Bedrock Wine Co., The Bedrock Heritage, Sonoma Valley 2021 - 75cl

This is the wine the whole estate is named for. The Bedrock Vineyard in Sonoma Valley was planted in the 1880s by a couple of Civil War generals, and today Morgan Twain-Peterson farms its tangle of old, interplanted vines to make one of California's benchmark field blends. Roughly half Zinfandel, filled out with Carignan, Mataro and a supporting cast of around seventeen other varieties, all picked and fermented together the old-fashioned way.

Field blends like this are a snapshot of a place rather than a recipe. Everything ripens and ferments as one, giving a wine with far more nuance than straight Zinfandel usually manages. Twain-Peterson is one of the finest hands working with these historic vineyards, and the 2021 shows his touch: bold but detailed, powerful but poised.

The nose opens with black cherry and blackberry, pencil shavings, roasted herbs and a lift of fresh flowers. The palate is dark and brooding, packed with smoky anise, black pepper, clove and dusky spice, all riding on broad but ripe, sweet-edged tannins. There is proper structure here, and a savoury, turned-earth quality that keeps it from tipping into jamminess. Drink it over the next several years with hearty food; it will hold and improve through 2032 or so. Serious old-vine Californian red at a fair price.

How to Serve

Serve at 16-18°C. Give it 45 minutes in a decanter to let the spice and dark fruit expand. A broad-bowled glass helps. Drinking now through around 2032.

Where to Drink It

Brat in Shoreditch, whose smoke and char meet this wine head-on. Bentley's for a heartier, wood-fired dinner. Planque in Haggerston for its love of old-vine, characterful bottles.

Food Pairings

A dry-aged rib of beef is the obvious, happy choice, the wine's spice and grip standing up to the fat. Failing that, sticky barbecued short ribs would revel in all that dark fruit and pepper.