Tuesday, August 5.
thanks Chris,
Looking forward to the release letter. Always an informative read.
I was not aware of a Bedrock Carignan (see link below). Can anyone elaborate? Tn(s) much appreciated.
I’ve had this wine a couple times and it’s pretty nice - I don’t have any notes in my archives but I recall bright blue and red fruits, spice, and strong acidity. This is AFAIK not a regular bottling, but the case where the 2012 vintage hung enough Carignane to hold out a few barrels on its own. This is from the release letter:
2012 Bedrock Vineyard Carignane, Sonoma Valley: Carignane from Bedrock has long been one of the “secret ingredients” in the Bedrock Heritage Wine. In 2012 we had enough of it that we could keep four barrels of it separate (something we hope to do every year but the final Heritage wine ends up demanding it). Personally, I adore Carignane in its spicy, bright, beauty. My favorite description of the wine comes from the wine writer Elaine Hawk Wakawaka (whose website is well worth regular reading!), who said of a glass pulled from cask “it’s all women from another planet wrestling tigers in here.” Drinking Window 2014-2020 $34.
Bedrock generously donated a couple bottles to Falltacular where it was one of the standouts on the Rhone table for me. It was poured at a winemaker dinner beside the 2012 Bedrock Heritage wine which for me made the Carignane seem a little on the simple side, but that’s probably ok and to be expected.
This will be my first release on the general list (was a late add last release). How many bottles can I expect? Also, how would you compare/contrast Bedrock with Carlisle?
Having now had a great number of wines from both, I would perhaps characterize Bedrock as being a bit more high-toned than Carlisle. That’s not to say the wines are less structured or lighter, indeed they can be quite intense and concentrated depending on cuveé…they just seem to have a bit more lifted acids and perhaps veer more on the wild/edgy side than Carlisle. I also believe the majority of Morgan’s wines are generally less accessible on release than Mike O’s (although it’s always best to give the wines from both producers 6-12+ months imho). The 2012s from Bedrock, especially the SVD Zins, simply need aging; imho, the only 2012 that seems to be in a great spot for drinking now is the 2012 Papera…and even then, it will still only be better by next summer.
Ymmv on all this, of course.
Either way, Bedrock and Carlisle sit among the top of CA wine and you really can’t go wrong.
^This^ pretty much nails it IMO.
I bought Bedrock for the first/last time with the '10 vintage. I’m back in again for this release. IIRC, Bedrock is a vintage ahead of Carlisle on release. I didn’t buy after that first vintage of Bedrock because I thought they were painfully young. I don’t know if anything has changed since, but I’m going into this purchase assuming these need more rest than most of my Cali purchases. I expect a year of aging on Bedrock will result in parity with current release Carlisle. I’ll test that theory over the next two years. Regardless, can’t go wrong with either - killer wines at a great price. Two masters of the QPR universe!
Virtually all red wines benefit from some age. I’m drinking 2008’s now and they are still young and fresh.
I might be a baby killer but I love the Bedrocks young, they are dynamic and powerful
Now of course they are not as integrated and the fruit and tannins do fight a little but I love the overall freshness of a good zin. Having said this I do open them before work to give them approx. 12 hours to breathe
FIFY 
After enjoying a couple of the '11 SV’s on release I decided to tempt fate and try my first '12. 3 words of advice for you - don’t do it.
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2012 Bedrock Wine Co. Heritage Wine Pagani Ranch - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley (7/25/2014)
What an absolute beast of a wine. After an hour in the decanter it still wouldn’t give up a hint of it’s character and was a totally non-descript wine that really could have been anything. After 4 hours it began to unwind a little bit and timidly released a bouquet with some blackberry and menthol notes. In the mouth this is viscous with a tannic grip that hardly lets the fruit peek out at all. From the clues that the wine will give you at this point you can tell this is absolutely loaded with lush dark fruits, but at this point they are all crammed into a package so tight that only bottle age will be able to unwrap it.
Posted from CellarTracker
Thanks for the note. Yeah, I opened one of these the other night and left it in the decanter for two days and it was showing better. That said, Pagani Ranch is always the darkest, densest, and most backwards of the Heritage Wines irrespective of vintage. Of the 2012’s I think the Dolinsek, Kirschenmann Zin, Sodini and Old Vine are all showing pretty nicely with some decanting.
We drank a '12 C-P yesterday. It’s doing extremely well. Better structure and definition on the palate than months ago and with the same effusive aromatics you’d expect. Definitely puts me in the mood for the next rendition.
Glad to hear, as I’ve managed to hold off on opening any '12 Pagani yet. I need to get them to offsite so they don’t tempt me at all.
I had great results with Dolinsek, Sodini & Old Vine as well when I opened them, too. Good results with Kirschenmann, but felt like that was a bit less ready than the others. Very much looking forward to seeing all of these develop over the years.
Man, these old-vine wines reward, and really need, patience. Even the “humble” '13 rosé we opened last week was better after 3 days. Though enologists may not know why (at least to my knowledge), there seems to be something intrinsic to old-vine wines that makes their evolution much slower. Wonder if anyone else has had this observation, or perhaps an explanation for it?
Morgan, can we ask to see your write up on the wines that will be included in the offering a day early?
+1 Yes, pretty please.
+2 pretty pretty please