Winemaker Notes
The 2019 Bonny Doon Vin Gris de Cigare opens with typical rose notes: wild strawberry, peach, guava, and rhubarb and a very discreet scent of white pepper. The wine has a wonderful creaminess and length on the palate in virtue due to the practice of leaving the wine post-fermentation on its lees to great effect.
Blend: 79% Grenache, 5% Grenache Gris, 5% Grenache Blanc, 5% Vermentino, 3% Cinsault, 1.5% Picpoul, 1.5% Clairette Blanche
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Light raspberry, delicate cotton candy, brisk melon and a hint of citrus show on the nose of this pale rosé. There's a great zip and tense texture to the sip, where ash and talc flavors meet with rounded red plum, strawberry and watermelon, all sliced by strong acidity. Best Buy.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The Bonny Doon Vineyard Vin Gris de Cigar is literally, "The Pink Wine of the Earth." This iconic wine is one of the best in the genre of rosé wines. The 2019 vintage is one of the winery's best to date. TASTING NOTES: This is a beautiful and real wine. Its classic and attractive aromas and flavors of dried earth and red berries stay long and crisp on the palate. Enjoy it with a selection of cheeses, deli meats, and pâtés. (Tasted: April 11, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
Whether it’s playful and fun or savory and serious, most rosé today is not your grandmother’s White Zinfandel, though that category remains strong. Pink wine has recently become quite trendy, and this time around it’s commonly quite dry. Since the pigment in red wines comes from keeping fermenting juice in contact with the grape skins for an extended period, it follows that a pink wine can be made using just a brief period of skin contact—usually just a couple of days. The resulting color depends on grape variety and winemaking style, ranging from pale salmon to deep magenta.
The largest and perhaps most varied of California’s wine-growing regions, the Central Coast produces a good majority of the state's wine. This vast California wine district stretches from San Francisco all the way to Santa Barbara along the coast, and reaches inland nearly all the way to the Central Valley.
Encompassing an extremely diverse array of climates, soil types and wine styles, it contains many smaller sub-AVAs, including San Francisco Bay, Monterey, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Paso Robles, Edna Valley, Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Maria Valley.
While the Central Coast California wine region could probably support almost any major grape varietiy, it is famous for a few Central Coast reds and whites. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel are among the major ones. The Central Coast is home to many of the state's small, artisanal wineries crafting unique, high-quality wines, as well as larger producers also making exceptional wines.