188: Cider & Wine Safari w/Randall Grahm at Popelouchum

Off to Popelouchum with Randall

But before our Popelouchum Safari, an exciting new estate vineyard, we delve into a wee bit of news to kick off this episode 188

Two New Cider Zines

We begin with an overview of Graftwood and Full Juice, two new cider zines out of UK. Graftwood is a subscription based quarterly whereas Full Juice is a free grab and gone available only in the UK. Both are worthy reads and a great sign of #ciderGoingUP.

New England Cider Tour October 31, 2019

One day cider tour launches from Greenfield, Massachusetts and heads north to Vermont and New Hampshire before returning back to Greenfield, Send an email to ria@ciderchat.com to get on the list for this tour.

New Cider Chat Patron

A big tip of the glass to Ambrosia who just became the newest patron of Cider Chat at the Cider Chat Patreon page. Ambrosia is the General Manager of The Northman, a Chicago based cider bar. Ambrosia will be presenting a presentation and tasting on Calvados on November 1 at the 25h Annual Franklin County CiderDays. This is a ticketed event so make sure to subscribe to the eCiderNews to get the most up to date info on this event.

Featured Chat – Cider & Wine Safari w/Randall Grahm at Popelouchum

Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyard on Cider Chat — Randall Grahm

Popelouchum, the Bonny Doon Vineyard estate is located just outside of downtown San Juan Bautista, California. There are 280 acres or is it 400 acres? I’m not sure, nor do I think that it matters, at least not to this story. And there have been lots of stories about Popelouchum since Randall Grahm purchased this swath of land that rises from a low lying plain, bordered on one end by the San Andreas Fault, to a high mountain top back in 2011. This chat isn’t so much about Popelouchum, though it provides a magnificent backdrop. This chat is an intimate conversation that covers at least 4 bottles drunk during this recording and the highs and lows of being in the business of both wine and cider.

I had asked to tour Popelouchum, because who wouldn’t want to see Randall’s vision for terroir based wine, and to share with him a bottle of 2017 Cormé made by French cidermaker, Eric Bordelet.

This chat opens with us discussing Cormé which is also known as Sorbus Domestic a.k.a. Service Tree. Then we move onto discussing Bordelet’s cidermaking technique. Perhaps it was the Cormé that inspired Randall to announce that he thinks he may have cracked the secret to Bordelet’s technique for making such fine ciders.

You won’t know if it is truly an unveiling of Bordelet’s technique unless you try your hand at what Randall offers as a possibility of uncovering Bordelet’s secrets. And that will take a whole lot of practice or as Eric says, “It took me 15 years to discover how to make cider and I am still learning.”

Bonny Doon Vineyard Grenache — Get this bottle now at the Bonny Doon Vineyard Tasting Room or via online store

After the Cormé Randall opened three very special bottles of small batch wines.

2017 bottle of 1/2 Grenache Blanche and 1/2 Grenche Gris (only 30 gallons were made)
2014 Bien Nacido
Sangria Reserve, made in 5 gallon glass carboys, on the lees and bottled without filtration.

The conversation then moved onto branding and sustaining one’s brand.

This is an intimate and often humorous discussion with one of America’s premier winemakers and wine personalities, who also happens to like pommes and I hope will continue to work with both.