Bonny Doon Vineyards was founded in 1982 in the Santa Cruz Mountains and has been a brand based on the Central Coast of California for over 40 years. The founder focused on Rhone varieties, which were unknown in California. The man who made the Rhone Rangers was Randall Graham.
Randall devoted himself to winemaking, pursuing his own curiosity and spirit of inquiry, while wine critic Robert Parker had a tremendous influence and varietal wines made from famous grape varieties, mainly Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, dominated California wine. At first, he wanted to make a wine like Burgundy's Pinot Noir, but he wondered what the point of copying Burgundy was, and began to think that using Rhone varieties on California's Central Coast would be much more interesting and successful in making a more unique and original wine. The flagship Le Cigale Volant is a wine made in homage to Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Le Cigale Volant means a flying cigar, and is named after the incident in the 1950s when UFO sightings became a social phenomenon in North America and Europe, and the mayor of Chateauneuf-du-Pape at the time enacted a bizarre ordinance banning aliens from entering the airspace above the village and into the vineyards. In addition, Randall has been taking on new challenges, such as introducing screw caps, which were rare at the time, for over 20 years, and listing the ingredients on the back label to show the transparency of the wine. Randall is still involved in winemaking as a winemaking director. In recent years, he has become interested in orange wine and released the 2021 vintage, which became so popular that 10,000 cases were sold out in 6 months.