2009 Contra

$16.00 per bottle / $172.80 per case
$13.60 per bottle / $153.60 per case (Members)

The Wine Advocate
“A stunning wine... With loads of fruit, medium body, wonderful ripeness and purity, and abundant character. Obviously, it is a phenomenal value.” ~ Robert M. Parker Jr., August 2011

Top 100 Wines of 2010
"Bonny Doon’s 2009 Contra... gets its name from the obvious geography, and with a bit of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and Syrah in the mix, it’s a rambunctious, instantly drinkable thing..."
~ Jon Bonné, San Francisco Chronicle

Contra is a wine that reflects the opposite of modern wine sensibilities, meaning wines overworked and amped up, pushed and prodded into Procrustean palate-numbing sameness. À rebours, this wine is a contrarian blend of mostly old-fangled grape varieties from mostly older vineyards. Contra unites the earthy rusticity of old-vine carignane—that hard stoniness that if untempered may be a tad austere—with the luscious, opulent fruitiness of a number of softer blending grapes.

We fashioned the 2009 Contra from hand-harvested grapes from the northern most reaches of the Central Coast—old vines from Contra Costa County’s Gonsalves Vineyard—and its more southern climes, Santa Maria Valley's famed Bien Nacido Vineyard. The fruit was hand sorted, indigenous yeast fermented in individual lots, enjoyed an extended maceration and 100% ML before blending to achieve to a wine that is bursting with life, exuberance and deep vitality.

The wine yields aromas of cherries and licorice, flavorful cassis, and blackberries, with silky tannins and a lively acidity. You’ve got rocks and raspberries (or maybe they’re mulberries or blackberries), and the yin and yang of soft and hard, of fruit and earth, creates the most electrifying aesthetic frisson. A wine hardly contraindicated for gastronomy, it is above all, contrapuntal.

Watch the Video: Randall Grahm on the 2009 Contra

Vital Statistics
Varietal Blend: 55.1% carignane, 15.4% grenache, 14.3% mourvèdre, 7.1% petite sirah, 5.3% zinfandel, 2.8% syrah
Vineyards: 79% Gonsalves, 16% Ca' del Solo, 3% Bella Grace, 2% Bien Nacido
Appellation: Central Coast
Alcohol by Volume: 13.5%
TA: 6.5 g/L
pH: 3.6
Production: 6,900 cases