WS94 Greatest Sub-$25 Zin on Earth: Bedrock Old Vine

View as Webpage | View all offers

Sunday, August 27th, 2023

This gloriously perfumed, delicious, complex, case-worthy, and cellar-worthy Zinfandel is already on a Last Call.

This is a Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines SHOO-IN for the Top 15 as well as a 3rd appearance. It ranked #12 with a lower 93-point score only a few years ago.

"It is an outstanding value and would also be an outstanding wine to pour by the glass." —Jeb Dunnuck

Bedrock Wine Co. is without question the NEW Zin Cult Classic.

The drought year has resulted in their strongest vintage made to date.

All the Cellar Tracker reviews have only the utmost praise:

This is all business as usual from the son of Ravenswood Founder, Master of Wine, and valiant protector/champion of California's wine heritage,

Morgan Twain-Peterson:

Dear Artisans,

This is—and has always been—the best sub-$35 Zinfandel on the market. Full stop.

Even though this is their entry-level and least expensive wine, it's their most accessible to the public. Thus, they throw down BIG TIME to make a bold statement and blow everyone away. The average vine age in this wine is 80 years, and some parcels are over 130 years old, ALL from the finest vineyards you've heard of: PAGANI, PAPERA, TELDESCHI, EVANGELHO to name only a few.

Speaking of Evangelho, we we're down to the last 7 bottles of the 96-pt Single Vineyard. This vineyard is like a fairytale. Sitting in a decommissioned powerline plot, the vines were planted in the 1890s and are STILL on their original pre-phylloxera roots. This is literal California history in a glass, and damn is it amazing! Look at these photos of this vineyard... it's like a scene from a dystopian future world:

Both wines are already on the last call and we didn't want you to miss either of them.

We especially urge anyone that doesn't prefer Zins to experience these as they will completely change your opinion in one sniff-n-sip.

Cheers,

—James Tran

Bedrock Wine Co. Old Vine Zinfandel 2021

94 Points - Wine Spectator:

"Spry and briary, this Zinfandel is fun to drink, with lively black cherry, licorice and dried sage flavors, which take on richness and cracked pepper accents toward zesty tannins. Drink now through 2031. 4,000 cases made. " -Tim Fish (5/1/23)

92 Points - Jeb Dunnuck:

"Most of the fruit for the 2021 Zinfandel Old Vine comes from Sonoma. Ripe ruby hued, the wine is fresh with ripe berries and white pepper spice, as well as roses. Medium-bodied, with good structure, fresh acidity, and fine tannins, it has a fully dry style. It is an outstanding value and would also be an outstanding wine to pour by the glass. Drink it over the next few years." -AF (7/2023)

From the Winemaker:

This is one of the strongest Old Vine Zinfandel bottlings we have made to date albeit a slightly different blend composition due to one of Mother Nature’s curveballs. The main contrast this year is that one of usual main elements of the blend—Esola Vineyard from Amador County—was picked early for rosé to avoid potential smoke issues from nearby wildfires. As a result, the blend leans more heavily into fruit from Sonoma and Contra Costa counties. Fruit from the great Teldeschi Ranch comprises just over 20% of the blend, followed by Beeson, Sodini, Nervo, Dommen, Pagani, Papera, Evangelho, Pato, Katushas’ and Bedrock—aka, a pretty sweet set of vineyards going into our most entry level bottling. The finished blend is 85% Zinfandel with 7% Carignan, 4% Cinsault and bits and bobs of Grand Noir, Petite Sirah, Alicante Bouschet and other field-blended varieties. As usual, the average vine age is around 80 years old, which makes this truly an “old vine” cuvee. Our goal is always to make a wine that reflects what we love most about Zinfandel in California: to showcase its great fruit but also its spice, energy and freshness. Hailing from a drought year, this wine has an added degree of intensity to it that will make it great for early consumption or a little time sideways in the cellar.

The last 3 cases of the vintage

Release Price: ~~$35.00~~

Online Average: ~~$27.00~~

Ours $24.97

Order link

Bedrock Wine Co. Evangelho Vineyard Heritage Red 2021

96 Points - Jeb Dunnuck:

"From Zinfandel grown in the pure sand soils of this incredible site, the 2021 Evangelho Vineyard Heritage is lifted and pure with raspberry liqueur, fresh flowers, and brushy earth. Medium-bodied, with a highly refined structure, it reveals a floral perfume of herbes de Provence and rose petals that lasts long after the wine has dissipated. With fine tannins and a gorgeous, sandy mineral texture, it’s a beautiful wine to drink over the next 10 or more years." -Audrey Frick (07/23)

94 Points - Vinous:

"The 2021 Evangelho Heritage Wine is dark, sensual and wonderfully expressive. Blue fruit, spice, lavender and leather all meld together in this beautifully layered Zinfandel-based field blend. The 2021 possesses unreal complexity and depth, with much of its intensity coming from punishingly low yields. The 2021 is simply fabulous." Antonio Galloni (1/23)

94 Points - Wine Spectator:

"Dynamic and generous, this blend offers tiers of cassis and bright cherry flavors accented by anise, rose petal and green peppercorn. Sails on the supple finish toward briary tannins. Zinfandel, Mataro and Carignan. Drink now through 2031. 500 cases made." Tim Fish (5/1/23)

Vineyard planted in 1890s: Zinfandel, Mataro and Carignan though it also contains bits and bobs of Alicante Bouschet, Grand Noir, Mission, Palomino and even a single, ancient Clairette Blanche vine (definitely had to go to the DNA to ID that one!)