5/5/2024 - RichEB1 Likes this wine:

Absolutely outstanding chenin! Bright citrus, lanolin, and just a bit of sunshine to remind you that it's from CA. The perfect amount of structure and acidity creates an excellent, medium bodied mouth-feel and bodes well for future development. Great stuff - consider me 'all-in' again for the next release.

5/5/2024 - Mortgage92 Likes this wine:

I could not go above a score of 92 for this wine. Yes, it is enjoyable but not a 95 or above, really? The wine is crimson in color with slow legs on the glass and moderate sediment (which assist in keeping it going), it has a medium body with a course texture and long finish (great with grilled steaks); the aroma we keyed on was of red currant -anyone else?; flavors of blackberry, mineral, and very slight petrol with elevated acidity and tannins (which are overcome by the alcohol level). This wine is drinking well now, but is starting to fade (I have yet to find a California cab that will hold up for more than 20 years), so drink and enjoy.

5/5/2024 - enthusiastic_amateur Likes this wine:

Lovely stone fruits on the body with elegant notes of oak on the nose. Medium acid, long finish. Surprising how vibrant it is given the age. No oxidized flavors, mature but not showing decline.

8/7/2020 - eprutter Likes this wine:

Pale yellow, light, sea breezy aromas of limes and green apples. Subtle notes of salty grapefruit on the palate. Gives a sensation akin to effervescence, hits the tip of the tongue. Medium-light body, acid-driven, mostly dry, no discernable tannin. A very nice length with a tangy finish. Certainly drinkable, may be a bit tight yet, potential for aging.

4/20/2024 - etyc Likes this wine:

Had this (blinded) side-by-side the '07 Janasse VV (which I brought as a ringer). Haha, fate had it that the friend who brought the SQN actually mistook it for its Syrah counterpart and brought the Grenache bottling instead. What a nice contrast (actually I thought they had more similarities) between the Old-World vs. this New-World. Must say that the SQN showed better with immaculate wine-making. Both high-octane wines, the SQN had no "stewed notes" whereas the Janasse VV had. However, I thought the Janasse had more freshness/lift. Anyway, this was about "packaging" ripe/concentrated fruits, liqueur, meat in the most balanced/velvety texture possible. Nice!

4/28/2024 - Bob & Sue Atlanta wrote:

I have grown to dislike bedrock wines over the years. They are all either too acidic or out of balance, angular and almost difficult to consume. There seems to be no harmony and balance in their wines. This particular wine, might go well with extremely rich foods (lamb shank?), but by itself it’s a little weird and I have zero enjoyment.

4/28/2024 - ebert wrote:

This cab is OK but past it's prime. Drink within a few hours of opening.

4/27/2024 - bound4er Does not like this wine:

This wine's better days were a number of years ago. In one word I would describe as lifeless.

4/22/2024 - ShadowIII Likes this wine:

Tasted blind, most thought this wine was 20-30 years old, still with ruby /garnet edges, nice core of currants with pencil lead, tobacco, leather, nice round mouthfeel, soft tannins, long finish, amazingly youthful for an 89 year old wine, what a treat!!

4/11/2024 - Joshbturner Likes this wine:

One of the best white wines I’ve ever had. Ranted and raved about it all night and into the next day. Thinking about it still, months later.

4/11/2024 - Rktekt3 wrote:

I had sat on my last bottle of this for 7 years since last drinking it. I have no more but wish that I did. Still in a good place.

4/7/2024 - Charlie C wrote:

Dark cherry red with slight fading at the rim. Bright berry aromas. Bit astringent on the palate, blackberry, cherry. Some heat (16% ABV). Fine tannins, sharp acidity, bit out of balance. Finishes moderately long and sharp. Much poorer showing than my last bottle. Probably better a few years ago.

4/12/2024 - AD_jutant wrote:

Edit: massively extended the note to include a summary of my fun research following drinking the wine.

