Bonny Doon: What's the word these days?

[Robin Garr]

So, Randall Grahm sold Bonny Doon in 2019 but stayed on (at least in name) as wine maker. What's the CW on Bonny Doon these days? Better, worse, or about the same? And for that matter, did you consider it a wine to buy before the sale? Serious question, and I'd appreciate your thoughts whatever they are.

[Robin Garr]

Anyone? Bueller?

ISTR, but I can't document it, that Grahm left about a year after he sold the winery, and then the wines went down from pleasant to plonk. I haven't seen any in the store in the last few years.

[Robin Garr]

John, it's hard to be sure. The Bonny Doon website strongly implies that he is still on board, but while it mentions the sale of Big House and Cardinal Zin in 2006 and Pacific Rim in 2010, selling off "the larger brands" as a "course correction," it certainly implies that he is still on board. See these two pages:
https://www.bonnydoonvineyard.com/randa ... biography/
https://www.bonnydoonvineyard.com/about/history/

The site also still has kind of a funky Grahm-esque personality.

But nowhere on it that I can find does it even mention a sale to or current ownership by WarRoom Cellars, so they're clearly not being entirely forthcoming on the page ...

You've joggled my memory, and the history you recount follows my recollections, fuzzy as they are.
IAC, Bonny Doon seems to have faded from the distribution scene.

It's sad but true that many of the winemakers of the last couple of decades of the 20th century have retired or passed away.
Maybe I'm getting old, too.

[David M. Bueker]

It's sad but true that many of the winemakers of the last couple of decades of the 20th century have retired or passed away.
Maybe I'm getting old, too.

Grahm is still active in winemaking, just not with Bonny Doon. He now has The Language of Yes. I actually purchased some of that wine through a Berserker Day offering, and the 2021 Language of Yes Cinsaut/Syrah “En Passerillage” is downright delicious.

[Jenise]

it certainly implies that he is still on board...

Very typical when wineries sell whether it's true or not, especially when the former owner's huge personality was all over the brand.

Since I first got seriously into wine in the 1980s I've been a Bonny Doon fan. I've visited their tasting room a few times on trips to California. I liked Big House, Ca' del Solo, and Pacific Rim in the days before Grahm sold them off. I am a big fan of Vin Gris de Cigare. The New Hampshire State Liquor Stores used to carry various Bonny Doon wines on a somewhat irregular basis, including the Cigare Volant series (rouge, blanc, vin gris) and Clos de Gilroy. Now that they've sold out the 2019 Vin Gris de Cigare and Le Cigare Blanc I haven't seen any Bonny Doon wines there.

All things must pass.

-Paul W.