Bonny Doon: Care for some Aliens with your Wine?

Update: this tasting room has closed.

Note: this article is about visiting Bonny Doon’s Tasting Room. We’ll review some of the wines in the near future.

Not your grandmother’s tasting room (Though Grandma may enjoy it!)

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Bonny Doon’s wine tasting room offers up hearty notes of extraterrestrials, with hints of Banana slug, spaceships, and a lingering aftertaste of philosophy and fishnets. This fantastical winery is the brainchild of Randall Grahm, a philosophy major turned winemaker, on a quest for the perfect Pinot Noir.

As the designated ‘Millenial’ of Great Big Reds, Bonny Doon was my favorite tasting room I visited on our most recent trip, and well, really, my life.

While providing great wine and a wonderful experience, Bonny Doon takes the pretension out of wine tasting – it is unabashedly *fun*. Our charming (and heavily tattooed) server regaled us with the remarkably intertwined history of wine growing and aliens, a tale which I won’t spoil on this blog, but makes for a great introduction to a wine. Other wines are named for philosophers, and some for the Banana slug, mascot of Grahm’s alma mater.

The Banana Slug Red, enjoyable to many species.

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If this isn’t enough ambiance for you, you can channel your inner alien by climbing into Bonny Doon’s very own spaceship for a photo complete with customizable green screen background. (Ever wondered what you’d look like fleeing a spacecat with laser eyes? Wonder no more.)

For this reason Bonny Doon is one of few tasting rooms I would recommend bringing children to – there’s plenty to look at and props to dress up in, as well as comfortable couches in a corner to retreat to with an electronic device.

The wines themselves had enough character to stand up to their fantastical environment. Team Great Big Reds recommends and went home with a couple of bottles of the Jespersen Syrah, and (as the only non-red drinker of the group) I enjoyed the crisp and refreshing whites and roses that I tried. Wines are offered at a range of prices from $50 to some budget friendly options under $20.

Overall, Bonny Doon is a must visit for a unique tasting experience and a welcome break from the standard winery spiel.

Recommended for: families, young people, funky individuals, aliens.

For more information visit: https://www.bonnydoonvineyard.com/