Bonny Doon Bien Nacido Vineyard X-Block Syrah 2013 | Exclusive 93pt Mailing List Syrah

So, Bonny Doon Bien Nacido Vineyard X-Block Syrah 2013 presents a dense purple-ruby color. A bouquet of spices leaps from the glass.  With black pepper, allspice, fresh herbs, dried sage, supported by stewed blackberry, violets, and licorice. Marked by softening, velvety tannins, this full-bodied wine shows intense spiciness.  Adding a hint of black olive, smoke, and pepper to complement the black fruit of the palate. Well-developed and drinking beautifully right now.

Read more about Red Gems under $35

93pts Vinous | The Bonny Doon Bien Nacido Vineyard X-Block Syrah offers a deep lurid ruby. Powerful blackberry and cherry aromas are complemented by suggestions of peppery spices smoked meat licorice and violet. Sharply focused black and blue fruit and floral pastille flavors show very good delineation.  While a smoky mineral element adds energetic lift and cut. Fine-grained tannins add grip to a spicy floral-driven finish that hangs on with strong tenacity. Drinking Window: 2019-2026.

Bonny Doon and X-Block Bien Nacido Vineyard | elegant Old World finesse with New World intensity.

X-Block is biodynamically farmed and features Estrella clones—noted for their Côte-Rôtie-like roasted quality—planted in 1973.  While playing over 25 years, a decisive role in shaping the cultivation of this plot.  Thus, Winemaker Randall Grahm telling us it was like watching a toddler grow into an adult.  Of course, Grahm had a hand in re-trellising vines.  And also remaking the irrigation system.  With these improvements giving X-Block its unique character,

Explore today’s finds at Wine Access

“It’s not a stretch to call Bonny Doon the Rhône variety pioneer for the state and, in fact, the USA.  Since gaining renown in the 1980s, Grahm has been hugely influential in demonstrating the capacity of California terroir to grow world-class Syrah. Hence, marrying elegant Old World finesse with New World intensity.

Winemaker Randall Grahm

So, by dint of exceptionally good karma, he was given the opportunity to taste an ungodly number of great French wines.   As a result, this singular experience turned him into a complete and insufferable wine fanatic.  Subsequently, with his family’s assistance, Randall purchased property in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  Located in a quaint eponymous hamlet known as Bonny Doon.  Notably, in 1989 Randall appeared on the cover of the Wine Spectator, clad in blue polyester, as “The Rhône Ranger.”