2021 Bedrock Wine Company Old Vine Zinfandel California 750 ml

Chances are your average winemaker would consider 40- to 60-year-old vines “old.”

And chances are Morgan Twain-Peterson wouldn’t touch ‘em.

You won’t find a winery more devoted to California’s historic vineyards than Twain-Peterson’s Bedrock Wine Co. Founded by 2014 San Francisco Chronicle Co-Winemaker of the Year Morgan Twain-Peterson, about 80% of the vines the Bedrock team works with are at least 80 years old—and their 2021 Old Vine Zinfandel California is as delicious and historic a wine as you can get for anywhere near its price.

There’s no California wine under $30 we’d turn to before this one for a flawless snapshot of California’s most historic vineyards. Hailing mainly from sites with vines that top 130 years of age, including Sonoma Valley’s Teldeschi and Bedrock, and Contra Costa’s Evangelho, its stunning concentration and character show exactly why the Bedrock team has made it their mission to find, exalt, and express the greatest vineyards in the Golden State.

Twain-Peterson is widely considered to be one of the primary forces behind a growing group of winemakers dedicated to finding, restoring, and preserving historic vineyards, and then crafting wines that express the vineyards’ profundity. 

A few years ago, we dubbed Bedrock Wine Company one of the hottest brands in California—and since then, they’ve leaped from incandescent to straight-up iconic. Called a “world-class performer” by Robert Parker himself, Bedrock has reached the pinnacle of California Zinfandel production, standing alongside luminaries such as Ridge, Biale, and Turley.

This is more than a gorgeous Zin from an iconic producer: It’s a tribute to California’s winemaking history, and to what time—and a dedicated winemaker—can bring to the bottle.