Throughout my many years as a Sommelier I have made a point of always carrying wines from this particular Winemaker. I guess you could say that Randall produced the first “cult” wine that piqued my attention. Indeed 14 years ago the very idea of a Rhône styled blend from California (replete with a funky label) was something truly special. So obsessed was the young Jamie Drummond with this wine that he was occasionally seen sporting a Cigare Volant T-Shirt (perish the thought of me being caught in branded gear these days!).

Randall Grahm, Winemaker at Bonny Doon, was one of the first of the so-called “Rhône Rangers” and was so obviously an inspiration to so many Californian Winemakers. He also had a profound influence over the way I began to look at wine. Randall (through his Monty Pythonesque newsletters) showed me that wine could be fun, that wine could be irreverent, that wine didn’t always have to be so damn serious… a philosophy that I hold true to this very day.

You can find a little story I wrote about my rather comedic interactions with one of Randall’s wines here.

Randall Grahm and Jamie

Randall Grahm and Jamie

If you never have you should really check out his website, full of wildly interesting nonsense about Randall’s takes on the world of wine at www.bonnydoonvineyard.com

Listen to my interview with Randall Grahm, “Grand Master of the Dooniverse” Bonny Doon, California right here.

You can either stream it through the built-in Flash player or

Right-click and “Save Link As” if you’d like to save it to your hard drive…

Running Time: 31:24 | File size: 19.8MB