Very cool thing: white fortified wine, made of Mission grapes. Real throwback to how California wine looked like even before the first wine wave in the state. It comes from around the turn of the 19th century when Spanish missions started making the drink by adding brandy to unfermented grape juice or must, akin to ratafia de Champagne. The drink was born for religious purposes and is mostly only used as such today but it has enjoyed a time of high commercial success during its >2 centuries of history peaking at 13 million gallons in 1955.
It used to be aged in solera, sometimes for up to a decade. Today, commercial production is slightly different: often shorter ageing (this is 2020 vintage already), sometimes vintage wine (again, like this one), and it is always (I think) made in the typical fortification method where addition of brandy halts the ongoing fermentation.
The name "angelica" is thought to come directly from the city of Los Angeles, as that's where missions sourced their high-quality brandy in the mid 18-hundreds from Augustine Janssens' distillery

Nose of Easter cake with vanilla icing, raisins, and dough. There are also dried apricots, honeyed apple, citrus peels, and fennel seeds.
A lot more of apricot and vanilla sugar on the palate. Sweet and viscous, of course with a slight alcohol burn. The acidity is not high. Slight medicinal note or something.
The finish is slightly short with that alcohol burn.
8-/18. Really fun to try, but they could probably do better (if Mission allows?). Perhaps a longer ageing could have helped.

I may have not rated the wine very high, but I really loved trying it and what is better than a wine that makes you go to JSTOR for research articles? :D

P.S. shoutout to LULU restaurant in LA, one of the best wine lists I've seen in the city: not long, but diverse, fun, and so very well priced. This was only $9 a glass!

4/2/2024 - Wozza wrote:

This #13 presents with bashful vibrancy, particularly at this just-bottled stage. It's pure in its delivery, perfectly formed, and belies great layering as it boasts its 2023-2015 multi-vintage, multi-aged block vine, Barossa credentials.

A youthful, lifted nose awaits with lots of raspberry, leather, red liquorice, marshmallow, wood spices, and scented bath salts.

A mouth-coating swell of blackcurrant, blackberry, and blueberry dance in the mouth alongside capsicum, stone, mint, and hints of French herbs.

It's so well made, and utterly drinkable now or for a good 10-12 years. I've said it before, Fraser McKinley at Sami Odi is a winemaking genius.

Easily a Wozza 96 (Vivino 4.6) from me.

3/30/2024 - davidandrose Likes this wine:

When I pulled the cork bright blue fruit raced out of the bottle. After three hours slow ox blu fruit remains on the nose along with graphite, tight wood, some heat and clay.

Nicely balanced but fruit is more prominent with the structure a bit light, offering 10-15 sec finish. Blueberries continue to dominate along with watery blackberry and well-integrated tannins. 15 1/2% listed alcohol seems close but maybe a bit light.

I have two more bottles which I'll drink in the next three years. Disappointing QPR, would rather have two bottles of Quilceda Creek for each of these.

7/18/2021 - alpha_ori Likes this wine:

I tend to buy the Bedrock Heritage wines and Syrahs and eschew the Zinfandels. But wines like this show just how arbitrary of a decision that is. Can't help but love wines like this.

3/10/2024 - Bjb81 Likes this wine:

Deep, rich, still tons of fruit with the tertiary flavors shining as well

3/6/2024 - buckeye76 Likes this wine:

Still a nice ruby red color after 50 years. A great match with an assortment of hard and soft cheeses.. Incredibly smooth through the mid palate and finish. Rich berry fruit in the nose and flavor, mostly raspberries and cherries, well balanced and a medium to long finish.

3/7/2024 - ericed Likes this wine:

I feel bad scoring this wine. It is either too young or in a dumb phase. Structure and acidity are very good. Grippy tannins bode well for its future. Fruit is currently in the background, but I’m sure it will emerge. When is the question. Will check back in in 18-24 months.

3/7/2024 - Chupeaka Does not like this wine:

Brett.

Metallic and harsh tannins, the fruit is gone. Color and appearance it is fine. Not corked either...

Where is the super second?

