Published by Jeremy.
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Sometimes we open a bottle and find it is simply a bit too young and could use a few more years in the cellar. Bedrock Wine Co's 2018 Zinfandel was much like this, as when we enjoyed it at two years old, we found ourselves wishing we would've saved it for a few years down the road.
Needs Some Years on It
This Zinfandel wine poured with a medium purple color and had an overwhelming aroma of leather, tobacco, and green herbs. Little red fruit could be found when enjoying this one straight from the bottle.
The taste brought a medium to full body, medium acidity, and an almost over-bearing hit of barrel notes and tannin that lingered on the gum line for a substantial period of time. After taking several sips and getting used to these intense notes, we also picked out undertones of blueberry, strawberry, and some smoky, woody notes as well.
What we found interesting here was that it took decanting this one for three hours before more red fruits became present (and to put this one more in line with fruity Zinfandels we remember from previous tastings), which makes us think this one would do well in the cellar for a few more years to help mellow out some of the harsher notes mentioned above.
Bedrock Zinfandel Food Pairing – Focaccia with Various Toppings
We paired this wine with housemade focaccia with various toppings including potato, tomato sauce with charcuterie, and a plain bread with tomato slices and basil.
As our focaccia options ranged from rich and decadent to acidic and bright, they incorporated a range of flavors with the wine. The best flavor combination we got out of this was wit our slices that were made to mimic a more traditional pizza as the acid in the sauce helped accentuate some of the fruit flavors that were hiding under all the tannins and barrel notes (especially so over time as the wine opened up in the decanter).
That being said, the rich potatoes and creamy cheeses held up partly to the tannins a bit; however, probably needed a bit more going on to really stand up to this young wine.
Score: 2.5 / 5
We are glad we tried this one and do not need more, but could be persuaded on a glass in the right context.
Overall, the only real concern we had with this wine was that it was far too tannic and needed quite a bit of decanting to bring out the fruit flavors. We think this bottle could probably age a few more years and really open up more (say, 5-7 years instead of two). While we're okay on this particular bottle, we'd gladly try it again if we could find one a bit older.
Bedrock Wine Co is located at 414 1st St E in Sonoma, California. We received this as part of our Plonk Wine Club and enjoyed it in 2020.
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