Style & taste
Pour a glass and the first thing you notice is the color: dense, saturated, purple-edged. The aromas lean juicy and dark — black cherry, blueberry, plum and fig — lifted by violet florals and a dusting of sweet spice like allspice. Most Bonarda sees little or no oak, which keeps that fruit front and center; when oak is used, you might catch a whiff of cigar box or cocoa.
On the palate it is medium-bodied and smooth, with a big pop of fruit, soft tannins and refreshing acidity. That combination — low tannin, high acidity, loads of fruit — is what makes it so easy to drink and so flexible at the table.
For years this profile got Bonarda typecast as a blending grape and bulk-wine workhorse. That is changing. A growing number of producers are taking it seriously, choosing better sites and gentler winemaking to bottle Bonarda on its own as a genuinely characterful, premium red. (The same grape, as Charbono in California, has its own small cult following.)
