Tag: Tempranillo

Bonny Doon Vineyard 2016 “A Basque-ette Case” Red Blend

I first met Randall Grahm at one of the annual Rhone Rangers events in San Francisco, after which he was kind enough to invite me to his Davenport tasting room and take me through a full line up of his — then — current releases. I was enthralled, not just with Randall’s obvious passion for wine, but his innate ability to teach about wine and pass his passion forward. That first one-on-one meeting will always be a special memory for me.

The thing about Bonny Doon Vineyard wines is that there’s, well, a lot of them — reds, whites, pinks, even oranges and more obscure colors — the common thread being Rhone varietals and Rhone-style blends. As a young winemaker, Grahm sought to recreate the great wines of France here in his native California home, but soon realized that one cannot make French wine if one is not, in fact, in France. So now the very core of his Rhone-style wines is the idea of vins de terroir — wine that speaks of its specific place and time. He’s constantly experimenting with new-to-California wine grape varieties to see if and where they’ll thrive — and if he finds a vine’s sweet spot, rest-assured a wine will soon follow. He also plays with the idea of Rhone-style blends. This eclectic mix of Iberian grapes Tempranillo and Graciano along with the well-recognized Rhone grape Grenache Blanc was, for me, a new concept — and one I couldn’t leave behind in the tasting room.

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Passaggio Wines 2016 Tempranillo Rosé

“My mom always wore rose colored glasses. Life does look good through rose colored glasses. This is to you.”

– Cindy Cosco, Passaggio Wines.

I actually didn’t see that quote on the bottle the day I decided to drink Passaggio Tempranillo Rosé. What I did know was that I was in for a long hard day and when I got home, I was going to want something cool and refreshing, but something out of the ordinary. Something that could simultaneously comfort and stimulate me. So, before I left for work, I put this out-of-the-ordinary rosé into the cellar to chill. And, yes, it was the perfect “welcome home” gift to myself. This is to you, Cindy. Cheers.

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Illahe Vineyards Rosé of Tempranillo

Rosé of Tempranillo isn’t something I see a lot. And it’s nothing that Illahe Vineyards’s Ford family ever originally planned on making. The initial one-acre planting was a bit of an experiment. “Let’s see what else we can grow,” seems to be one of Lawrence Ford’s pioneering attributes. But as Bethany pointed out during our conversation, Tempranillo can be a hard grape to grow and maybe the unique Illahe location isn’t the most suitable for the funky fruit. Brad’s remedy? Pick the fruit early and make a rosé. Sounds like a plan…

(Please see my first article about Illahe Vineyards to catch up on the family and vineyard history.)

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