One of the Most Exciting New Addresses in California

Do you have preconceptions about California winemaking?

Go ahead and forget 'em all because the Bedrock Wine Company is doing things differently. This is easily one of the most exciting new wineries we've come across: all California wine fans should pay heed.

While forgotten vineyards with 100-120 year-old vines and the old-school winemaking may be enough to seduce you, these two wines also represent a serious philosophical challenge to agricultural monotony.

Today is St. Patrick's Day, as any glance up shamrock-splattered Fifth Avenue will tell you and today we present a "spirited" way to observe the feast of the patron saint of Ireland.

We'll be enjoying Michael Collins tomorrow in the following three ways (choose any for yourself, or perhaps all three, depending on the time of day):

Weingut Knebel is situated in what is considered the Lower Mosel's best village, Winningen. It is also happens to be one of the warmest areas in the Mosel and therefore the style at Knebel (especially for the dry wines) is muscular and powerful, while (almost miraculously) elegant.

Knebel's dry wines are made by Gernot Kollman, the former winemaker at Van Volxem. The noble sweet wines, also held in the highest regard, are made by Beatte Knebel. Gernot works in a hands-off manner with indigenous yeasts while also using ambitious methods to extract profound aromatics and concentration from the grapes: pre-fermentation oxidation, extended skin contact and high fermentation temperatures.

The steeply terraced and visually stunning vineyards of the Lower Mosel don't offer an easy life to those who tend them. They are laborious and costly to work and their obscurity means the grapes they produce often fetch a low price.

More work, less pay. This cruel formula often results in two contrasting issues - one good, one bad.

2004 Paulo Bea Sagrantino Secco "Pagliaro"
Traditional, Singular, Dazzlingly Beautiful

"At their best these are finessed expressive wines of the highest level in a style that recalls the Brunellos of Gianfranco Soldera or the Barolos of Giuseppe Rinaldi, to name just two producers with a similar aesthetic.."
- Antonio Galloni, Wine Advocate

It's been almost 4 years since we first began singing the praises of Paolo Bea's wines and in this short time the estate has gone from a culty, under-the-radar gem sniffed out by the curious, impassioned few to a traditional Italian phenomenon beginning to garner serious mainstream attention.