Randall Grahm lives for the possibility of someday creating a wine that is also a reflection of the place from whence it derives, and has a number of interesting ideas (some possibly brilliant, others more likely hare-brained) about how this most worthy aspiration might be achieved. He believes that in the world of wine, it is uniquely vins de terroir that matter, enriching our lives and inspiring us with the breath-taking order of Nature herself. When a great site is identified – one uniquely well-suited to the production of expressive wines rich in vinous qi, (the ability to tolerate oxidative challenge) and capable of long maturation and evolution – one might then undertake to make a wine with the softest possible hand. While the production of such wines is definitively the number #1 priority on Randall’s “bucket list,” in the interim, he has changed the Bonny Doon Vineyard practice to become far more focused on vineyard or more specifically, soil health, the real cornerstone of vitality in wines. By becoming more thoughtful in vineyard selection, it has been possible for Bonny Doon to largely eschew wholesale manipulation of its wines. Bonny Doon wines may be said to be “acoustic,” or “uninflected,” at the very least lacking in the garish maquillage of many of their New World vinous confrères.

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