Lodi: A Kouple of ‘12 Kirschenmann Zins from Arnot-Roberts and Bedrock

WINE TALK
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Kirschenmann is a historic, 99-year old, sandy, silica-rich Lodi vineyard proximate to the Mokelumne River owned by Tegan and Olivia Passalacqua. The vineyard’s unique feminine style makes it a perception-buster for Lodi.

Kirschenmann fruit is now going to a number of premium Zin producers and I had an opportunity to taste the full array last January at Zap.

From the ZAP tasting, I remembered the 14.6% abv Bedrock as being one of the standouts, while the 12.5% Arnot-Roberts was something of a stylistic outlier.

Both wines are a nearly indistinguishable, bright strawberry red in color. Aromatically, the Bedrock is the more expressive at this point, with bright red fruit and floral overtones. On the palate, the Bedrock comes off as the deeper of the two at this point, highlighted by strawberry, red cherry, and apple. The A-R, which has filled out since ZAP, is slightly less sweet, but very vibrant, focused and long. They should both benefit from further aging, but are great now.

Both wines are outstanding, very distinctive takes on Lodi Zinfandel. It will be fun to follow this vineyard as interpreted by some of the California’s best Zin producers in coming vintages!
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I’m doin’ this tasting, + Carlisle and Turley, in about 5 years. Come up up man!

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Glenn, I’m holding on to a few bottles of each for that tasting!

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I’m doing the Bedrock, Carlisle, Turley comparison this fall. [cheers.gif]

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Love the Turley, have gone through a few 2012s and has really turned my thoughts around about the “new” Turley.

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Have had the Bedrock & the Carlisle side-by-side.
I find many of the Lodi OV Zins a bit on the earthy/mushroomy side, w/ overripe fruit, sorta kinda soupy. I was quite taken by the
Bedrock & Carlisle renditions as showing more brightness of fruit, a lighter hand, yet still a tad of the earthy/mushroomy Lodi terroir.
It’s sorta like how they’d make Lodi Zin in DryCreekVlly if they could!!!
Tom

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Count me in on the next tasting! I think we’ll be doing one in the east bay within the next year

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As the evening progressed, the A-R got silly good. Really layered and precise. This wine (I believe) is whole cluster, a technique not common with Zin. Can’t wait to check back on the A-R in several years.

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Mike, had the Bedrock last night…great minds lol.

Completely agreed on the strawberry notes and I also noted raspberries along with a touch of graham cracker. The nose was a little less pronounced than a few months ago and it didn’t show as much of the herbaceous notes (which I love)…got 3 bottles left, not touching another until next summer or beyond. The A-R sounds lovely, I really need to try their wines. Whole cluster Zin sounds like something I’d very much enjoy.

Thx again for the notes!

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I’m a bit of a vineyard junkie w/r/t understanding location. Mokelumne River is a bit of a snakey mess, and couldn’t follow it well to see if I could find the vineyard on Google maps. What’s it close to, proximate to Rt 12 and I-5?

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Victor, CA is the town and vineyard is off Bruella Rd.

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If there is room at the table Id love to come too

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Summer of 17, you boys are both invited to the OR coast!

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Yeah, I wasn’t anywhere close to that. [oops.gif]

Interesting stretch of vineyards. Looks like a mix of some heavy replanting and serious old vine. Dry sandy soils probably good for vine health and longevity in the hands of the right people. Any other sites of interest in that area?

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In the words of the Four Tops;

“I’ll be there!”


Cheers! champagne.gif
Marshall

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I believe Bedrock Katusha is right there next to Kirschenmann.

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Count me in +1 :slight_smile:

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Yep, Katusha is directly to the north. Turley’s Dogtown is not far, but IIRC it’s on the other side of the river which puts it in a totally different type of soil. Lots of potential for greatness in the area, but the condition of sites like Katusha before Bedrock picked it up, shows that much of it doesn’t get the TLC it deserves.