My list:
Weill as an early drinker.
Griffin’s to cellar. Always one of the deepest, darkest Syrahs you’ll have. With age, they are just awesome.
The cab because Morgan makes good cabs.
Papera is a classic
Lulu is a hard to beat QPR
Limerick is a “different” take, but I like it.
Anything new like the Under the Mountain is worth trying.
The SB and Riesling are also good, if you are looking for summer whites.
Morgan - I see that the Sonoma Co. S-B will be offered - how many different bottlings of S-B will be offered this year? Cheers!
Thanks! This is only my second offering, so I appreciate the feedback.
Judge Vineyard is actually still fermenting, slowly, so if we make that it will get bottled in the summer. It is showing great promise but honestly is a bit hard to get a full read on because of fermentation character. We have some wine set aside for Staves of Waidhofen from Uboldi, which we typically blend with some Judge as well, but its making is a bit dependent on how Judge turns out. So, basically, I don’t know. It could be just this one, or if Judge begins to blossom and be its normal self after getting fully dry we could make it and/or S of W.
And as many already know, there will be no Cuvee Karatas for the foreseeable future as we lost our contract on the old Semillon at Monte Rosso. We are planting some Sem at Bedrock Vineyard this year (it was historically planted on the ranch but was pulled at some point) but that will obviously take some time to develop.
Cheers!
Indeed, also has gone to Qupe and Piedrassi. Absolutely beautiful stuff.
Here is the main body of the release for those that might need some bedtime reading!
The General Joseph Hooker House
“To tell the truth, I just lost confidence in Joe Hooker” –Joseph Hooker
But we have not. Well, at least not in regards to his former home.
We had no desire to open a tasting room. We are fortunate to sell most of our wine direct to you, and we have enough complications from farming and making wine to make life interesting. We have a close-knit winery family of six that work hard and in our free time ski, run, travel, cook, attend concerts and even do Pilates with each other. In short, the first decade of Bedrock has allowed a rather idyllic existence nearly free of Yelp reviews.
But then last Spring my lovely stepmom Mady forwarded an article from the paper saying the 1852 home of General Joseph Hooker on the Sonoma Plaza was up for rent for the first time in its history. Run for years by the local Preservation League, the group was only able to keep the beautiful little saltbox house and museum open for a few hours of a single day each week and was drifting into the red. Tucked into a charming little courtyard on the east side of the Sonoma Plaza, just a few dozen yards from the historic mission and barracks, the house rests in a shaded nook away from the bustle of Plaza foot traffic.
Though I had visited as a history-loving teenager, my previous visit to the house was in 2005 when I was trying to wrap my head around the vineyard my family had bought in the middle of Sonoma Valley. At the UC Berkeley Bancroft Library I had already found the deed given to Gen. Hooker by Gen. Vallejo for the stretch of land that included the contemporary Bedrock Vineyard at its core. At the house I learned more about the rather tempestuous Hooker: of his graduation from West Point in 1837, his battlefield promotions in the Mexican-American War, his time in California and failed partnership with another future Civil War commander, William “Tecumseh” Sherman, and his various Civil War victories and a major defeat at Chancellorsville at the hands of General Lee. I also learned that while it is popular to ascribe the salacious term “Hooker” to him due to his carousing and hard-drinking military camps, this is in fact not true as the term dates to before Hooker’s time. Trust me, I wish it were true – it makes for a great story.
Upon reflection and a lot of nervous conversation, Chris and I decided we should unite the wines of his former property and the Bedrock family who tends to them. In some ways, we felt a level of responsibility that the story of his time in Sonoma continued to be faithfully preserved as well. With that in mind, we will continue to use half of the space to curate, in partnership with the Preservation Society, a modest exhibit on the General and Sonoma Valley’s history. The other bantam size room and lovely little patio area will be used to host guests. The Patio itself looks to the back of the beautiful Blue Wing Inn, now only a landmark but once Hooker’s favorite watering hole. Though we are freshening the paint and putting in a few necessary items for wine service, we are trying to retain as much original detail as possible. To help us in the process we have brought in the lovely Kristin Wastell, who ran the Ravenswood tasting room for many years and is a person I have known and loved for literally decades.
Though we are taking our time to make sure everything is done right, we are hoping to start receiving guests by appointment sometime in April. In some small way I hope the revelrous Hooker would be happy to know that the wines from his former vineyard will flow again in his home. There will certainly be a large photo of him looking over the activities, ensuring everyone is having fun.
We will make another announcement when we are ready to start taking appointments so stay tuned!
