Bonny Doon, Cigare Volant, California

This pours medium to light ruby in the glass with light bricking. The nose is pleasant yet quite overripe and mature of prune, dried cherry, leather, grilled meat, dry hay, lavender, tar, and a touch of soy sauce. The palate enters on very ripe stewed and dried fruit. Tannin is medium minus and acid is medium minus. The finish closes on all of the very ripe fruit, tar and noted alcohol. All in all this really is just not my …

2000 vintage

Hard edged, past prime.

2012 vintage

Fine, but not amazing.

2012 vintage

Fine but not amazing

2012 vintage

Good cal rhone, earthy, old world, good acid. Holding up fine.

2012 vintage

Pop and pour, this might be a touch better than a bottle I had 6 months ago. I got a lot of Rhone character.

2012 vintage

Avec pizzas four à bois. Tannins fins et fondus. Long et élégant. À point. Un style vieux « Côtes du Rhône » du Sud. Excellent!

2012 vintage

From a half bottle, nice California rhone that is incredibly earthy with black berries.

2012 vintage

Toujours très bien pour le prix, prêt a boire.

2012 vintage

KAPUTT!

2012 vintage

This burgundy style wine started out a bit unbalanced, but opened up nicely in 45 minutes. Dark ruby color, medium bodied. Plum, oak and a bit of leather. Enjoyable with steak.

2012 vintage

Still drinking quite well, with notes of rhubarb, dried cherry, light spice, and earth. Always a favorite.

2012 vintage

Good easy to drink wine. Good plum and berry notes. Light tannins and good with food.

2012 vintage

Drank side by side with the 2014, both out of half-bottles. This is the leaner of the two, less ripe, more savory, lower alcohol, significantly less fruit. Leathery, slightly herbal, a little overtly acidic but that calms down after a couple hours into something more approachable. Nice for the $10 I got it for, not so attractive for the original asking price. 13.5%

2012 vintage

pretty good US CdP but muted fruit

2012 vintage

Was quite excited to try this Bordeaux style Californian that I let decant for at least 2 hours. When poured this deep ruby red provided a quick 1st set of legs that to the nose provided notes of tobacco, mushroom, pepper & spices. When tasted this red provided notes of plum & vanilla. I was impressed with the overall structure of this wine with a super smooth finish. Very impressive!!!

2012 vintage

Very interesting. Went perfect with a NY Strip Steak. Red meat flavors. Some pepper notes that provide nice grip. Some drying tannins. Good red berry fruits. This wine is very unique and not like anything I am used to. Kudos to the Bonny Doon crew.

2012 vintage

13.5% alcohol; the encépagement (grape varieties used in the blend, the cuvée) 'is based on the traditional Châteauneuf-du-Pape: 39% Mourvèdre, 33% Grenache, 26% Syrah, 2% Cinsault'; screw top; fast legs, dark ruby red; nose of yeast, citrus, fruit essence; vinturied and tasted right afterward at room temperature, 25 degrees C; medium bodied, notes of citrus, prunes, rhubarb, kiwi, a little metal, like steel; a note of sharp sourness predominates over sweetness, tannins & bitterness; medium finish with lekker (deeply delicious) …

2012 vintage

With grilled beef tenderloin, roast potatoes, corn on the cob. Pretty consistent with previous note.

2012 vintage

mild fruit, powder and velvet blend long finish, well balanced

2012 vintage

First time trying and thinking I must have got bad bottle. A real disappointment for the QPR from the reviews I'd read. Gonna have to give it another try.

2012 vintage

Appearance - clear, medium ruby, watery rim that concentrates into middle Nose - let me just say, upon pour, without swirling and not even bringing it to my nose, I’m getting aromas wafting to me. Raw red Meat, earthy, getting the cedar, red stewed fruit, some alcohol burn on nose, intensity is medium. Given the wafting smells, I assume the nose would be over powering but it’s not. You do need to pull them out. Palate - a LOT of …

2012 vintage

Russk. Wine Watch Best of 2018. Enjoyed this earthly treat.

2012 vintage

PNP (this wine is better with air time). Ruby red color with large change in color from clear meniscus to center. Raspberry, tart cherry and strawberry on nose. On palate, cherry, raspberry & baking spice. Medium body, high acidity, medium tannins and long finish. Improved 1-2 points with 30 minutes+ of air. 91+/- Probably not a re-buy at price but an enjoyable bottle of wine.

2012 vintage

Dark color. Good nose. Big mouth feel. Earthy red fruit dominates. Good finish. Good QPR on 2 for 1 deal at winery.

