(Photo Left to Right: Aiste Ballou, Chris Cottrell, Emily Rasmussen, Joel Peterson)
Our visit with Mike and Kendall Officer of Carlisle Winery was only the start of our informal Historic Vineyard Tour.
Emily Rasmussen is the Executive Director of the Historic Vineyard Society and is in addition co-owner of Desire Line Wines Co. with her husband Cody. Cody is also Director of Winemaking Operations at Bedrock Wine Co. When we were exchanging emails with Emily to set up a visit with her to taste some of the Desire Line wines, we mentioned we were also trying to set up visits to taste Bedrock’s wines as well as connecting with Joel Peterson of Once & Future Wines. (You may remember Joel as the founder of Ravenswood. His nickname as the “Godfather of Zinfandel” is well deserved.) Emily graciously offered to set up a tasting of all three wineries out at the Bedrock Vineyard.
Bedrock Wine Co. was started by Morgan Twain-Peterson MW in 2007. Two things are worth noting right away. The MW means Master of Wine – Morgan is one of the first California winemakers to achieve this distinction. And yes, he is the son of the aforementioned Joel Peterson. The apple didn’t fall far from that tree. Or should we say “the grape didn’t fall far from that vine”? In fact, Morgan made his first wine at the ripe old age of five – we (jokingly) forgive him for it being a Pinot Noir. We especially forgive him due to his mission at Bedrock Wine Co. to produce vintages from California’s old vineyards and his work with the HVS.
Bedrock does have a tasting room in the historic General Joseph Hooker House on the Sonoma Plaza, which we urge you to visit. But our mission was a little farther afield, at the Bedrock Vineyard north of town. As we arrived, we saw Chris Cottrell, Morgan’s partner in Bedrock Wine Co., just getting out of his car. It was a real pleasure to see Chris again, as we had not seen him in several years. Then, Emily drove up from where she had been preparing for us out in the vineyard – in spite of all of our email exchanges, this was the first time we had met in person. We followed Emily and Chris out to the vineyard where she had set up a tasting tent. Aiste Ballou, also of Bedrock Wine Co. was waiting for us too. Aiste is a Certified Sommelier and achieved the WSET Level 3 Award with distinction. We appreciated her being able to leave the tasting room to join us for this.
We were missing one member to make this visit complete. But we didn’t have to wait long. Joel Peterson soon joined us and we were ready for “the wild rumpus to begin” (with apologies to Maurice Sendak).
To start our tasting, Chris opened a real treat. Chris and Morgan had been friends for many years before Chris became a partner in Bedrock, first meeting at Pet Wines in Manhattan. In 2011, they started Under The Wire, focusing on single-vineyard sparkling wines. Chris had brought a bottle of the 2017 Under The Wire Sangiacomo Vineyard Chardonnay sparkling wine. Located in the Sonoma side of the Carneros AVA, this vineyard was planted in 1981 so it’s the same age as Morgan. This delicious sparkler had brown butter and butterscotch notes with hints of ripe Granny Smith apple crispness.
Sipping on this, it was time to spend some time in the vineyard! It was an unseasonably warm day and we soon finished our glasses of Under The Wire. Fortunately, Aiste had the wisdom to bring with her the latest release of Cuvee Karatas for the six of us to try. A blend of 49% Semillon and 35% Sauvignon Blanc from the Bedrock Vineyard along with 16% Sauvignon Blanc from the Judge Vineyard in Sonoma County’s Bennett Valley, this is always one of our favorite white wines. We savored the notes of fresh citrus and passion fruit.
Joel gave us some of the history of the vineyard and Chris gave us a lesson in regenerative farming.
The rich history of the Bedrock Vineyard goes back to 1854 when it was originally planted by General William “Tecumseh” Sherman and General “Fightin’ Joe Hooker. Phylloxera took its toll and it was eventually replanted by Senator George Hearst (father of William Randolph Hearst) in 1888. The property survived Prohibition and went through a few more ownership changes until it was acquired by the Peterson family in 2005. Bedrock Wine Co. produces a number of wines from this vineyard. Besides their flagship Bedrock Heritage field blend (the vineyard is 151 acres of which 119 are planted, growing 27 varieties and they all make it into this!), the 2023 vintage also included standalone bottlings of Carignan, Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel as well as the Ode to Lucien Mourvedre. The Bedrock Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon are also featured predominantly in the aforementioned Cuvee Karatas. Grapes from this vineyard and other esteemed properties make their way into the Bedrock Wine Co. Old Vine Zinfandel (making this annual bottling one of the best deals on planet Earth) as well as their Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon and Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc.
Regenerative farming goes beyond Bedrock Vineyard being certified organic, utilizing five key concepts. 1. Diversity of all kinds is critical – over 20 plant species for cover crops are grown and habitats for beneficial insects and birds are provided. 2. The soil is not tilled so it is minimally disturbed, increasing the ability to capture and hold water. 3. The soil is also protected from direct sunlight, minimizing the impact of extreme heat. 4. Animals are used to graze the property as they do in nature and the cover crops regrow. The result is increased soil microbiology as well as greater carbon dioxide storage. 5. Finally, context is important. Using the overall concepts of regenerative farming, each vineyard is treated based on its own unique situation, taking into account soil composition and annual rainfall. All these efforts are designed to repair and maintain the soils and related biological systems, taking a holistic approach to the entire ecosystem.
Please note that the above information is necessarily condensed. Both of these gentlemen shared so much information with us that it would be impossible to relate it all here, not to mention adequately describe the passion they bring to the topics. Besides, it was hard to take notes with wineglasses in our hands, although we (well, one of us – thanks Karen, as usual) tried!
Fortunately, the Bedrock website has a wealth of information on all of this, which we also used in the above explanations.
For more on the Bedrock Vineyard and the other vineyards that Bedrock Wine Co. sources grapes from:
Our Vineyards – Bedrock Wine Co.
For more information on regenerative farming:
To be continued…
Michael and Karen Perlis have been pursuing their passion for wine for more than 30 years. They have had the good fortune of having numerous mentors to show them the way and after a couple of decades of learning about wine, attending events, visiting wineries and vineyards, and tasting as much wine as they possibly could, they had the amazing luck to meet Eve Bushman. Michael and Karen do their best to bring as much information as possible about wine to Eve’s Wine 101 faithful readers.
