2018 Bedrock Wine Company, Zinfandel “Old Vine” California.
Coming from some of California’s oldest and most historic vineyard sites the Bedrock Wine Company Old Vine Zinfandel always drinks with prestigious pleasure and deliciousness, as this 2018 vintage does in joyous detail with smooth and full bodied dark fruits, spice and floral tones. Morgan Twain-Peterson, who grew up around Zinfandel as the son of Joel Peterson, one of the most famous figures in California’s wine history that founded Ravenswood and brought Zinfandel to the masses and is still a major voice for the state grape, made his first wine as a young child and has become one of America’s great wine thinkers, he recently became a Master of Wine and has made Bedrock one of California’s top producers. In 2017 Twain-Peterson passed the fabled Master of Wine examination, becoming one of just forty-five MWs residing in the United States and according to the winery, one of only two California winemakers with that incredible qualification. Bedrock Wine Co. was started in 2007 with Morgan and his partner Chris Cottrell, a close friend from Twain-Peterson’s time in New York City when he was studying America History at Columbia University and thinking of getting a PhD, after he finished college at Vasser. Twain-Peterson and Cottrell has got a great team at Bedrock with rising stars Cody Rasmussen of Desire Lines Wine Co. and Luke Nio of Filomena Wine Company in the cellar and the wines are all rock stars, especial the Heritage lineup, led by the historic Bedrock Vineyard, originally founded back in 1854 and vines that date back to 1888 in Sonoma Valley and the Evangelho Vineyard in Contra Costa County, a recent purchase by Twain-Peterson that was planted on the delta sands in 1890s.
The 2018 vintage Old Vine Zinfandel, which shows the years wonderful depth and freshness, is a blend of 85% Zinfandel sourced from vines that are at least 80 years old and as Twain-Peterson notes, filled out with some Mataro (Mourvedre), Grenache, Alicante Bouschet, Carignan, Petite Sirah, as well as tiny amounts of the many other mostly rare black grape varieties that can be found in California’s older, multifarious vineyards. Many of Bedrock’s most venerable vineyards contribute to this wine, including Bedrock, Teldeschi, Esola, Pagani, Papera, Evangelho and Pato, plus fruit coming from other old vineyards throughout the California. This tasty stuff has layers of blackberries, plum, crushed raspberry, cherry and ripe currants along with touches of cinnamon, cedar, anise, lavender and a welcome burst of natural acidity. This dark purple/garnet hued Old Vine Zinfandel is polished and luxurious, but has touches of earth and savory elements that add complexity and is very well balanced, it gets better and better as it opens up in the glass and it goes great with everything from burgers to BBQ pork, as well as Tuesday night pizza or a picnic. The wines at Bedrock Wine Company, and this one, comes from small lots of grapes that were mostly de-stemmed and extra carefully sorted for quality with fermentation(s) that employ indigenous or native yeasts and classic winemaking techniques with the wines aging mostly in used French oak barrels. 2018 is a particularly outstanding vintage for this wine and it is absolutely fabulous now, no need to wait on this one, this winery is rocking it right now, these Zins are on par with the very best the state has to offer like Turley, Ridge, and Biale to name a few, drink up!
($25 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive