Pagani Ranch, with its oldest vines dating to the 1880s, is one of the most famous old vineyards in the state for a reason. It is an honor for Bedrock to receive fruit from these ancient, scant-yielding, mixed black vines. Farmed by the same family for generations, the vineyard lies on two different soil types. The first, which has more of the Sonoma Mountain ashen-grey to its hue, is where the ancient, mixed-black vines grow. The Tuscan Red Hill series soils are deeper, and abut Highway 12 as it lolls forth between Glen Ellen and Kenwood. The vines here, planted in the 1920s, include Alicante Bouschet, Zinfandel, Mourvedre and Muscadelle, some of which find their way into the Pagani Ranch Heritage Wine and the Cuvee Karatas white wine. Certainly one of the most photographed and storied vineyards in Sonoma Valley, this nearly completes the rostrum of ancient-vine plenitude Bedrock Wine Co. is lucky enough to receive from Sonoma Valley.

I was still in graduate school when I tasted the first Syrah from Griffin’s Lair. It was back in 2005, and the wine was made by the inimitable Pax Mahle. I distinctly remember mentioning to my friend, as we tasted it, that “this is a Syrah that I would love to make.” At the time though I was still buried in graduate school, my legs were burning from climbing the stairs of the Ivory Tower and the thought of Bedrock Wine Co. was a mere zygote in my imagination.

It is funny how those seemingly irrational musings on a cold, winter night years ago manifested into something. Joan and Jim Griffin were among the very first that I asked, nay begged, for fruit when I started Bedrock in 2007. Alas, at that point, all the fruit was being taken. However, for two years I sent entreating emails, the thought of the great Griffin’s Lair Syrahs tasted in my life still besmirching my better senses, asking for fruit.

Then, in the early part of 2009 I received an email from Joan Griffin saying that she might have some Syrah for me. Oh glory hallelujah! That year I got to enter the hallowed ground.

Bedrock receives Noir, 470, and 877 Syrah from the vineyard. Though the pressure is high at a place like Hudson to stand up to the incredible winemakers receiving fruit, in a way the stakes seem even higher at Griffin’s Lair. Though both vineyards have made archetypal Syrahs in the realm of my tasting experience, the Griffins hand-farm every vine. It is a tiny vineyard, and that the vines are so snug with those going to winemakers who garner my every respect, makes it incredibly special. Like the tiny plots of Chaillots or Reynards in Cornas, incredible diversity of winemaking style and excellence in execution can exist across a truly unique and amazing terroir.

I only hope that I can make a wine that might inspire the winemaking impulse in someone else on a cold winter night as Manhattan traffic roars by.

Alder Springs Vineyard, stretching across ridges of decomposing sandstone outside the remote town of Laytonville, is the magnum opus of founder Stuart Bewley. There is a reason that winemakers from all over California clamor to work with fruit from this site despite its distant location in Northern Mendocino.

Stu is one of the most thoughtful vineyard growers we have met and very little goes on at the vineyard that has not been deeply considered. Stu designed his own chevron shaped drainage systems that feed into multiple sediment pools to ensure minimal impact on fish populations in local streams. Knowing that the soil is naturally prone to erosion, Stu farms the entire vineyard without tillage—something unfathomable to many growers but paramount to ensuring fundamental sustainability of farming. He has formulated his own frost protection material. And beyond this, Stu is constantly experimenting with a dizzying array of rootstock, variety and clonal combinations. Want to see what the same clone of Syrah looks like on three different stocks side-by-side? You can find it here.

Most importantly of all, the wines from the vineyard are both unique and delicious. The Syrah we make from the site is always peppery and raw, infused with violets, spearmint and pig fat. The wines are always well-structured and promise to be long-lived. Hopefully they do justice to Stu’s vision.

Dry-farmed, own-rooted, and planted in 1915, Kirschenmann is owned and farmed by our dear friends Tegan and Olivia Passalacqua. Tegan, who is the farming and winemaking force behind the Turley wines along with his own Sandlands label, is probably the best farmer of head-trained vines in the state of California. The vineyard, which lies in a cool section of Lodi cradled by the Mokelumne River, makes wines of perfume and finesse. Though many think of Lodi as a very hot area, in reality Kirschenmann is cooler on most days than St. Helena and Calistoga. This, combined with the silica-rich soils and excellent, organic farming makes for a unique combination and equally delicious wine.

Gibson Ranch is perhaps the most visually arresting vineyard we work with. Located in a high Mendocino Valley outside of Hopland, the vines are as wild and huge as the rest of the landscape. The oldest plantings date to the 1880s and are tended by our friend Scot Bilbro of Marietta Cellars.

Bedrock is fortunate to work with a couple of blocks from the ranch. We are the only ones to receive the unique field blend of Syrah, Petite Sirah, Peloursin, Trousseau Noir and Grenache that makes up our Gibson Ranch Heritage Wine. On top of this we receive the equally old mixture of Grenache Rouge and Gris for our two odes to the great wines of Bandol- Ode to Lucien and Ode to Lulu Rose.

Thanks to the intrepidness of our assistant winemaker Cody Rasmussen, we started working with this gorgeous vineyard in 2016. Planted in 1974, Cole Ranch is unique in that it is a monopole AVA—meaning the only vineyard in the appellation is Cole Ranch itself. Located on the road between Ukiah and Boonville in Mendocino, the ranch lies in relative isolation from other vineyards (not so much for all the cannabis grown in the surrounding hills).