WTN: Something truly rare: a sighting of some US wine!

US wines are rare enough here that I like to buy a single bottle of everything we see and take them to tastings just because I'm curious to find out more about a country's wines I know very little about. Unfortunately most of the time the wines that make it here tend to be of a different aesthetic ideal than what I prefer. But this time we got some Bonny Doon and I remember enjoying some of them in the past so I was quite excited to try them.

Bonny Doon Bien Nacido Syrah 2007
Inky smells; some nice tartness, but inky/squidy tastes as well. Yeah, it's ok. No better than that, however. More age should correct a few things but I'm not so sure the whole will ever be truly interesting.

Bonny Doon Le Cigare Volant 2007
Normally I much prefer Syrah to the S. Rhone grapes, but with these two I did find this S. Rhone blend more interesting. There is some very typical Grenache aromas but it's not all sweetness and ripeness, there's a really attractive savoury, almost stinky feel to it as well. I think such an aroma is necessary in order to balance the sweet aspect of the fruit. There is also a pleasant tartness, a bit like lingonberry, to the palate so there is an uncommon lightness and freshness - usually Grenache-blends tend to be a bit too sweet for my liking, but here it's balanced by other elements. I like this.

Both are sadly quite expensive (c.40€) so I don't think I'll be buying any more, but it was fun to taste them.

[David M. Bueker]

Le Cigare Volant has been good for a very long time. It proves that RG can make very nice wine. It's a real mystery why he doesn't succeed more often than he does.

It's a shame you have to pay 40 Euros to sample a bottle of Le Cigare, Otto.

It's decent enough, but not at that price.

Always intrigued by which wines make it over there...it's a crap shoot once you get beyond the mass volume/world corporate brands and a few of the ultra-premium boutique/cult showings.

In contrast, when it's going from there to here, we are spoiled with good pricing for the most part. Even with the popularity of the Rhone, for instance, I can still find a respectable bottle for $10 or less. And that's fine with me.

I rarely buy American wine in Europe because, well, I can do that at home, and at far cheaper prices; plus, of course, part of the reason I'm there is to sample the local wares.

Le Cigare Volant has been good for a very long time. It proves that RG can make very nice wine. It's a real mystery why he doesn't succeed more often than he does.

Agree, David....it's a mystery to me as well. His wines can be pretty hit or miss.
I just had ystrday the BD CigareVolant Blanc Reserve and it was everything you'd want in a Rhone white blend.
Earlier this year we had the BD Syrah BienNacido X-Block '09 and it was the best Syrah Randall has made
since the mid-'80's.
So Randall still knows how to make great wines. But sometimes he just seems to get distracted by his latest
hair-brained scheme (remember Sensitive Crystallization he was so excited about several yrs ago??).
But I'll taste a BD Picpoul or Albarino and just sorta shake my head. "You can do better than this, Randall".
Tom