Once & Future 2021 Zinfandel, Bedrock Vineyard, Sonoma Valley
Item Number: 19461
UPC: None
Country: USA
Region: California
Sub Region: Sonoma
Appellation/AVA: Sonoma Valley
Estate Grown Wine: Yes
Vineyard Designation: Bedrock Vineyard
Vintage: 2021
Grape(s): Zinfandel
Type: Wine - Red
Bottle Size: 750 ml
Pack: 12
Closure: Cork
Alc by Vol(%): 14
Total Acidity: 5.6 g/L
pH: 3.75
Viticulture: Practicing Organic
Soil Type: Tuscan Red Hill series
Case Production: 151
Bedrock Vineyard History: Situated on the Agua Caliente Bench, Bedrock is one of the premier vineyard plots in Sonoma Valley. When Eugene Hilgard, the most important viticulture professor of his time, was asked in 1890 if any place in California could grow grapes to rival the great clarets of Europe, he unhesitatingly singled out this vineyard, whose history is also rife with some of the most notable figures of the nineteenth century. Founded in 1854 by Generals “Fightin’ Joe” Hooker (just back from the Mexican- American War) and William Tecumseh Sherman (a San Francisco banker at the time!), the spot has grown grapes for more than 150 years. Following the first phylloxera epidemic in the mid-1880s, it was replanted in 1888 by Senator George Hearst, a mining magnate and father of publisher William Randolph Hearst; in the early 1900s, Hearst’s widow Phoebe sold it to the California Wine Association, which made wine from it until Prohibition. In 1934, the vineyard was jointly purchased by the Domenici and Parducci families, who ran the Valley of the Moon winery; when that relationship became acrimonious, the vineyard was split, with the Parducci's taking the winery and smaller land parcel and the Domenici's taking 152 acres that became as Madrone Ranch.
In 2005, the Domenici's sold the property to the Deininger / Peterson family. They renamed it Bedrock with a nod to its soil: Tuscan Red Hill series, washed down from the adjacent Mayacamas Mountains to form the alluvial fan on which the vineyard is planted. Because the place had been cultivated harshly for 100 years, Joel broke up the pan with a mechanical spader and revitalized the soils with compost and cover crops of vetch, bell beans, and rye grass.
Soil and Climate: Tuscan and Red Hill series soil, a cobbly loam washed down from Mayacamas mountain range millions of years ago. Cool air flows from the Bennet Valley Gap next to Sonoma Mountain, creating a cooling effect against warm, long summer days.
Tasting Notes: Once and Future Zinfandel is crafted from the 128-year-old vines planted by George Hearst. The wine has an aromatic raciness and fine tannin structure that renders them elegant and long-lived.