Bedrock Wine Co.

Bedrock Wine Co. began in 2007 in a converted chicken coop on the outskirts of the town of Sonoma. The first fruit came from the family's Bedrock Vineyard and from Teldeschi Ranch in Dry Creek Valley; it was hand pitch-forked into a small destemmer and fermented outside in redwood fermenters. The first wines were released 10 days after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Production later moved from the chicken coop to another friend's winery and then to a tin-sided warehouse. Morgan Twain-Peterson is owner and winemaker. After six years of working alone, he was joined by Chris Cottrell as a partner, the first outsider to become part of the business. The Peterson family became the owners of Bedrock Vineyard in 2005.

• 2007: Bedrock Wine Co. started in a converted chicken coop on the outskirts of Sonoma, with fruit from Bedrock Vineyard and Teldeschi Ranch fermented in redwood fermenters.
• First wines released 10 days after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
• 2005: the Peterson family became the owners of Bedrock Vineyard.
• Chris Cottrell joined Morgan Twain-Peterson as a partner, the first outsider to become part of the business.

Morgan Twain-Peterson MW is owner and winemaker. His father, Joel Peterson, started Ravenswood Winery. Twain-Peterson studied History and Political Science at Vassar College and worked harvests at Ravenswood in 2005, in Australia and at Chateau Lynch Bages in Bordeaux before starting Bedrock. He became a Master of Wine in 2017. Chris Cottrell, Partner, worked at Crush Wine Co. in New York from 2005 to early 2013. In 2011 he and Twain-Peterson began Under The Wire, a project making single-vineyard, single-vintage sparkling wines. The team includes Cody Rasmussen, Director of Winemaking Operations; Katie Rouse, Associate Winemaker; Jake Neustadt, Director of Viticulture; and Idoia de Eguia Luna, Tasting Room Manager.

• Morgan Twain-Peterson MW: owner and winemaker; Master of Wine since 2017.
• Chris Cottrell: Partner; co-founder with Twain-Peterson of Under The Wire sparkling wines.
• Cody Rasmussen (Director of Winemaking Operations), Katie Rouse (Associate Winemaker), Jake Neustadt (Director of Viticulture), Idoia de Eguia Luna (Tasting Room Manager).

Bedrock Vineyard takes up 152 acres of Sonoma Valley. It was founded in 1854 by Generals William Tecumseh Sherman and Joseph Hooker. After the first epidemic of phylloxera in the mid-1880s, it was replanted in 1888 by Senator George Hearst, a mining magnate and the father of publisher William Randolph Hearst; the Bedrock Heritage Wine is made from those vines. The vineyard was sold to the California Wine Association in the early 1900s and produced grapes for it until Prohibition. In 1934 the Parducci family bought the property, and in 1953 it was split, with the Domenici family taking 152 acres then known as Madrone Ranch. The Peterson family has owned the vineyard since 2005. Morgan Twain-Peterson identified and mapped all 16,279 vines, and the 2016 Heritage includes all 27 varieties interplanted in the vineyard, about half of it Zinfandel.

• 152 acres in Sonoma Valley; owned by the Peterson family, farmed by Bedrock Wine Co.
• Founded 1854 by Sherman and Hooker; replanted 1888 by Senator George Hearst after phylloxera.
• Later owners: the California Wine Association (early 1900s), the Parducci family (1934), the Domenici family (from the 1953 split), the Peterson family (2005).
• 27 interplanted varieties in the 2016 Heritage, about half Zinfandel.

Beyond Bedrock Vineyard, the winery farms or sources fruit from old vineyards across California. Evangelho Vineyard in Contra Costa County was planted in the 1890s, own-rooted on forty-foot-deep banks of sand by the Sacramento River Delta, and is a field blend of Zinfandel, Carignane, Mourvedre and others. In 2017 Bedrock bought 10 acres of the vineyard and took over the lease on the remaining 26 acres, which were then owned by PG&E. Nearby Pato Vineyard, planted in 1905, own-rooted and on Delhi sands, is owned by the Contra Costa Water District and farmed by Bedrock since 2012. Katushas' Vineyard, a 10-acre site in the Mokelumne River area, was bought in 2014 and is owned by Bedrock. Other sites Bedrock farms, alone or with vineyard managers, include Nervo Ranch in Geyserville (oldest vines 1896), Sodini Ranch in the Russian River Valley (planted 1905), Compagni Portis Vineyard in Sonoma Valley (planted 1954, white varieties), Puccini Vineyard in Sonoma Valley (planted 1906) and Oakville Farmhouse Vineyard in Oakville (planted in the 1930s). Fruit also comes from friends' vineyards, among them Old Hill Ranch in Sonoma Valley, Teldeschi Vineyard in Dry Creek Valley, Monte Rosso Vineyard, Hudson Vineyards in Carneros, Bien Nacido Vineyard in Santa Maria Valley and Sky Vineyard on Mt. Veeder.