10/29/2023 - dlduchon Likes this wine:

My reviews are not normally this inconsistent, but this bottle was lovely and just singing. I decanted it for about an hour and it was a wonderful, rich, complex and nuanced wine. The best Bedrock I have tasted.

2/25/2024 - cliffo41 wrote:

Bern's steakhouse. Enjoyed along with a 1975 Souverain Cabernet Sauvignon and a Ridge 1979 Zinfandel. Four of five guests rated this as the wine of the night. Decanted and served from a cool cellar. Cork in excellent condition. Wonderful smoky nose, complex wine with a long finish. Excellent condition, great experience.

2/23/2024 - cacastine wrote:

I am a Carlisle fan but this one was a miss for me. Blueberry and cherry, dark tart red fruits palated in a very extracted and saturated full bodied and concentrated wine. The acid is high but disjointed from the wine somehow, lacking any real secondary characteristics, very punchy and jammy. Ok wine. Fruit and sweetness calmed down a bit the second day but was replaced with a hotter, more tannin driven finish. Just didn't come together.

2/22/2024 - galewskj wrote:

Open that bottle - Dan chooses 2014 Saxum Paderewski (My house): Drank about 1/3rd of the bottle over an hour. This has a somewhat rounded and elegant profile. It is not at all reminiscent of a New Zealand sauvignon blanc, and I suspect there is at least a little bit of oak in this wine. Quite well done for a domestic SB, although not as interesting as the heavy hitter producers in France.

1/7/2024 - RichEB1 Likes this wine:

This is really coming along nicely. The redwood is more integrated and the fruit and acidity are front/center. Very structured and very, very nice. I'm really enjoying this now but it has the legs to run for a long time.

2/1/2024 - Rieslingfan wrote:

Served blind by the host at our monthly tasting group, this was the runaway wine of the night. Still very young, but also quite drinkable, with solid black fruit, firm tannin, a touch (just a touch) of wood framing, and a very long finish. Not the most aromatic wine of the night, but definitely the most complete, and with the longest runway for improvement. Drink now if you must, but better off not to, as it's going to get a lot better.

1/28/2024 - Eric wrote:

Kobayashi Winter Tasting: Wonderful acidity. I really love good Viognier from Washington State, as the best examples express the showy aromatics of the variety but have cut, acid and focus. This is among the best examples.

5/22/2022 - calimo Likes this wine:

Had this with bbq smoked reverse seared lamb chop lollipops. Delish! i thought it blended well with this wine...which was tasty...a little sour on the back end, but this helped with the food paring. i should have wrote this while actually drinking the wine, as opposed to a couple of days after. oops.

1/20/2024 - Quiller wrote:

Everything pretty much the same as my 1/14/2023 note; except - instead of a "flabby" mouthfeel, maybe more "softish"; and now the warmth on the finish is pretty much obscuring the fruit. Not sure where this is going, but I would drink sooner to be sure you catch the fruit.

12/20/2023 - RichEB1 wrote:

Good news to all of you that were 'moved' by Cam's hyperbole around this being the best cab that he's ever procured. While it's most definitely still not a 'great' wine....it's come together a fair amount compared to my last bottle and is fairly enjoyable. I'm still not sold on the upside here but I'm slightly more bullish that it might be worth hanging onto these vs. Gifting them. Time will tell!

11/19/2022 - RichEB1 Likes this wine:

96% Zinfandel and 4% Petite Sirah coming from GT Vineyard (56%), Montecillo Vineyard (34%) and Madrone Springs (10%). This is excellent and highly structured Zinfandel Zinfandel that is full of red fruit, pepper, and a long acid-driven finish. Medium + bodied with tannins present, but not overwhelming after a little air. Almost claret style and absolutely delicious now, but with a ton of upside. Hold or decant if drinking now. I absolutely love Beekeeper zin but wish it was priced a bit lower so that i could justify drinking it more often ($85 retail).

12/26/2023 - der Schmecker Likes this wine:

3 liter magnum. A certain funkiness reduced my enjoyment of the wine. Nonetheless, we emptied the bottle by the end of the night.

