2022 Bedrock Wine Company Rose Ode to Lulu California 750 ml

Bandol rosé, from Provence, is arguably the best in the world, expressing the region’s limestone soils, old-vine Mourvèdre, and proximity to the sea. One Bandol bottling in particular, Domaine Tempier ($58), sets the pace. It’s irreplaceable on MICHELIN-starred lists all over the world. 

California’s answer is Bedrock’s 2022 Ode to Lulu: Made chiefly from own-rooted, 120+ year old Mourvèdre by a Morgan Twain-Peterson—a Master of Wine who is one of California’s most respected champions of old vines—its concentration and clarity make for what might be America’s finest rosé. 

Bedrock is one of those brands—like Corison, like Dan Petroski’s Massican, like Tegan Passalacqua’s Sandlands—that is universally adored within the wine industry. Twain-Peterson, son of Ravenswood founder Joel Peterson and author of multiple bottles that earned 100-point scores from Wine Advocate, has built it into what Robert Parker called a “world-class performer” 

It takes a winemaker with Morgan’s talent to fully realize the patrimony of Contra Costa County’s ancient Mourvèdre plantings. The concentration and purity that comes from own-rooted vineyards like Evangelho and Castanho can’t be replicated anywhere in the world—not even in Bandol. That’s what makes this whole-cluster-pressed rosé so special. 

The name “Ode to Lulu” is an homage to the late Lulu Peyraud, a gastronomic icon of Provence and the matriarch of the Peyraud family of Domaine Tempier. Lulu passed away at the age of 102 in 2020, but will always be remembered in the culinary and wine world for her legendary cooking and hospitality. As you take in this wine’s powerful aromas of fresh raspberry, wild strawberries, dried flowers, tangerine zest, crushed stones, and salted nectarines, then take a sip, you may be moved to toast Lulu yourself.