Continuing my foray into my recent Bedrock arrival, I tried last night:
1. Bedrock NervoRanch Heritage AlexanderVlly/SonomaCnty RW (Plntd: 1896; 14.5%) 2019: Dark color; strong blackberry/Zin/plummy/lightly spicy light toasty/oak light dusty/OV attractive classic AlexVlly Zin nose; soft bit plummy/soupy strong blackberry/Zin/plummy/slightly spicy light toasty/oak slight dusty/OV flavor w/ modest soft tannins; very long strong blackberry/plummy/Zin/lightly spicy rather soft/plummy/soupy some earthy/dusty/OV light toasty/oak w/ light soft tannins; a pretty classic Nervo/AlexVlly rather soft/soupy Zin a bit lacking in structure; not particularly thrilling Zin & would like more bright/high-toned fruit; another unthrilling/underperforming rather unstructured Nervo Zin. $42.00
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2. Bedrock Lorenzo's Heritage DryCreekVlly/SonomaCnty RW (Plntd: 1900-1940; John & Caterina Teldeschi; 14.5%) 2019: Very dark color; very strong blackberry/classic ripe DryCreekVlly raspberry/very spicy quite dusty/OV light toasty/Fr.oak lovely perfumed nose; fairly tart very spicy/blackberry/raspberry/Zin/bit black cherry cola slight earthy/dusty rather OV/dusty light toasty/oak bit complex flavor w/ modest structured tannins; very long/lingering lightly tart fairly structured quite spicy/blackberry/raspberry/Zin/black cherry cola finish w/ modest tannins; another lovely Teldeschi Zin from Morgan; reminds some of the JoeSwan Zins from Teldeschi of yore. $42.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Nervo: The Nervo vnyd continues to perplex me. It is a beautiful OV mostly Zin vnyd. It's a bit on the bizarre side in that there is this old caboose sitting on a small track segment right smack-dab in the middle of the vnyd. I once walked the vnyd w/ Dave Gates, since Ridge has long sourced fruit from Nervo. The old Nervo homestead, then unoccupied, sits at the end of the driveway leading onto the property. Dave speculated that they might an old cellar in the basement that contains some interesting old wines.
It's a beautiful OV vnyd that ought to make some great OV Zin. Of the quality of LyttonSprings or Geyserville. But it does not. I've never had a Ridge Nervo Zin that particularly impressed me. They are often on the soft/soupy/unstructured side. Now that Morgan makes wine from Nervo, I had high hopes that this (the 2'nd one he's made, I believe) would finally be a great Nervo. It was not. Not a bad Zin...just lacks something in the thrill factor that Nervo should show.
Right across Hwy 101 is this old stony wnry that once housed the Nervo Family Wnry, makers of mostly bulk wine. It was sold in the early '70's to a group that produced the Canyon Road wines there. More recently, it was sold to the Trione family, who has restored the old bldg and makes their wines in it. I've not had any of the Trione wines.
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2. Teldeschi: There are two Teldeschi vnyds, owned by brothers John & Frank. I gather there is some bad blood between when their father died and the vnyd was split between the two of them. One of them continues to make wine under the Teldeschi label.
The vnyd rose to fame back in the '70's when Joe Swan was making extraordinary signature Zins from the vnyd & putting Teldeschi on his label. Joe, being the pinch-penny that he was, made the vnyd famous but somebody came along and offered a better price for the grapes. After that, Joe refused to vnyd-designate his Zins for fear that it would happen again.
Tom
