Variations on a theme. The Guigal/Bonny Doon corporate dinner in Boca Raton was a big success. Thirty guests enjoyed, and enthusiastically debated the merits of, three wines each from a leading Rhône producer and a leading producer of California Rhône-style wines. Verdict: the Guigals were gentler and more accessible, the BD’s, more structured. They, the G’s, had more ripe fruit and more oak, expected, as well as being heavier, with a more robust structure, unexpected. The Guigals on the other hand showed a pretty freshness that reminded me of strawberries and other red summer fruits. Six great wines with real, if subtle, differences.
