http://www.beendoonsolong.com A Randall Grahm Vinthology Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:08:23 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en We are just about to bottle the 2008 vintage of Le Cigare Volant and celebrate, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of its continuous production. I’ve written elsewhere ((An Apologia for Le Cigare Volant,” c.f. supra)) ((“The Etiquette of the Etiquette,” in “Been Doon So Long: A Randall Grahm ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2010/03/further-ruminations-on-cigare-the-doon-and-dirty/ ...in The Golden State Where All is Sweetness and Light Anyway? Speech delivered by Randall Grahm at University of California at Davis on 2/5/2010 What I’m really thinking about these days - above and beyond how to survive in this extremely challenging economic climate - is how one might find real meaning in ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2010/02/why-should-terroir-matter/ “What do women want?” ~ S. Freud “Sometime a Cigare is just a Cigare.” ~ R. Grahm (with apologies to S. Freud) “I mean, to put it crudely,” he was saying, “the thing you could say (Flaubert) lacks is testicularity. Know what I mean?” “…Lacks what?” Franny said…. …He hesitated. “Masculinity,” he said. “I heard you the ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2010/01/chick-vit-or-what-do-women-want-in-their-wine/ Years ago, when I had decided that Pinot Noir and that other Burgundian variety were just not going to work so well at our Estate Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, I began to focus instead on Rhône varieties. We produced then an extraordinary haunting wine from our Estate called ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2009/11/apologia-for-le-cigare-blanc/ The reader may know or be able to infer that I live a somewhat convoluted, self-referential life; that is to say, many of my personal points of reference seem to exist in the realm of vinous and the arcane (generally both). Eliot footnoted The Wasteland; why not to footnote a ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2009/11/footnotes-to-sub-terroir-rhonesick-blues/ I’ve been to visit Carl von Schubert, the owner of the beauteous von Schubert-Grünhaus Estate just once in situ. He was rather preoccupied that day with various and sundry crises1 (despite the bucolic veneer, this is what the wine business is generally about), so his wife showed me around.  The ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2009/10/2006-maximin-grunhauser-abtsberg-%e2%80%9csuperior%e2%80%9d-von-schubert/ J. Locke’s in the cold cave Drinking down the old Chave I’m on the crushpad Thinking about the Advocate The man in the lab coat Reporting on a horsy note Final review’s just now set Says we’ve got some bad brett, Sees filtration as a safety net. Look out grahm You’re gonna get slammed God knows why But Cigare’s never gonna ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2009/10/sub-terroir-rhonesick-blues/ (Part 2 of a 2-part series; read Part 1 here.) Imagine wine as possessing two disparate aspects or poles – the lower and the upper, that which goes down to the ground and that which ascends to the sky.  The “bottom” of the wine is its skeletal structure, its power, its ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2009/10/an-apologia-for-le-cigare-volant-an-introduction-to-the-%e2%80%9905-vintage-part-2-of-2/ We’ve been making Le Cigare Volant since 1984, back when I thought it would be an interesting and fun thing1 to make a blend of the principal grape varieties of Châteauneuf-du-Pape,2 grown under California conditions.  I didn’t quite realize at the time that Cigare would become so synonymous with Bonny ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2009/10/an-apologia-for-le-cigare-volant-an-introduction-to-the-%e2%80%9905-vintage-part-1-of-2/ [caption id="attachment_507" align="alignright" width="252" caption="Just one goat"][/caption] This is a speech that Randall Grahm delivered in Washington, D.C., at the Inc. Magazine Conference, September 2009 (part 3 of a 3-part series). While I have been hoping to elevate the level of discussion about our wines, what seems to be happening is that ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2009/10/the-story-of-doon-to-earth-part-3-of-3/