- Silverstone's previous recommendations

- Silverstone's previous recommendations

Bonny Doon Vineyard, California USA

Best of a Seasonal Bunch

Just Desserts

Muscat Vin de Glaciere (approx $17.99 - half bottle)

Save this for the love of your life. A typical hedonistic, sensual, almost erotic, sweet, luscious drinking experience. 50% Muscat Canelli and 50% Orange Muscat grapes are picked at the usual harvest time, but unlike “Late Harvested” dessert wines, they are frozen to 10%F in a commercial food freezer. The grapes are pressed while freezing, to emulate late harvested wines, elevating the residual sugar to 18.5%. Once again I’ll let the winemaker describe the wine: “Racy and exaggerated notes of apricot, elderflower and

rampany pineapplicity.” (sic)

Bonny Doon is clearly a synonym for holiday cheer!

More info: www.bonnydoonvineyard.com

I recently had the good fortune to have lunch with one of my favorite California wine makers, Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon VIneyard. It’s highly recommended to have a thesaurus, and knowledge of every conceivable obscure fact of life before chatting with Mr. G, an intensely articulate man with a wickedly dry sense of humor, as a browse through his newlestters or website will immediately illustrate.

Randall was born in Los Angeles, and in 1979 attended the University of California at Davis to complete a degree in viticulture. He became obsessed with the Pinot Noir grape, but soon diverted his attention to grapes which flourish in the French Rhone region, and in time he became

known as the “Rhone Ranger”. Randall further expanded his grape expectations to include varieties which thrive in Italy. And with his wit, his wisdom and his genius at producing highly quaffable liquid gems, the Bonny Doon portfolio reached celebrity status worldwide. Boony Doon has also lead the world by adopting the Stelvin Closure, which to you and me is known simply as a screw cap. All pomposity, arrogance and nose in air hype is banished at Bonny Doon, where the name of the game is drinkability and affordability and not a palate is left unturned. Something for everyone is available from this stunning collection of wines. And if you ever meet Randall, beware. To quote his website he is: “....a vitizen (sic) of the world, a champion of the strange and

heterodox, of ugly duckling grape varietals”.

Since my recent lunch with Randall, as always, left me bristling with enthusiasm, I’m plucking some gems from his wickedly inspired eclectic selection as recommendations for the holiday season.

White Christmas

Pacific Rim Riesling (approx $12.99)

Riesling's always been “my” grape, especially from Germany. And here we find Randall has taken 75% of the grape juice from Washington State and blended it with 25% from my old chum Johannes Selbach in Germany’s Mosel region. This marriage

of this grape from old and new world is so innovative, it results in honeyed tones and summer fruit flavors. A gorgeous wine to savor as an aperitif. Made, as the winery notes: “ For all the right rieslings”.

Ca’ del Solo Big House White (approx $11.99)

Ca’ del Solo is a 140 acre estate located in Monterey County close by the local penitentiary (Big House) The Soleded Men’s Correctional Facility. What a blend! The white version has Sauvignon Blanc, French Colombard, Pinot Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Viognier, Marsanne, Malvasia and Muscat. The winery sums up the final product succinctly: ““Inimitably inviting, astonishingly

aromatic, bounteously balanced, copiously quaffable libation”. I couldn’t have said it better myself. Also brilliant with turkey!

Well Red

Ca’ del Solo Big House Red (approx $11.99)

Ca’ del Solo is a 140 acre estate located in Monterey County close by the local penitentiary (Big House) The Soleded Men’s Correctional Facility. The red version has Syrah, Petite Syrah. ZInfandel, Carignane, Barbera, Malbec, Montepulciano, Charbono (related to Cher?) Sangiovese plus a few more grapes. I adore this in the fridge for 15 minutes. It’s soft, spicy, plummy

and the definition of yumminess. Ideal for turkey, ham and anything you feel like serving.

Cardinal Zin (approx $19.99 )

In keeping with Bonny Doon’s penchant for experimentation, this wine spends some time in contact with Riesling lees (the sediment of the Riesling grape). The process adds a twilight zone dimension to the wine, total tasteful nirvana, complexity beyond our wildest dreams. Added to this ZInfandel is some Carignane and Sangiovese. Randall Grahm’s broken every Zin in the book and this intensely colored wine brings some plummy spicy magic to your mouth. It’s equally scrumptious with seasonal turkey dishes, or brown

bagging it to your local BYOB Chinese restaurant for a moderately spicy dish.

Syrah “Le Pousseur” (approx $15.99)

I adore Syrah, and it’s cousin Shiraz. But if I had to pick between the Aussie Shiraz and the French Syrah, the French version wins every time. So Bonny Doon’s French styling impressed the socks off me. It’s mostly Syrah with some Viognier “for floral aromatics” & Cinsault, a fairly ineffectual grape by itself but a real team player in this blend. The berry fruit flavors are awesome, with a drizzling of pepper and spice, and 13 months aging in oak gives the wine some additional class worthy of wines twice the price tag.