Interesting context here for those (like me) who don’t know much about the vineyard.
1 Like
And a little more…
Realistically yes. My (slightly wishful) guess was $150 as well, given that Oakville Farmhouse is up to $125 now. Either way, I love Cab Franc, so I will be un-Detert by the price tag…
3 Likes
Hey All- Sorry to be slow in response here, as those of you who listen to the podcast that should be going up later today will hear, I got hit with a round of preschool derived plague this week so have been a bit under the weather. The pod also features a wonderful conversation we had with Tom Garrett of Detert going into the deep history of the property and what makes it so special. For more context for the wine the rough draft of the release newsletter is below. It will be $195/bottle which for is obviously expensive by Bedrock standards but below almost all wines being made in the neighborhood and less than what the “beckstoffer” model suggests we should be pricing it at based on tonnage price. This is obviously a big swing for us but the chance to work with the oldest vines from what I consider to be the greatest Cabernet Franc site in the country was an opportunity we could not pass up on- and we are absolutely stoked on the wine. Cheers! -MTP
2025 Special Release- Detert Vineyard Cabernet Franc
Though we are releasing the inaugural vintage of Detert Cabernet Franc today it is actually a wine that has been over a decade in the making. Back in the early 2010s, on one of my first walk-arounds with Graeme MacDonald at his family’s MacDonald Vineyard in the heart of To Kalon, I remember him pointing out a block of vines just west of his property composed of wide-spaced vines up on an old-school quadrilateral trellising system. When I asked what it was he said “It’s my cousins’ Cabernet Franc planted in 1979.” Old vine Cab Franc in the middle of To Kalon?! A little while after that I was having lunch with a winemaker friend and he ordered a bottle of Detert Cabernet Franc; it was great and he noted it came from the old block “behind” Graeme’s place. Ever since then I looked longingly at the vineyard, stalking it on google earth, buying the wines when I could find them and every once in a while entertaining the possibility, however scant, that I might be able to work with it one day. A decade after seeing the vineyard for the first time, Graeme suggest I reach out to his cousin, Tom Garrett, about fruit.
Tom and I first walked the vineyard in late autumn of 2022, and it quickly became clear how much we had in common. First, it became immediately clear he was as much a lover of history and the importance of old vines, both qualitatively and spiritually as I was. When walking this part of To Kalon Vineyard you are thrust, refreshingly, back into the old school; Detert, like MacDonald next door, is one of the last islands of old vines in a mass of younger plantings. Walking with Tom, you could feel his reverence for the vineyard and the deep family history bonded with it. Oftentimes in California, and Napa more specifically, the rush to the modern, the new, and the “cutting edge” of the bonanza 1990s and 2000s bulldozed over wisdoms learned in the past. That is what makes these last pockets of vines that speak to the deeper history of site so important, and it was clear how much pride Tom took in being a custodian of one of Napa’s remaining jewels.
The history of the Detert “East Block” stretches even beyond its 1979 planting. Now among the oldest in the valley, the history extends further back as it was the first block of Cabernet Franc planted in Napa Valley by To Kalon owner Martin Stelling in 1949. Not only was it the first, it is also beautifully situated. Cabernet Franc, which can be prone to extremely high vigor, does best in soils that drain well and naturally temper its vegetative tendencies. Here, at the westernmost edge of To Kalon, at the base of the Mayacamas Mountains, where the alluvium is deep and particularly well-drained, Cabernet Franc is a perfect fit. If it was not a brilliant site for the variety, it would have been pulled out years ago for its more vogue-ish child, Cabernet Sauvignon. Indeed, as so many vineyards around it have been pulled out and replanted, the now 46-year-old Cabernet Franc is truly the rarest entity within one of the greatest vineyards in the world.
