Bedrock Heritage blends: general advice around drinking window?

After reading positive notes here and in other areas, I thought I’d jump in and give Bedrock’s Heritage blends a try. I bought a smattering four-pack (a retailer had some here locally, which drove my purchase choices), but I don’t have a good feel about whether or not these should be aged, or if they’ll give pleasure now. I bought one each of the following:

2017 Bedrock Wine Co. Bedrock Heritage Wine Sonoma Valley
2016 Bedrock Wine Co. Heritage Wine Evangelho Vineyard Contra Costa County
2016 Bedrock Wine Co. Heritage Wine Pagani Ranch Sonoma Valley
2017 Bedrock Wine Co. Lorenzo’s Heritage Dry Creek Valley

Up until now, I’ve only ever had the Old Vines Zin, and the 2017 struck me as needing a few years. What guidance (generally speaking) do those of you have who’ve enjoyed ANY Bedrock Heritage blends?

They’re plenty enjoyable now. I do think they all will reward aging, but there’s no sense in not trying them. Maybe you’ll find that you have a favorite or two and buy those for the cellar.

Definitely pop one to try. If you want some older stuff, I think winebid still has some up this week.

I think they’re much improved with some age, personally.

If you’re interested, I posted recently about how easily and inexpensively one can obtain aged versions of the Bedrock wines at retail.

https://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2892156#p2892156

I’m with Chris on this - 5+ years of aging really makes these shine, IMO.

I’ve had the 2016 Evangelho 3 times over the past two months and with 1-2 hours of air, it’s drinking beautifully right now. The 2017 Lorenzo’s is probably the most structured of the ones you picked up and maybe needs another 1-2 years to hit prime time.

Thanks, All. I’ll see about sourcing some with age and use those as a guide.

I believe Bedrock is doing a mailing tomorrow with older vintages to be had.

I would definitely open one up and give it some air and see what you think of the style though. know that it will improve with some age but its worth giving one a shot young too

Good idea. Best candidate of the above four for this?

Any of them should be good with air.

Of those, I think the Evangelho is most ready and would be delicious, but also the least similar to the other 3 (Contra Costa vs. Sonoma). I’m guessing the Lorenzo is least likely to show well at this stage (but I haven’t tried this vintage yet). Pagani and Bedrock would be good with some air.

If you want to see what Bedrock is all about, I’d throw the Bedrock Heritage into a decanter and follow it over the course of a long evening.

Hey Brandon- So happy you tracked some of these down! If it were me I would try the Evangelho and Bedrock first, with a multiple hour decanting, as they are our two estate sites and also very different in terms of weighting and texture. Evangelho is planted in sand and tends to be on the more elegant, fine-grained, side while Bedrock has a bit more heft and structure. Lorenzo’s and Pagani are two of the longest lasting wines we make and tend to be darker toned and a bit less expressive in their youth- though if I had to choose between them I would go with the Lorenzo’s for all the Dry Creek fruit weight. Hope that helps! -M

Boom. From the man himself:

I would second Bedrock and Evanghelo. With a special little bit of lean towards Bedrock because I think it’ll give you the best idea of what these guys are doing with fruit they’ve been in control of and farming themselves on their home turf in the Sonoma Valley.

Obviously gotta go with the reco from the guy that makes the wine, ha! That being said, I would keep in mind that Evangelho has a completely different flavor profile compared to the other wines (not my favorite despite how much I want to love it because of the amazing story). So if you do open that one first, just know that it’s a bit different than most of their other Heritage blends, and that its definitely worth trying the rest of the lineup no matter how you feel about Evangelho

*I also echo Matt’s sentiments on Bedrock Heritage. Year in/out one of my favorites!

This is awesome stuff…thank you all. Thanks for chiming in, Morgan! I’ll plan to pop and decant the Bedrock sometime very soon.

for the record, if you are in on the current release that happens tomorrow, the 2018s Heritage blends are crazy good. not to mention, the California Syrah is always either my pick for best QPR wine of the year or right at the top. that’s one of the only wines anywhere around that I know regardless of what else I buy, I’m in for at least 6 of those every time its released.

All the heritage blends would probably be ideal with 5 years of age on them. Nonetheless, they are great now and most likely would hold for many years with all the different varietals that comprise the end product.

I agree that you gotta go with the guy who makes the stuff.
Which brings me to my favorite subject: Mike Officer (Carlisle) lists on his website drinking windows for all of his wines. Golly, I wish Bedrock would do the same. Yes, I know, drinking windows are far from perfect. But inquiring minds want to know. I open a bottle of Bedrock almost every evening, and I feel lucky to have enough in my basement to be able to do that, but I could manage my collection/consumption better if I knew what the winemaker’s drinking window was.
Phil Jones

another vote for 5+ years

If you’re really ambitious, open them all now and do side-by-side comparisons (yes, I know they are different vintages). Do the decant as Morgan said. Though they are all field blends, it is fun to see how different the wines can be. Plus you’ll get a sense of which vineyards you may prefer for future drinking.