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Randall Grahm Discloses All on New Labels.
Bonny Doon Vineyard labels will disclose all wine ingredients beginning with the 2007 vintage white and 2006 vintage red wines.
As of 2008, consumers will note that all ingredients are listed in two sections on the back label of each bottle of Bonny Doon wine. The first section highlights the wine's basic ingredients, i.e. grapes and sulfur dioxide, a preservative, found in the wine. The second section will point out ingredients used in the production of the wine such as bentonite, (a type of clay used to clarify wine prior to bottling) that essentially no longer remains in the wine. The first Bonny Doon Vineyard wines featuring the new ingredient labeling are the Demeter certified Biodynamic® 2007 Ca' del Solo Albariño and 2007 Ca' del Solo Muscat, slated for a February 2008 release.
"We feel it is useful to provide the consumer with more detailed information about the ingredients used in wine production and aim to reduce our own dependence on standard wine additions, even those considered to be utterly benign such as tartaric acid, bentonite, yeast nutrients, enzymes, sulfur dioxide," said Randall Grahm, owner and winemaker of Bonny Doon Vineyard. "Lest it appear that we are revoltingly self-righteous," added Grahm, "one should bear in mind that we are ourselves still somewhat reliant on certain wine additions that in a perfect world we would minimize or not use at all. But, whatever has been added in production or to the finished wine, even in the minutest amount, will appear on our labels."
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About Bonny Doon Vineyard
Bonny Doon Vineyard, based in Santa Cruz, CA, was founded by Randall Grahm in 1983 and has long been an industry leader in innovative winemaking techniques, the deployment of non-standard cépages and very imaginative marketing, "at times too clever, incendiary and provocative by half". Bonny Doon's goal is to produce honest and soulful wines, with minimal special effects. Since the adoption of biodynamic vineyard practice in 2003, Bonny Doon wines evidence a deeper sense of place, more complex varietal character and a noticeable minerality. Bonny Doon is a 35,000 case winery producing select super-premium wines, notably the Rhône-influenced Cigare series as well as monopole wines from Ca' del Solo.
Bonny Doon Tasting Room
Santa Cruz, CA • Tel. 831-425-4518
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With the substantial downsizing of the company in 2006 and the commitment to biodynamic practice in their own vineyard and encouragement of the same with their contract growers, Bonny Doon has been working assiduously towards producing wines of greater originality that are simpler and less technically manipulated.
According to Grahm, "This labeling initiative is primarily intended as an internal discipline. However, we do hope other winemakers will be encouraged to adopt less interventionist practices and rely less upon an alphabet soup of additives to "improve" their wines. The key is really to begin with grapes farmed thoughtfully on appropriate sites and all good comes from that."
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