Bradley N.
Yelp
Wines at Bedrock Wine Co. have got it pretty darn good. They are poured into Zalto Denk'Art Universal stemmed wine glasses so delicate you'd think they barely weigh anything at all. They are served on tiny wooden tables in tiny wooden rooms surrounded by large format portraits of the women and men who raised the grapes in the various vineyards from which they were sourced. They have incredibly detailed tasting notes prepared for them that are printed out separately for each flight and carefully displayed in leather bound jackets with a semi translucent paper liner (you can take the tasting notes home but not all the rest, obviously).
Each wine is like a child. Well, a child created from grapes harvested each year from some very old, deeply rooted vines that are older than Donald Trump in most cases, and even older than Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, too, if you must know.
The Peterson family from which the head winemaker, Morgan T-P., hails belongs to Sonoma County Zinfandel royalty, even if the fabled Ravenswood Winery and iconic wine label are no more (Thanks, Gallo. Thanks for nothing!). But Bedrock Wine Co. is more than simply the next generation of a well known and well respected wine making family. It's also an entirely new generation of innovative, audacious looking faces plus some incredible, hidden gem type places for sourcing superb grapes to make rather quite memorable wines: from places like the Alder Springs Vineyard In Mendocino County, the Wirz Vineyard In San Benito County, and the Hirsch Vineyard in the West Sonoma Coast, from which in this latter case an exquisite Blanc de Noir sparkling Pinot Noir wine ($85) is produced. Get a bottle if you still can.
My advice to all you old vine fanatics out there is that you shouldn't just come here for the Zinfandel heritage field blends. The ones I was able to try on my first visit were across the board distinctive and well made wines, if somewhat youthful upon release (2018 vintages, in this case). However, at the end of the leisurely, two hour tasting, I was tilting quite heavily towards the other wines in the ever shifting Bedrock Wine Co. portfolio - and that isn't just the generous pours of wine talkin' neither.
For example, the Sauvignon Blanc and the Sémillon/Sauvignon Musque whites are both pretty special, as is the Under the Wire Alder Springs Vineyard sparkling Pinot Noir. And the best red wines on the menu imo aren't even Zins at all, but rather the Syrahs, especially the Hudson Vineyard Carneros Syrah that our wine guide (a seasoned tasting room veteran and former Ravenswood manager) generously offered as a bonus pour at the end of our visit.
If you like the smells and sensations of bacon fat and rose petals drifting through campfire smoke on a cool autumn evening while eating grilled lamb kofta straight from the wooden skewer as you watch the sun set from an outdoor patio high up in the Mayacamas Mountains, well that's exactly the sort of time, place, and al fresco meal that your Hudson Vineyard "T'n'S Blocks" Carneros Syrah would pair well with.
And of course the "Hookster" historic angle is pretty cool, too, if you're into American Civil War generals and undocumented early immigration by East Coast white dudes to the "formerly known as the Bear Republic" U.S. State of California after it had been annexed by the feds in Washington, D.C. from the government of Mexico. Not that grape vines who are pushing 100 years of age care much about politics or military history. At least, that's what the wines tell me when I swirl my Zalto glass gently about, press my nose below the rim, inhale slowly, and listen.
In conclusion, please don't miss out on the Bedrock Wine Co. if you are anywhere near Sonoma Plaza (in Topeka, Kansas, for example) anytime in the next few decades. Also, OSO Sonoma only charges a $15 corkage fee for local wine, and a chilled 2016 Cuvee Karatas white wine goes great with Chef David Bush's famous Dungeness crab deviled eggs, his rockfish and king salmon ceviche, his Baja shrimp tacos, and a mixed dozen raw oysters from British Columbian and Baja Californian waters. Just in case you get hungry from all that fine sparkling and heritage wine.
And this part - unlike that Syrah at sunset lamb kofta BBQ thing in the Mayacamas Mountains mentioned earlier - really did happen! Really.
And you could ask Dave all about it, too, except he was sick that day and wasn't working the kitchen floor when I visited. Because if he had been there, I'd have poured him a glass of that Karatas heritage wine in, like, a heartbeat. Happy Five Year anniversary and all, if late by about three months (October 2019).
Not that the Sémillon and Sauvignon Musque grapes minded being a bit late for the party, either. That's what they told me, at any rate. And when have you ever known wine grapes to lie?
