My Bedrock order arrived last week, so cracked last night:
1. Bedrock SauvBlanc UboldiVnyd/Kenwood + JudgeVnyd/BennettVlly (14.1%; Musque clone; 50% brl frmtd in used Stockinger & Fr.oak brls) 2018: Light gold color; strong herbal/SB/melony/ripe light pencilly/vanilla/oak bit floral/Musque/muscatty slight stony/flinty quite perfumed lovely nose; lightly tart/tangy strong herbal/SB/ripe/melony very light pencilly/oak some stony/chalky perfumed fairly rich/lush/balanced flavor; very long/lingering some tart/tangy bit stony/flinty strong SB/ripe/melony/herbal light floral/Musque bit pencilly/oak lovely finish; much like the DryCreekVnyds Taylor's SaubMusque but less oak; a bit like a great Sudstiermark SB if you can find one; the SauvMusque comes thru loud & clear; great price at $23.00
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2. Bedrock Vnyd Under the Mtn Heritage MorganHill/HeckerPass/SantaClaraCnty RW (14.0%; Tended: Gregory Family; Zin + Carignan + PetiteSirah/Muscat) 2017: Med.dark color; strong very spicy/Zin/raspberry/blackberry bit cardamon light earthy/mineral/HeckerPass some dusty/OV light pencilly/oak lovely complex nose; bit soft slight tangy/metallic/mineral very spicy/cardamon/raspberry/blackberry/Zin light pencilly/oak very HeckerPass/bright/high-toned/Zin some dusty/OV complex flavor w/ light brisk tannins; very long/lingering bright/raspberry/Zin/very spicy/cardamon rather dusty/OV light pencilly/oak complex finish w/ light brittle tannins; speaks strongly of high-toned HeckerPass spicy Zin. $39.00
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A wee BP:
1. Stockinger: Regarded by many winemakers as the Rolls-Royce of coopers. I understand now imported into Calif by JamieMotley. Located in the town of Waidhofen on the Northern Austria border. Uses mostly Austrian & German oak, with some Hungarian & Romainian. Good article here:
Stockinger
I believe RajParr was the first Calif winemaker to use Stockinger. The one Stockinger barrel I've seen certainly had the appearance of fine craftmanship.
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2. SauvBlanc: Though I don't taste that wide a range of Calif SauvBlanc, I'd have to say that Bedrock & DryCreekVnyds are killing it these days for that variety. Both use the SauvMusque clone of SB that was discovered hibernating on the FPS list back in the '80's by DougMeador/Ventana.
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3. UnderTheMtn: This is the 2'nd vintage for Morgan for the UtM Zin. It is quite different from his SonomaVlly & RRV Zins. It speaks strongly of HeckerPass Zin and reminds me a lot of the old Enz and LimeKiln Zins, but less oak and more high-toned & bright. A nice addition to the Bedrock lineup.
Tom