Bedrock takes over Antioch vineyard
In a deal that marries already intertwined Bay Area wines and vines, Bedrock Wine Co. has taken over the Evangelho Vineyard in Antioch.
Morgan Twain-Peterson, Bedrock’s owner and winemaker, has been making wines from Evangelho’s 130-year-old vines since 2011. Longtime caretaker Frank Evangelho remains an adviser.
Frank Evangelho had run up against a dilemma familiar to many California vintners: Retirement was on the horizon, and his family business had no heirs willing to step in. In his area of Contra Costa County, many old-vine vineyards have yielded to strip malls and residential development — pressures that will only mount as BART prepares to expand to Antioch in 2018.
“For Frank, whose father started farming the vineyard in 1938, the idea of being forced to sell to a developer was repugnant,” wrote Twain-Peterson.
In the deal announced this week, Bedrock purchased 10 acres of the vineyard from Evangelho. The remaining 26 acres are owned by PG&E and leased to Evangelho; Bedrock has taken over that lease. Manuel Carranza, the vineyard’s longtime foreman, will stay on. “He’s the tie that binds out there,” said Twain-Peterson.
Twain-Peterson, a past Chronicle Winemaker of the Year, has staked a career on protecting California heritage vineyards, ever since buying the 120year-old Bedrock Vineyard in Sonoma Valley in 2005. He’s a founding board member of the Historic Vineyard Society. And he already leases the nearby Pato Vineyard, more than 100 years old.
The Evangelho Vineyard is an endangered species of California vineyard. The properties of its soil have prevented the lethal grape louse phylloxera from festering there. Planted among Zinfandel vines, in the typical style of its planting era, are varieties like Mourvedre, Carignan, Palomino and Muscat of Alexandria. Amtrak trains roll past on adjacent tracks, and towering PG&E power lines crown the site.
“The amazing thing about Evangelho is how healthy it is and how productive it is,” TwainPeterson said. “There’s less than 5 percent missing vines at the vineyard, which for a 120year-old vineyard is kind of staggering. What we’re gonna be doing is working to refine the farming a little bit.” At his urging, Evangelho began implementing organic farming practices like composting and cover cropping a few years ago.
“We have the rare capacity to make sure the vineyard, and the decades of Frank’s emotional and financial investment, continues to be tended with the care it deserves,” said TwainPeterson.