One of my personal favorites from the Bedrock line up is their Zinfandel Old Vine. From the first time I tasted it as a mailing list recipient, I have bought it every year. There’s something extra special about it, its texture, its amazing fruit, its incredible balance. Never heavy handed, never candied, or soupy, it’s simply one of the finest of its kind. But for 2019, there’s an even bigger story to tell! To let you in on the secret, I’m turning to Antonio Galloni at Vinous magazine and the wine maker himself, Morgan Twain Peterson MW. You’re gonna want this one!
“Morgan Twain-Peterson MW and Chris Cottrell turned out a dazzling set of 2019s…. In the 2019 reds, readers will find aromatic, bright wines with terrific energy… More importantly, the Bedrock wines provide a fabulous opportunity to explore the nuances of many top Sonoma sites. Stated another way, the quality of the vineyards is especially apparent in 2019, a year with a bit of rain in the spring that caused berries to size up. Lastly, readers won’t want to miss the Zinfandel Old Vine. Twain-Peterson and Cottrell were a bit wary of the of the wine market during the pandemic and were consequently especially stringent with the lots that were bottled as vineyard designates. Everything else went into the Zinfandel Old Vine, to its benefit, and yours.”
– Antonio Galloni, January 2021
2019 Old Vine Zinfandel:
“It is hard to say that anything has benefited from the COVID situation, but perhaps one thing is the 2019 Old Vine Zinfandel. We already tend to pack some pretty great vineyard sources into this bottling, but our bearish approach to the 2019 vintage means that a lot of juice that normally would have gone into our vineyard-designated wines has trickled down into this offering. The fulcrum of this wine is based around our estate vineyards, with much of it coming from Bedrock (planted in 1888), Nervo (1896), and Sodini (1905) in Sonoma County along with Evangelho (1890s) and Katushas’ (1915), with the remainder coming from Teldeschi, Pagani, Old Hill, and Enz Vineyard. If anything, I am a bit concerned this might be too serious for the price point, but I suppose there are better things to lose sleep over. Raised in a wide variety of French and Austrian barrels, puncheons, and foudres (about 10% new) and only racked at bottling, this wine has a dark core of perfumed, dense fruit. This is a classic California Zinfandel and will go down as one of the best Old Vine bottlings we have made.”
– Morgan Twain Peterson MW
2019 Bedrock Wine Co. Old Vine Zinfandel
The 2019 Zinfandel Old Vine is gorgeous. Bright acids and floral overtones perk up the red berry fruit in a Zinfandel that delivers the goods, and plenty more. Bright and beautifully layered, the 2019 hits all the right notes. Then again, it is a blend of stellar sites, including Bedrock, Nervo, Sodini, Evangelho, Katushas’, Teldeschi, Pagani Ranch and Old Hill. Because of the COVID pandemic and uncertain short-term economic outlook, the 2019 includes quite a bit of wine that in more normal times would he bottled in the vineyard designates. Stated simply: buy as much as you can.
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
2019 Bedrock Wine Co. Old Vine Zinfandel
$24.98