A young Robert Mondavi saw the quality of the fruit early on and first purchased it for his family’s Charles Krug Winery in 1961 and then persuaded Gunther Detert to sell the fruit to his fledgling namesake winery in 1966. Ever since 1966, it has been a critical component of the remarkable Mondavi To Kalon and Reserve wines that, for decades, defined the qualitative heights of Napa and made the region world famous. Indeed, outside of a small amount of fruit used by family—Gunther over the years and now Tom and his siblings—the fruit has never been available to anyone but Mondavi - one of the most legendary wineries in the world. That is, until the fall of 2022 when Tom told me that fruit “might” be available starting in 2023. A few months later it was confirmed—Bedrock would follow in Mondavi’s footsteps (foot trods?) and become the second outside winery to ever be entrusted with this fruit
After committing to the fruit, we then had a fundamental question on our hands. How do we make it? We knew that we wanted to stay true to Bedrock winemaking norms, striving for freshness and perfume with sun-laden California fruit—particularly important in capturing the fragrance and ineffable elegance of great Cabernet Franc. We also knew we were dealing with To Kalon fruit–a site that has never lacked for power—so figured that picking ripe was probably not going to get us where we wanted to be. What we realized quickly is that we were going to throw out the normal “Napa Cab” playbook of picking extremely ripe (28+ brix), complete destemming, and doing long elevage in smaller barrels. We decided to pick the vineyard in two passes—the first at 23.8 brix and the second a week later in the mid-24s. We were rewarded by the first lot having aromatics in spades and the second bringing breadth and richness in texture and mouthfeel. We included a small percentage of whole-cluster (about 12%) to help pop perfume and the variety’s spice character. Both lots were fermented in small, wood, open-top tanks utilizing pumpovers, and then the wine was aged in a combination of puncheons and smaller barrels. Though we did use some new oak, we utilized our lowest-impact barrels from Taransaud, Boutes, and Sylvain. In all of this, we were aided by a brilliant first vintage in 2023. Even picking at relatively low brix, it was one of the latest starts to picking in the vineyard’s history, allowing for wonderful flavor development and aromatic layering. We are thrilled with the results.
22 Likes
What will the drinking window on this be?
Love bedrock, but whew, $195
1 Like
I would be reluctant even at $95. I love Bedrock, great people, great wine, but $195 is too steep.
3 Likes
Certainly steep. For me there are two issues: if it is truly all East Block fruit, then the comparison is to Detert, which now charges $225. So, if you think Bedrock can make as good or better wine with that fruit, then it is worth it. But the second issue for me is the comment that the price is “below almost all wines being made in the neighborhood” - is that really the right way to look at this? Maybe, but maybe the fruit cost was much lower than most other neighbors. Placing a $195 price on a bottle because you can, or because it’s what others would charge, or what others are charging, is a different issue. Not trying to cause problems here - I love Bedrock and have over 200 bottles in my collection. If the Deterts said they would sell fruit with the condition that you charge a certain price, well, ok. But, I’d love to know that as part of the story.
1 Like
I am not going to buy any, but fwiw on the pod they said their margin on this bottle was within their normal range.
that can be misleading though - are they basing ’ their normal range’ on a percentage? A flat $ amount? If it’s a percentage, then obviously it’s far higher than their usual bottling
Margin is sort of intrinsically a %age right? So yeah probably higher dollar profit per bottle… but why would you expect them to put ~4x capital at risk to earn the same flat $ value/btl as they earn on their core field blend bottles?
5 Likes
No one is required to purchase. I’m genuinely confused as to why people are torqued over this. It’s To-Kalon fruit. Is the idea here that because it’s Bedrock, they shouldn’t charge anything over ‘x’ amount? Are people truly thinking that despite consistently offering value on their wines year after year, they’re somehow gouging on this one? Again, it’s To-Kalon fruit. That doesn’t come cheap. We all know this.
Maybe I’m just misunderstanding what people are saying?
17 Likes
Are people here torqued? Or just saying they aren’t buying?
1 Like
Yes
1 Like
People seem to want Bedrock Old Vine Cabernet Franc for $25.
The questioning up above of whether the fruit was truly expensive or whether it is really East Block fruit is distasteful. That’s pretty much throwing Morgan’s and Chris’ integrity under the bus. They don’t deserve that.
12 Likes
I don’t see anyone throwing Morgan and Chris under the bus. This is (1) a new Bedrock wine, (2) with a price well above Bedrock’s previous high water mark, (3) made from grapes from a Napa neighborhood that is notoriously expensive. How they landed at $195 is interesting, whether you intend to buy the wine or not.
This is a wine board. WTF else are we going to talk about.
Look up above a few posts for the “maybe, maybe not” BS.
You mean this?
Yeah, I don’t see that as “throwing Morgan’s and Chris’ integrity under the bus,” sorry. Morgan and Chris are big boys. Debating the price of their new $195 wine, which is 30-40% more expensive than anything else they’ve made before doesn’t seem like bullshit. It just seems like ordinary, benign WB discussion.
Personally, I’m not shocked by the price. Certainly, I didn’t expect them to sell Detert East Block for $25, and I don’t think anyone else here thought that either. When I first saw the news, I guessed that the price would be $175, and I hoped they’d keep it under $200.
2 Likes
Holy strawman, Batman!
Sounds like some people are too sensitive to anything that could possibly be construed as criticism by a board darling (even if it’s not)
2 Likes
I just think people need to look at reality. You’re not going to get wine from that site on the cheap, not even close.
4 Likes