Like Columbus who sought a trade route to Asia, Randall Grahm set sail in 1979 for the Great American Pinot Noir, foundered on the shoals of astringency and finesselessness and ended up running aground in the utterly unexpected New World of Rhone and Italian grape varieties.
Randall was born in Los Angeles in 1953 and attended Uncle Charlie's Summer Camp; excuse me, the prestigious University of California at Santa Cruz where he studied Liberal Arts. Liberally. (He was on the ten-year plan.) Some time later he found himself working at the Wine Merchant in Beverly Hills, sweeping floors. By dint of exceptionally good karma he was given the opportunity to taste an ungodly number of great French wines and this singular experience turned him into a complete and insufferable wine fanatic. He returned to the University of California at Davis to complete a degree in Plant Sciences in 1979, where owing to his single-minded obsession with Pinot Noir, he was regarded as a holy terroir in the hallowed halls of the sober and sedate Department of Viticulture.
With his family's assistance, Randall purchased property in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the absurdly scenic hamlet known as Bonny Doon, intent on producing the Great American Pinot Noir. The GAPN proved to be systematically elusive but he was greatly encouraged by experimental batches of Rhone varieties. The late great Bonny Doon Estate Vineyard (1981-1994) was eventually planted to Syrah, Roussanne, Marsanne and Viognier and produced achingly beautiful wines confirming both that 1) California's temperate climate is well suited to the sun-loving grapes of the Mediterranean; and 2) the blue green sharpshooter doesn't know from Cote Rotie. In 1986 Bonny Doon Vineyard released the inaugural vintage (1984) of Le Cigare Volant, an homage to Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
In 1989, Randall was indicted into the Who's Who of Cooking in America by Cook's Magazine for "lifetime achievement and leadership in the improvement and development of American cuisine" and in 1992, Ted Bowell of the Lowell Observatory in northern Arizona named the "Rhoneranger" asteroid in his honor.He was awarded the honor of Wine and Spirits Professional of the Year by the James Beard Foundation in 1994, and an analogous award from Bon Appetit Magazine in 1999, though that distinction is still subject to a recount in New York State.
Randall lectures frequently to wine societies and to technical groups and occasionally contributes quixotically sincere articles to wine journals. His occasional idiosyncratic newsletters are frequently reproduced though never copied. Since 2002 Randall Grahm has focused on the implementation of Rudolf Steiner's biodynamic principles in both vineyard and winery. In May 2007 his Ca' del Solo Vineyard received Biodynamic(R) certification from the Demeter Association. Randall Grahm is a vitizen of the world, a champion of the strange and the heterodox, of the ugly duckling grape varietals whose very existence is threatened by the dominant Cabo- and Chardocentric paradigms. He lives in Santa Cruz with his muse, Chinshu, their daughter Amelie, and his thesaurus.
