2008 Bedrock "Ode to Lulu" Mourvedre Rose

2008 Bedrock Rose


"Ode to Lulu"


Sonoma Valley




The grapes were originally planted in 1888 in Sonoma Valley. The winemaker worked for Lulu Peyraud of Domaine Tempier and made this in her honor. It is juicy and crisp enough to drink on its own but substantial weight and complexity of flavors make it delicious with food. This is a very dry rose with some serious body and weight to stand up to different dishes.




Aromas: dusty raspberry


Body: medium


Color: coral




An Essay from the Bedrock website: "The Importance of Rosé; Rose' is a wine I drink as much for pure pleasure as for intellectual stimulation. In the warmer months there is something sacred about a late afternoon meal of cold chicken, fresh garden tomatoes, and rose'. It is one body in the sacred trilogy of rustic simplicity.




Proper rose' is refreshing, life-nourishing stuff that revives the soul, much the same way that dark, smoky, red wines replete with rich fruits replenish and warm in the depleting months of winter.




However, anything equivalent to the delicately colored roses I adore from Bandol and Provence are hard to come by from the New World. Too often, the economic-ease of bleeding off some juice from grapes picked for red wine, is used as the guiding philosophy for making pink wine. The results are often times horrendous. The juice, picked at high potential alcohols, lacks the vivaciousness of fruit and brightness of good rose'. Frequently, high levels of residual sugar are left in to cover-up a lack of character.




Rose', in my opinion, should bear a closer resemblance to white wine than to red.




It is for this reason that I pick at potential alcohols lower on the scale where brightness and lift still exist. This is not to say that fruit does not matter-I use Mourvedre from a block planted over 120 years ago for requisite concentration of complexity of flavor-but like fine champagne, the wonders of rose' lie in its unbearable lightness of being." Morgan Twain-Peterson

Bedrock Wine Co.'s first rosé is an homage to the great lady of Bandol-Lulu Peyraud of Domaine Tempier. I have attempted to craft a wine of noble breeding-a serious rose' for the not so serious trivialities of the warm months of the year when nothing else satisfies quite as much.




The wine is made from 100% Mourvedre grapes sourced from a block originally planted in 1888 at my family's Bedrock Vineyards in Sonoma Valley. Picked at 23.8 brix (white wine levels), this wine was crushed and placed directly into the press. There, it macerated for several hours, picking up the delicate coral color it has today. It was then fermented very cold in stainless steel tank and let lie sur-lie for three months prior to racking and bottling. This wine is all about delicate red fruits, snappy flavors, and the classic forest floor spiciness of the terrestrial Mourvedre.

http://www.bedrockwineco.com/