the wines, and was a big early supporter of Bonny Doon, but most of my customers thought it was a bit expensive for what it was (remember, the great '83 Chateauneufs were out at the time, and we were selling the '83 Clos des Papes for $12) -

Cool stuff. I’ve liked his wines for a long time…Board opinion seems to be mixed, but I’ve always liked his iconoclastic, somewhat Quixotic approach. The better LCV bottles can be profound.

Missed by 1 year. Still have 1 bottle of the 85 in my cellar. Purchase on release.

It was an expensive wine for it’s time. I think the earlier releases (pre-1990) were better than later ones, but that could be novelty affecting judgement, as there weren’t a whole lot of RHone Rangers at the time.

Sean, the first handful of vintages were apparently composed of Besson Vineyard Grenache (along with Syrah, Mourvèdre, etc, from elsewhere), though Grahm makes it a big point that his wines, by necessity, were “vins de effort” and not “vins de terroir”.

Thomas & Markus, do you recall the approximate cost of a bottle of Bonny Doon’s “Le Cigare Volant” back in the early years?

TIA


*** EDIT ***

Early vintages of “Le Cigare Volant” did NOT include Grenache from the “Besson Vineyard”.

In his essay “Further Ruminations on Cigare: The Doon and Dirty”, Randall Grahm notes that he sought Santa Clara Valley Grenache grapes from the “Mary Carter Vineyard”.

Shortly afterwards, the “Bertero Vineyard” (now owned by Solis Winery) appears to have briefly provided Bonny Doon with additional quality fruit:

“…A few years later I discovered the ‘Bertero Vineyard’, which was located more or less across the street from ‘Besson’. The soil was much rockier and located on a north-facing slope. Because of the thinner soil, the head-trained vines were much smaller, and the clusters themselves more petite, the fruit more concentrated. No question that the ‘Bertero Vineyard’ gave us the very best Grenache I have been privileged to work with. The family had operated a winery at an earlier time in the area, but these were unfortunately the sunset years of the vineyard, and the failing health of Angelo Bertero ultimately led to the vineyard’s abandonment.”

I got to taste the 2013 LCV today poured by Randall himself at the Rhone Rangers North Coast Chapter tasting at Two Shepherds winery in Windsor.

I’ve attached the event’s data sheet listing for it. It was super good. First time I’ve ever tasted it.