Leojami Wines, 2008 Arroyo Seco Viognier, Monterey County

Leojami Wines is a family-owned micro-winery in Carmel Valley, California.  

Benjamin and Nadine Spencer focus on making food-friendly wines and have bottled a 2008 viognier that deliciously compliments several foods including seafood, pork, chicken, cheese and salads.  For this wine, Leojami sources all fruit from organic and sustainable Cedar Lane Vineyard in Monterey County. It is not put through Malolactic Fermentation. 

From their website:

“We work with the best wine grape growers in Monterey County.  The vineyard sites and grape varieties are selected based on a series of quality issues including weather, soils, aspect, vineyard practices and variety.  Because of this focus, we are able to make a truly unique single variety and single vineyard wines.”

“Our viognier is dry, fruity, and full-bodied.  The grapes are hand-picked and whole-cluster pressed.  The juice is fermented in stainless steel and neutral French oak.  The wine undergoes battonage (lees stirring) for six months.  The wine is racked and filtered and bottled.  Each vintage is released in very small quantities.”

Aroma:  Floral, papaya, lemon, orange flower.
On the palate: crisp with a creamy citrus and a long finish
Body:  Full
Alcohol: 13.8%
Ageing:  Sur Lie, 8 months Neutral Oak
Vintage:  2008
Varietal:  Viognier                          
Appellation: Arroyo Seco, Monterey County

2008 DEWN Ca’del Solo Grenache Blanc

Bonny Doon is Demeter Certified Bio-dynamic. They aspire to produce wines in a more unaffected, hands-off style, with minimal wine-making intervention or manipulation. The intent is to restore life and vitality to the soil and respect the farm as a complex and self-sustaining organism, which makes it a perfect fit on the girl & the fig’s wine menu.  

From the website: A wondrous California poppy-like wine full of zesty pear and spice extraordinaire made from Biodynamic Grenache blanc from our Ca’ del Solo vineyard in Monterey.  Subtly ripe fruit notes of quince, citrus rind and green melon lead to a lush lightly spiced palate of nutmeg and cinnamon with a long creamy finish.  

Winemaker Notes: This small lot, single vineyard, wine was hand harvested and sorted in late Fall, fermented in stainless steel and aged for 3 months in French oak puncheons, 20% of which were new. Ready to drink but able to develop for another 18-24 months. 

From UC Santa Cruz Alumni Files:  Randall Grahm (early ’70s, German Literature). Internationally renowned in the wine and food world for the award-winning wines he produces as the owner of Bonny Doon Vineyards, and erudite, humorous and unorthodox wine labels and newsletters. Described by Sunset magazine as “one part Baron Philippe de Rothschild, one part Monty Python.” Grahm won the Wine and Spirits Professional of the Year award in 1994 (nominated by the James Beard Foundation) and the Bon Appétit magazine 1999 Wine and Spirits Professional of the Year award (though, he writes, “that distinction is still subject to a recount in New York State”). In 1992, the “Rhoneranger” asteroid was named in his honor. Grahm describes himself as “a vitizen of the world.”

from the Feedbag ...  Grahm, best known for being the man who introduced Rhone grapes to America, is especially adored by the more morally-minded wine people for his strongly principled stances and aphoristic pronouncements, like this one; “BY SOUL I MEAN SOIL, AND BY SOIL I MEAN TERROIR,” and “MINERALITY = LIFE FORCE.” 

Vintage: 2008

Varietal: 100% Grenache Blanc

Aromas: Wintergreen, hazelnut, pineapple salsa

Body: Full and lush

Vineyard: Ca’ del Solo, Monterey County

Alcohol by Volume: 14.5%

Serving Temperature: 45-55º F

Cellaring: 1-2 years

Production: 440 cases