“I have always stated that he probably abstained from the use of ardent spirits when it would have been far better for him to have continued in his usual habit in that respect” –Darius Couch, re: Joe Hooker
Desire Lines
In 2012 I met a young intern at Patz and Hall Winery named Cody Rasmussen. At the time, Bedrock was doing a lot of custom crush with P&H and this afforded us a lot of time to get to know the various interns and staff, see their work habits, and get a sense of where they wanted to go with their lives. Thoughtful, diligent, and constantly studying, Cody stood out. Though as genial as his western Iowa roots mandated, there was also a hunger and drive.
Raised in Orange City, Cody attended Williams College in Massachusetts where he fell in love with wine while spending a junior semester abroad. After graduating, he and his wife Emily moved to California in hopes of getting involved in the wine industry. Before working at Patz and Hall Winery, Cody, after applying to dozens of cellar jobs, had also done a stint at Balleto Estate in Russian River Valley (incidentally where he met our cellar master, Luke).
As fate would have it, Chris and I decided that we needed to build our own facility and signed a lease on a warehouse right after the 2012 harvest was over. Though in retrospect it seems a bit crazy that we offered a kid with two harvests under his belt and no V/E degree the assistant winemaker position, it somehow seemed natural at the time. It is among the best decisions we have made. Cody has flourished and runs the Bedrock cellar, along with Luke, like a well-oiled machine. There is nothing that we have asked him to do (and Chris and I have had some pretty crazy/stupid ideas!) that he has not been able to figure out. Our wines have gotten better because of his thoughtfulness and work ethic and our lives more sane. If Cody has become our right hand, his wife Emily has become our left – managing the build of our future tasting room at Hooker House, our new website and myriad other projects (she also works for the Historic Vineyard Society). They have also become dear friends, in a way that only those with whom you work long hours in lockstep and have shared many a meal and libation can become.
We are thrilled that Cody and Emily’s Desire Lines Wine Co. has reached maturity and is ready for the world. Though there is some overlap in vineyards with Bedrock, the Desire Lines Wines are very much of their own. There is perfume, elegance, and thoughtfulness imbued in every wine. Cody has his own rows at Griffin’s Lair Vineyard, sources fruit from Ann Kraemer’s magnificent Shake Ridge Vineyard in Amador County, was the one who found the 1974 plantings of Cole Ranch Riesling we started working with last year, and is starting to dabble with Evangelho Carignan. It has been an utter pleasure watching them scrimp, save, stress, learn, and ultimately find themselves in possession of beautifully made wines with their own label on them (I literally write that with tears in my eyes knowing exactly how thrilling that feeling is). We encourage people to sign up for the mailing list at http://www.desirelineswines.com.
And don’t worry, Cody and Em aren’t leaving Bedrock any time soon (I might be saying this more for Chris and myself!).
In conclusion, thank you for your continued support of Bedrock Wine Co… We look forward to receiving you on your next trip out but until then we hope you continue to enjoy the wines we are so proud to make.
Morgan Twain-Peterson MW and Chris Cottrell
I don’t know Cody well, but I know Emily. If she’s involved, Desire Lines will be an outstanding success!
Morgan - Your notes say that the 2014 Wirz Riesling is developing nicely. My two bottles are still sleeping away in the cellar. Is there continued upside potential and if so, when do you think I should check in on the first one? Cheers!
I posted notes on the 2011 Wirz Riesling.
Tom
Hey Tom- We had the 2016 Riesling in Santa Fe. We didn’t start making Wirz until 2014.
The 2014 is starting to really come into its own aromatically- showing a bit of pretty petrol and flower character. I would suggest you crack one and see how you like it and then make the decision on the second!
And just like that, if the wish lists hit, almost 3 cases…hard to show restraint on this offering
I’m out of space. Need to think on it a little to place a smaller order than usual.
Limiting is hard, but had to snag a whole bunch of Rose and a couple Griffin’s Lair. Will probably regret passing on Papera and Alder.
I’m old enough to remember when Morgan wasn’t putting all these 95 point scores in his release letters…
But I’m also old enough to remember that pricing has barely budged in 4-5 years, so I’ll be backing up the truck again.
Looks like there was a last minute sub of the Riesling for the Chuy Chard.
Not that scores matter, but those are some fine-looking scores.
Even ignoring the scores, between the old staple heritages and Griffins Lair (not to mention the yearly cab) and the new offerings, given the historical quality, it’s hard to say no to anything
the wide range of interesting wines available from Bedrock cause two simultaneous responses: desire to purchase all and to run for the hills and hide. very easy to fill the shopping cart with a frightening number of bottles. almost too easy.
In for a mixed 6-pack … too many interesting choices.