12/22/2023 - EM_MB Likes this wine:

I historically stay away from Napa whites, but this is different, in a great way. That said, it’s a bit on the muted side, and while delightful, seems more of a poolside sipper on a hot day (for my palette anyway). However, am looking forward to seeing how this evolves over the next year or two.

12/25/2023 - rieslinghoarder Likes this wine:

Glassware: Zalto Universal
Prep: Pop n’ pour, followed in the glass over 4 hours

First of two bottles obtained direct from Bedrock this fall. I disagree with the recent comments that this is past prime and question storage/provenance of those bottles.

Just starting to show some secondary characteristics. Black currant, dried blackberry, orange rind, mocha, and wet soil on the nose. Perfectly integrated tannins, fresh acidity, and a nice concentration of flavors of black fruits, garrigue, dried smoky herbs, and a touch of citrus peel I get as a signature note from the Bedrock Vineyard Heritage wines. The wine has some body and weight to it on the palate, but isn’t heavy or jammy.

Will probably wait a few more years to open the next bottle, but this is in a nice spot with a little air. Paired well with homemade teriyaki meatballs.

12/23/2023 - Geaux Tigers Likes this wine:

Not a fan of opening young wines, but curiosity was killing the cat.

Double decant the night before and back in the bottle under cork for 16 hr. Horton Vineyard fruit (MacD). Medium bodied.

Briar/brambly, crushed green herbs, violets, red and black cherry, candied dried cherry, hint of unripe black raspberry. Oak is managed very well, nice fine tannic backbone that drives everything along.

If you’re looking for a young buxom hot thing…move along. This is elegant, refined and sophisticated.

Started 93 and hit 95 over another 3.5 hr of drinking today, room to 97-98+ with 7-10 years sideways. Outpaced a ‘15 Paul Hobbs Dr. Crane for most of the night until the Dr. accelerated into high gear.

Young? Yes. Infantcide? Not with that much air.

12/22/2023 - Vinnut wrote:

I found this lone bottle (along with single bottles of the 81, 82 & 83 as well) tucked away in a box in my cellar with no indications it was in there. The fill level was down below the neck, but the color looked decent. So, I decided to pop it open & see what was inside. (I'll open the other vintages at a later time.)
Medium golden in color with just a slight touch of browning. The nose was initially reticent, but it eventually opened up with airing to revel bare bone aromas of some faint flower notes, toasty/smoky oak & caramelized notes. Medium-light body of faint ripe fruit flavors of citrus notes dominated by toasty oak notes & a slight hint butterscotch. Lingering dry finish. Overall, for a 43-year-old Chardonnay, it wasn't exactly DOA, but it was it was an interesting experience on how these older wines age. Cork was clean & intact.

11/6/2014 - Mossrose wrote:

Roussanne is a white wine that achieves distinctive greatness in the Rhone Valley in France. Planted elsewhere, however, it seldom excels. The 2010 Roussanne of Quipé is a most welcome and magnificent exception, from the Santa Maria appellation in California, from the Bien Nacido Vineyard. This wine has a voluptuous texture, deep and layered richness, refreshing acidity, and endless finish that decisively puts the Rhone Valley on notice that great Roussanne is not confined to there. Qupé rightly claims that this is the greatest white wine they make, and accordingly gets bottled in a heavy and deeply punted bottle seldom seen for California white wines outside of premium Chardonnays.

12/6/2023 - MJP Hou TX Likes this wine:

Lately I've been exploring the world of whites and I've been told a good number of times that all roads lead to Burgundy. So I've nibbled around the edges knowing this slippery slope will eventually get me there. I cannot say that I actively seek out domestic Sauvignon Blanc's and I've only bought a handful over the past 14 years of being into wine which until now has been heavily slanted red.

