Here are some fun facts for your next obscure trivia night:
- Syrah is Bent Creek’s flagship wine. We first sold it to Concannon in the ‘90s.
- Eight Bridges Brewing has a Cherry Blush Barrel-Aged Sour beer that’s been aged in Bent Creek’s Vintage Port barrels.
- Bent Creek shares its crusher/destemmer equipment with Charles R, our neighbors down the road.
- SO2 is added to bins during punch-down to slow fermentation and help keep the grapes cool.
- GEEK ALERT: Most wild vineyards in the U.S. have developed a natural resistance to the aphid-like root mite, Phylloxera vastatrix; however, when Wente first imported and planted French Zinfandel vines directly in the ground (e.g., own-root and not grafted), they all succumbed to this destructive insect. It was a hard-learned lesson for American winemakers. All existing Bent Creek varieties are grafted on UC Davis C5 (clone) I4 (American hybrid) Syrah rootstock and are resistant to Phylloxera.
- Bent Creek vines were planted in 1996 and are very well established. Vineyards are on drip (roots are ~20’ deep with a ~15’ water table). Vines were watered only two times during the July 2015 drought (per Pat, 9-19-2015).
- We source our Cabernet from Thatcher Bay and Del Arroyo Vineyards.
- Bent Creek began producing Ports in 2004 under the guidance of Earl Ault, owner and winemaker at Cedar Mountain Winery in Livermore (and another retired LLNL physicist).
- There’s a Cisco conference room named after Bent Creek!