2012 vintage

Bu en succ. Pas mauvais mais sans émotion...à 40$, son prix fait de lui un OVNI, je ne le verrai pas dans ma cave!

2012 vintage

Great surprise. I was scared this bottle might be over the hill but I was totally wrong. Had it as an appetizer before a Bordeaux and this did not disappoint. Quite earthy and complex with elegant mouth feel. Dry and mature fruits all the way.

2000 vintage

Excellent. I agree with the tasting notes that have been posted. After about 30 minutes of decant this wine opens up and becomes delicious, rich, and well rounded.

2000 vintage

A little funk on the nose that blew off within 20 min after decanting. Evolved into leather, fresh cut grass on a hot humid day, damp wood, campfire smoke, raspberry jam and currants. The finish mildly sweet and reminiscent of roasted red beets. VERY good wine that's drinking at its peak IMO.

2000 vintage

The wine looks Purple colored. The legs are Slow. It smells like Blackberry, Blueberry, Black currant (cassis), and Mineral. It tastes like Blackberry, Blueberry, Black currant (cassis), Raspberry, Stoniness, Mineral, Cherry, Medium Toast, Cedar, Oak, and Hazelnut. The body is Medium. The wine has Satin-like texture. The wine finishes Medium. Drink now because this wine is moving past its prime.

2000 vintage

Nearing the end of it's life (8/11), but still pretty good. Drink ASAP if you have some.

2000 vintage

Slightly minty, still a tannic edge to grapple with, and a rich, juicy bent towards peppered strawberries. All in all, this seems like a feral grenache more than anything else: there's also a lovely sour, savory edge to it that keeps it all in lean, lithe check. Time has been good to this one: fruit's holding just fine and the tannic overlords have declared an unstable truce. Drink it while it's good.

2000 vintage

amazing nose - licorice, fresh dirt, musty (in the best of ways), tart raspberry fruit. perfectly paired with rich chicken and fig - acid cuts straight through the meal

2000 vintage

good but just now losing some of the fruit and finish getting shorter. drink now of forever curse your luck.

2000 vintage

Wow! Gift from a friend, and we'd never suspect that age would improve this typically good-not-great CdP blend as much as it did. 45 minutes of open time allowed this to drink as a sophisticated, integrated wine of intriguiging nose and palate offering a core of rasberry and soft, round tannic structure followed by a medium-long and very pleasant finish. At release, we rated this score at 82-84....now we wish we'd tucked away a case.

2000 vintage

Quite opaque with a lightening and slight bricking around the edges. Initial smell was of green olives, black cherries, undertones of leather. Quite bright in the mouth opening up with lovely undertones and a good length. Not as full as I expected but very much appreciated by all.

2000 vintage

quite blunt, smoky and dry. opened up after 3 hrs to

2000 vintage

very nice, less fruit, but more tobacco and oak this time. doesn't seem to last quite as long once decanted as previous but love the nose of this wine and 2000 is still the best of the cigar volant vintages

2000 vintage

very consistent. lovelly peppery nose, aging nicely,, my guess this will go no for another 2-3 years.

2000 vintage

Cigare Volant is always a favorite. Rich plum, berries,warm flavors and very smooth, long finish.

2000 vintage

really good. 2000 is probably the best year for Cv that I've had. More mourvedre than in other vintages so has a smokier/blunter flavour. good fruit and nice long finish. drinking very well now, maybe only 18 months more though to fill your boots.

2000 vintage

Very light colour, almost pinot like; nose of strawberry bubble gum; very juicy and fairly balanced if a bit soft on the palate, with more strawberries and a little tobacco. This could be a basic grenache or even an above average beaujolais and really is pretty tasty even if there's not a lot of complexity.

2000 vintage

tobacco nose earthy, herb finish

2000 vintage

Nicer lusher acids this time. A bit of pepper. Pleasant blackberry fruit. Enjoyable with food, but fell apart quickly.

2000 vintage

bearable

2000 vintage

Pretty consistent with 4/5/06. A bit lighter and softer. Nice with pizza.

2000 vintage

Spicey nose, a bit of tart fruit. Soft body, light acids. Clean, fairly peppy and enjoyable. Grenache-y elements are the main theme here, muted menthol, blackberry fruit. Pleasant drinking, à la basic CdR. .

2000 vintage

Light nose, a bit of adhesive and some menthol and fruit. Really dull on the palate, light in body, no acids or life. Rather worthless.

2000 vintage

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Bonny Doon, Cigare Volant, California

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