With the surprise release of Aisana and prospect of being able to bring more Kinsman whites into the cellar. I was all in after the Aberro Chenin Blanc that left most of us wishing for a larger allocation of this limited wine. I think it's smart marketing labeling this Sauvignon Blanc but the star of the show in my opinion is the Semillion (especially at room temp) where you get a real sense of this wines beautiful texture on the palate. This suggestion might not be the normal cup of tea for someone who bought this because they love a chilled domestic SB.

I would put this right in the mix of some of the Eden Sadie whites of South Africa. Yes, it's that compelling!

Drink now and hold some back.

95+

12/9/2023 - beau11 wrote:

What stands out is the amazing balance and silky texture of this wine. It is amazingly light with no hard edges. This wine is open and ready for business after a decant

11/26/2023 - Pinotfanbg Likes this wine:

Lots of hype on this one so I felt the urge to open one and try it out on my wife who likes NZ SB. She's very sensitive to oak and dislikes that flavor in her SB. Popped and poured with maybe 15 minutes of air before consuming. Crystal clear with just a hint of yellow color. Nice scent of white flowers, a touch of seashell, lifted by mild lemon acidity. Flavors repeated the scents on the palate. Very elegant, but a bit light in body. It left me seeing the potential but wanting more flavor intensity. Very nice, but not in the class of Baudry's best which delivers the quality and intensity of flavor I like in SB for half the price. She liked it very much.

11/23/2023 - Rex66 Likes this wine:

Gobs of fruit, nice structure, really delicious. It’d be interesting to see what this does after a few years but I don’t think I can hold them that long…too hard not to crack them now.

11/12/2023 - sean7711 Likes this wine:

After a subpar 2010 (thinking this may have been bottle variation or just a bad bottle), I pulled the 2012 the next night. We made homemade sauce with meatballs and sausage. This was a really nice, velvety wine with chocolate, vanilla and dark cherry. Polished off this very easily, would seek out more. Still 3-7 more years in it before the fruit fades.

11/11/2023 - Brad T Likes this wine:

Wow, this is now hitting on all cylinders! Indistinguishable from the slammin' Syrahs I love from Bedrock, sporting sweet licorice, dark plum, tart cherry and leather, with a lightly roasty toasty finish. THis should be in a wonderful place for at least a few years.

11/9/2023 - michigan dogs Likes this wine:

First, it's not worth $100. Secondly, maybe I drank it too young. Thirdly, maybe Bedrock's not great at Cabs. Decent acidity, nothing special.

11/4/2023 - evanqian wrote:

A Syrah night in Kampai (Auckland CBD): 83% Semillon, 15% Sauvignon Blanc, and 2% Muscadelle. Deep gold/brown, honey, dried apricot, rich and succulent, solid acidity, full body, obviously alive and full of vigour. all balanced and very long. It's amazing nearly 70 year old! though I expected a little more density.

RVF 19

Ap 5/5, Ar 13/15, Palate 17/20, Overall 4+5/10
Total 94/100

11/8/2023 - Stl Buckeyes Likes this wine:

Excellent

11/7/2023 - andtheodor wrote:

Not a wine that's going to wow anybody, but it's still in top shape, good structure remains, no oxidation, and enough complexity to make every glass enjoyable. Another great bottle from a somewhat overlooked vintage.

8/24/2023 - RJWallis wrote:

Blame this on me for not drinking this earlier. LOVE Bedrock, one of the best QPRs out there. But this is on the decline. We have one more bottle and will drink and use for a beef burgundy later this week.

2/29/2020 - jtsejersen@gmail.com wrote:

This is very sweet and I must say I was a little doubtful trying this wine since this style of wine usually leaves me screaming for a pickle and a glass of water 😆. I feared the worst a made myself ready for a leathal dose of sweet nasty Botrytis and burning alcohol. But it never came - soft as silk. Ripe stone fruit and honey come to my mind. I actually like this wine. Would never buy a bottle myself before investing in a Coravin. Not unless I was serving 15 people. To me 1 glass is more than enough!

10/4/2023 - lolo66 wrote:

had me fooled. very vibrant and fresh. no tannins whatsoever, thought this was a natural wine. lovely fruit and bright purple fruits. enjoyed very much