2016 Bedrock Wine Co., Old Vine Zinfandel, Sonoma Valley, California, USA

Zinfandel is California`s most distinctive red grape and is one of the few that is considered one of their "own", even though it originated in Europe. Although it has been grown in California for well over a century, it took the popularity of white ("blush") Zinfandel in the mid 1980s to persuade growers to retain their Zinfandel vines and indeed to plant more. Within 10 years, plantings had doubled and Red Zinfandel had become a Californian icon. It is grown all across California though seems to perform best in meso-climates, which combine hot days and cool nights. It has a worrying tendency to ripen unevenly, leaving the producer with a sort of viticultural catch-22 - if he harvests too soon then he has green, unripe grapes, too late and he has dried out raisiny grapes. After vinification, Zinfandel wines are often matured in American oak, which gives them a vanilla dimension. There is no single flavour character that can be associated with the grape - it can produce light, jammy, almost Beaujolais-type wines, redolent of freshly crushed berries, through to full-bodied, robust, oak aged wines brimming with ripe, peppery, cassis-like fruits. The best can age marvellously.

Bedrock Wine Co. was started in 2007 by owner and winemaker Morgan Twain-Peterson MW (son of the legendary Joel Peterson who founded Ravenswood Winery), and later joined by his business partner Chris Cottrell, this winery based in Sonoma is producing some of the most exciting wines coming out of the states currently. Heavily focused on fruit from old vineyard plantings (late 19th century) and field blends, the fruit used is sourced from both their own vineyards and bought from around California (including interesting areas like Contra Costa County AVA, Amador County AVA & Cienega Valley AVA). Over a number of years, Morgan has been able to forge some extraordinary relationships that has enabled him to gain access to some of the best quality vineyards in California (they buy Zinfandel fruit from renowned Pagani Ranch) and they sell their fruit to high profile wineries, including the meticulous Ridge Vineyards.