Zinfandel

Food pairings: Grilled and braised meats, barbecued pork and ribs, lamb, duck, beef, mushroom dishes, hearty stews and aged cheeses.

Scores:

• 95 points, Wine Advocate

Winemaking: Dedicated by Morgan Twain-Peterson MW to his father, Joel Peterson, this "super-cuvée" is composed of the best lots of Zinfandel of the year. It is aged in a bit more new oak than Bedrock normally uses, about 40% new for the 2023, and leans into the stylish, slightly more opulent side of Zinfandel. Bedrock favors uninoculated fermentations, native malolactic, minimal handling and rarely, if ever, fining. The wine should age beautifully for a long time, but it can be enjoyed earlier for its pretty, pure fruit with a good decant.

Vineyards and terroir: Fittingly, the 2023 is almost entirely sourced from vineyards Joel used during the glory years of Ravenswood: Old Hill, Belloni, Teldeschi and Monte Rosso. Old Hill Ranch in Sonoma Valley is one of California's greatest old vineyards: Zinfandel was noted growing there as early as 1856, and its vines, dating to the 1880s, form a field blend of more than 30 cultivars. Monte Rosso sits high on the last flank of the Mayacamas range, on bright-red, iron-rich volcanic soils that give a remarkable perfume to its grapes, while Belloni lies in the Russian River Valley and Teldeschi in Dry Creek Valley.

Family and history: Joel Peterson founded Ravenswood Winery as a small passion project, and his son Morgan grew up in the cellar: born in Sonoma in 1981, he made his first wine before he was five. After studying history and political science at Vassar and graduate work at Columbia, Morgan worked harvests at Ravenswood, in Australia and at Château Lynch-Bages in Bordeaux, and in 2007 started Bedrock Wine Co. in a converted chicken coop outside Sonoma, with fruit from his family's Bedrock Vineyard, planted in 1854 by Generals William T. Sherman and Joseph Hooker and replanted in 1888 by Senator George Hearst. His friend Chris Cottrell joined as partner. Morgan became a Master of Wine in 2017, Antonio Galloni named Bedrock Winery of the Year in 2020, and the winery welcomes visitors in the 1850s General Joseph Hooker House just off the Sonoma Plaza.

In the pictures: Sunrise over Old Hill Ranch in Sonoma Valley (photo courtesy of Bedrock Wine Co.) and the General Joseph Hooker House in Sonoma, home of the Bedrock tasting room (photo: Sarah Stierch, 2011, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).