Bedrock Fall Release Preview Picnic

WINE TALK
1

I had the opportunity to attend the Bedrock Fall Preview Picnic on Saturday at the Bedrock Vineyard in Sonoma. Morgan and Chris pulled out all the stops and showed us a great time. Got to spend some quality time with friends, Berserkers, wines and food.

Chef Yann Nury flew out from New York and served up some righteous bites, we got to taste through 6 of the soon to be bottled offerings from Bedrock as well as some Lulu and a host of other wines brought by attendees. Was a glorious day hovering around 90 degrees and the setting can’t be beat. Smack dab in the middle of a historic vineyard. Just a great day all around.

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In addition there were a number if other wines brought. A few of which we had the opportunity to sample.
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Who says Zinfandel does not age? This Swan which is a blend of 80% Fratti (Dolinsek) Ranch and 20% Stellwagon was my WOTD. Just fabulous.
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Larry P brought the 2010 Lulu vs Lulu
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The En Tirage was interesting. Nice secondary flavors of apple and pear mixed with some funk and teeny tiny bubble. Drink up now.
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If it wasn’t for the Swan this would have stole the day for me. Wow!
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So young, so much promise, nice structure and will age well.
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The crowd.
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Our hosts!
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The setting.
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2

Nice post. What are your thoughts on the upcoming Bedrock offerings?

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Go long, go deep. The problem I have with this picnic is that it sewed up the fact that I can’t pass on anything. In particuar the Compagni Portis, Kirschenmann, Bedrock and Sodini stood out. The spice notes on the Bedrock were incredible.Good luck!

Oh, there was a Pagani table as well but I missed the photo somehow.

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Nice job Brian, enjoyed seeing you guys! It was a treat for me to tasted the Kirschenmann.

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+1 there was no hope of narrowing down the choices, since everything showed so well. Stars for me? Bedrock Heirloom, Kirschenmann, Compagni Portis… unfortunately the Pagani Ranch was gone before I got over there.

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Thanks for the notes and photos! Was very sorry to miss this event. Sounds like the 2012s are going to put a hurting on my bank account.

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I would love to hear more about the Kirschenmann. I haven’t been particularly enthralled with Lodi Zins on the whole in the past, but this one sounds like it has a more refined style?

Also, any idea when the next release will drop? Need to start selling plasma now…

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I missed this (my fault on missing ticket purchase) to clean my house. My wife is happy about it.

Brian: Great post.

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We were stuck too celebrating our oldest’s b-day. Would have loved to have hung out.

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Kirschenmann is own rooted, planted on 40’ banks of sand. The fruit is high toned with great red berry notes, ample acidity and soft tannins. Not your fathers Lodi Zin.

The fall release usually hits around mid-July.

11

Correct me if I’m mistaken, but I thought Morgan was planning to delay his releases some to allow for the wines to get some additional bottle age so they will show better on release.

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Definitely true, but there are a lot of bottlings now. I expect Morgan and Chris are tasting to decide what goes out this fall. All the zins we tasted were young but open for business. Compagni Portis used to be a Spring release, but now sits an extra several months (and seems better for it, despite the odd timing for what should be a Summer wine).

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I’ll wait for him to chime in but he’s busy building a winery right now. I’m not sure he can afford to not release his wine.

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An interesting question. But fwiw, as Larry was saying, these were very expressive and open anyway. Only the Pagani struck me as something I wouldn’t open right now. It’s great as always, just not as early as everything else.

Great meeting you guys btw.

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It was so nice to see so many friends out at the vineyard on Saturday. I think Chris has found a new tradition, though he set the bar high by bringing Yann in to do the cooking! We definitely learned a few things as well that should make next year’s even better- like keeping red wine cool on a warm day, perhaps laying out the initial tasting a little better, etc. etc. That said, we had a great time and hope others felt the same way.

Regarding the release question, yes, I am planning on phasing the releases a little bit differently. There is no set rule of how I am going to do this except by taking each wine on its own merits and deciding when to bottle and release based on that. Across the board the 2012 wines are softer and more forward then their 2011, 2010, and 2009 counterparts. Also, with the additions of vineyards planted on sandy soils, and the corresponding softer structure, such as Evangelho and Kirschenmann, there are a few more wines that are, year in and out, going to be a bit more forward. I am leaning towards releasing Compagni Portis, Evangelho Heritage, Kirschenmann Zinfandel, Sodini Ranch Zinfandel, Sonoma Valley Old-Vine Zinfandel, and potentially the Bedrock Heritage wine for the Fall Release (coming August). The remaining Heritage Wine and Zins will be scattered across the Winter and next Spring Release depending on how they continue to develop in barrel. Of the 2012 Syrah’s, Hudson Vineyard is the most forward with Griffin’s and Alder needing quite a bit more time in barrel.

As for Kirschenmann, it (along with Sodini) is probably the wine that I am most excited about this release just because of it’s uniqueness. The problem with many Lodi wines comes down to the culture of farming that dominates the region- heavy irrigation, not enough canopy work, etc… Kirschenmann is dry-farmed on silica rich soils in one of the coolest parts of Lodi (if you check the weather on a daily basis like I do you will notice that Victor tracks right alongside Calistoga and St. Helena). It, along with Evangelho, are probably the two most lithe and pretty wines from 2012- and yes, they are from the “hot” areas of Contra Costa and Lodi.

16

Great read. Thanks Morgan!

August email allows a little more time to start saving.

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Plus legend has it Victor was once “administrated” by local Co sheriffs and a motorcycle club, the possible inspiration for Sons of Anarchy.

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From a Sons of Anarchy reference to more than a few tantalizing thoughts and impressions on some upcoming Bedrock releases. And this is why I love Wine Berserkers! Sorry I missed the gathering, Morgan. We keep throwing fires down here. So far shaping up to be a rough wildland fire season for us.

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We were sad to miss this, even more so now after seeing some of the excellent stuff being poured.