2018 Under the Wire, Chardonnay, Brut Sparkling Wine, Sangiacomo Vineyard, Carneros AVA, Sonoma County.
It’s the mission of Under the Wire’s Chris Cottrell, a partner in Bedrock Wine Co, to make California sparkling wines based on individual vineyards, like this fabulous grower producer inspired Sangiacomo Vineyard Sparkling Chardonnay bottling, that also highlight the influence of an individual year, as this cool vintage shows. The first vintage of Under The Wire sparkling wine was in 2011 and there’s been a wide range vineyards and varietals seen here from Riesling to Zinfandel, but this traditional method 2018 Sangiacomo Vineyard bubbly is by far my favorite by Cottrell, it rivals top notch Champagne, this is right up there, in my opinion, with the best of California sparkling wine. I have been tasting some excellent grower producer Champagne and Sparkling Wines, so I went into tasting this one with a tuned up palate, making this wine even more impressive, it delivers loads of quality and character, being luxurious and deep in flavors, but with a dry steely nature and elegance. This 2018 Sangiacomo Vineyard Sparkling Chardonnay starts with crisp apple, pear, white peach, golden fig, lemon preserve and quince like fruits, along with clove spice, bread dough, saline, a touch of earth, white flowers and leesy nuttiness. The vibrant and creamy mousse is perfectly matched to the acidity, richness and complexity here, this is very rewarding stuff that will appeal to a wide audience and can be easily match up to cuisine. The Under the Wire wines are obviously limited in production and have gained a following, so it is best to get on Cottrell’s mailing list, but I do encourage you to look for this one in particular.
The Bedrock Wine Co, as noted here in my prior reviews, was started in 2007 by winemaker and Master of Wine Morgan Twain-Peterson, son of the legendary Zinfandel maker Joel Peterson of Ravenswood fame, and his partner Chris Cottrell, who also has his Under the Wire label, featuring unique sparkling wines, such as this one. The winemaking here at Bedrock remains faithful to their beliefs, made with simple low intervention traditional methods that showcase the vineyards first and foremost with Morgan Twain-Peterson MW saying “overly sculpted by activist winemakers tend to be less satisfying and soulful gustatory experiences..” Of which I totally agree and is a reason why that his and Chris’ winery has been elevated to the top echelon of California wine. For this bottling, Cottrell says he’s trying to showcase California terroir with this all Chardonnay Blanc de Blancs, and that he wanted to work with some fruit from an archetypal vineyard, and though the Sangiacomo Vineyard is actually a lot of different vineyards he decided to work with a unique block that was planted in 1982 known as “Catarina’s.” He adds that not only do the old vines produce dynamic and wonderful fruit, they are also located on the other side of the creek from the original Ravenswood winery, where Morgan’s dad got his start. There’s a committed group of traditional method Champagne style producers making some incredible small lot and hand crafted yeasty single vineyard sparklers, including Michael Cruse, Samantha Sheehan of Poe Wines and Caraccioli, to name a few, and it is great time to discover them and these Under the Wire wines.
($60 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive