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!