• Evangelho Vineyard, Contra Costa County: 10 acres bought by Bedrock in 2017; planted in the 1890s, own-rooted in deep sand.
• Pato Vineyard, Contra Costa County: planted 1905 on Delhi sands; farmed by Bedrock since 2012.
• Katushas' Vineyard, Mokelumne River: 10 acres, bought in 2014.
• Teldeschi Ranch, Dry Creek Valley: a source of the first 2007 wines; its field blend carried the Lorenzo's name from 2007 to 2019.

Bedrock Vineyard is certified both Organic and Regenerative Organic, and the outside vineyards are farmed using the same core ethos. Practices include diverse cover crops of over 20 plant species from 7 to 8 plant families, insectary rows of native plants, non-till farming, crimping cover crops to protect the soil, and season-adapted grazing with animals. The approach varies by site: the volcanic soils of Sonoma Valley receive about 35 inches of rain a year, while Evangelho Vineyard, in deep sands, receives about 10 inches.

• Bedrock Vineyard: certified Organic and Regenerative Organic.
• Cover crops of over 20 plant species, non-till farming, crimping and animal grazing.
• Director of Viticulture: Jake Neustadt.

Bedrock's stated approach in the cellar: 'We embrace uninoculated fermentations, native malolactic, the use of whole clusters in fermentation, minimal handling, rarely or never fine, avoid additions of things common in California like water and tartaric acid, and would rather use no oak than cheap oak.' Its old vineyards are often Zinfandel but are also planted to Mataro (Mourvedre), Carignan, Petite Sirah, Alicante Bouschet, Grenache, Semillon, Gewurztraminer, Trousseau Gris and Riesling, along with dozens of others. The range takes in old-vine field blends labelled Heritage, Zinfandel, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, rosé and white wines. Early vintages of the field blends were labelled Heirloom, such as the 2007 Bedrock Heirloom Wine and Lorenzo's Heirloom Wine. Under The Wire, the sparkling wine project of Twain-Peterson and Cottrell, is poured alongside Bedrock at the tasting room.

• Uninoculated fermentations, native malolactic, whole clusters, minimal handling, rarely or never fined.
• Heritage field blends from Bedrock Vineyard, Evangelho, Old Hill Ranch, Pato, Nervo Ranch and other sites.
• Earlier field blends were labelled Heirloom (2007 Bedrock Heirloom Wine, Lorenzo's Heirloom Wine).

The Bedrock Heritage Sonoma Valley 2016 was No. 10 in Wine Spectator's Top 100 of 2018, with a score of 95 points. The San Francisco Chronicle named Morgan Twain-Peterson and Tegan Passalacqua of Turley Wine Cellars its Winemakers of the Year in 2015. Twain-Peterson was a founding board member of the Historic Vineyard Society.

• Morgan Twain-Peterson: a founding board member of the Historic Vineyard Society.

In the winery's own words, 'at the core of all of our wines is a focus on ideal ripeness, freshness and aromatics,' and 'the challenge is to retain levity and poise in our wines.'

Tastings are held by appointment at the General Joseph Hooker House, 414 First Street East, on the Sonoma Plaza. The 1852 house of General Joseph Hooker, who bought a vineyard with William Tecumseh Sherman, came up for lease in early 2017, and Bedrock took it on to reunite the house with wines from Hooker's old vineyard.

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.bedrockwineco.com/bedrock-heritage/meet-morgan-and-chris/, https://www.bedrockwineco.com/bedrock-heritage/on-the-wings-of-a-pig/, https://www.bedrockwineco.com/bedrock-heritage/farming/, https://www.bedrockwineco.com/bedrock-heritage/winemaking/, https://www.bedrockwineco.com/it-takes-a-village/vineyards/, https://www.bedrockwineco.com/it-takes-a-village/the-bedrock-family/, https://www.bedrockwineco.com/tastings/, https://www.bedrockwineco.com/general-joseph-hooker-house/, https://www.bedrockwineco.com/the-study/drinking-windows/, https://www.bedrockwineco.com/the-study/past-release-letters/. Secondary sources: San Francisco Chronicle (https://www.sfchronicle.com/wine/article/Where-to-taste-the-wines-of-The-Chronicle-s-15813074.php; Esther Mobley, updated 2 August 2017, https://www.sfchronicle.com/wine/article/Bedrock-Wine-Co-takes-over-Contra-Costa-s-11723954.php) and Wine Spectator (Top 100 of 2018, https://top100.winespectator.com/2018/wine/10-bedrock/). Last verified 2026-10-14. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree on the producer's own facts, the producer's site governs.