Archive for January, 2011

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SCMWA Passport at Ridge/Monte Bello!

January 13, 2011

 

Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association Passport

 

It’s 2011 now, and with that comes a bevy of new event seasons; not the least of which is the commencement of the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association Passport Events. Held 4 times a year, these events are a great showcase for our appellation, and we take great pride in our participation.

The first Passport event of the year is Saturday, January 15th, and Ridge Vineyards cordially invites you to our Monte Bello Tasting Room for a wonderful tasting experience! (And please note, we will have Passports for sale on-site, though they tend to sell early!)

As to wines for the event, we will have a specially selected  flight of offerings available, including flagships such as our Geyserville and Monte Bello; yet another reason not to miss this excellent day’s affairs. To see the full tasting menu, please click here.

Cheers, and we look forward to seeing you on Saturday!

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Posted in Events & Photographs, Geyserville, Monte Bello, Santa Cruz Mountains Estate, Special Offerings, Tasting Flights, Tasting Rooms, Wine Clubs | Leave a Comment »

That New Math (2000 Lytton Estate Syrah + Pizza = ?)

January 12, 2011

Struggling with the new math? Not to worry! Here’s how it works …

Add this:

to this:

And get this:

Simple.

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Posted in Food & Wine Pairing, Viticultural Salmagundi | Leave a Comment »

Do You #Wineland? Lytton Springs Do!

January 11, 2011

Do you dig Winter?

Not Northern California Wine Country In Winter

Wait, let me retracticulate; do you dig Winter in Northern California Wine Country?

Now, THAT'S a Winter Wineland!

And are you down with Wine? Specifically, Wine from the Northern Sonoma territories? And if thou do indeed be so hip to it, let me ask you this: When you see the word “Land,” do you think Noun, or Verb?

Put another way, do you Husker Du:

Husker Du, Ice Cold Ice

Barren lands and barren minds
In another place and time
I feel i’ve never known myself
Frozen in the sand again

See the blank expressions waiting for progression
They’re standing still in place and time
And no one’s moving, they’re only
Standing still in ice cold ice cold ice

Or do you Bernard & Smith?

Gone away is the blue bird
Here to stay is a new bird
He sings a love song as we go along
Walkin’ in a winter wonderland

Or do you in fact Winter Wineland?

This is a great opportunity to meet winemakers, taste limited production wines, new releases or library wines.  Some wineries will offer food pairings and others will have tours. Each participating winery will either host an artist for the weekend, so you will enjoy their fine-art, or the winery will have an educational display to help you learn about vineyard management or wine making….thus,
Wine ~ Art ~ Education. 

Point bein’, cat, that this is where it’s at, where all the good words posit theyselves in the same sentencennial constructive; meaning, put Winter, Wine, & Land together, and they harmony starts gettin’ it!

Lost? Glum thee not, here are the specs from our very own Sandy Johnson, Empress on High of Lytton Springs:

Join us on January 15th and 16th in the Lytton Springs Tasting Room for the 19th Annual Winter Wineland Event - A wonderful weekend blend of wine, food, art, and education!

We will be pouring an esteemed roster of Single-Vineyard offerings as opening act to a headliningly fantastico food & wine pairing:

2006 Ridge Vineyards Lytton Estate Syrah/Grenache with a delicious and savory slow-cooked Brazilian Feijoada stew (chicken, pork, sausage, black beans and spices).  Foodawesomeness to come germinatingly from the oh so digable Relish!

And jes’ in case that t’weren’t enough, there is a visual component as well!

Flowers, by Fred Vedder

The Lytton Springs Tasting Room will be proudly displaying the most beautaceous and fine natural fiber artwork and photography of esteemed local artist Fred Vedder.

For more about attending Winter Wineland, and visiting our Lytton Springs facility, please click here.

And lastly, to quote Chicago …

Can you dig it? Yes I can.

 

(tweetin’? use #wineland!)

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Posted in Events & Photographs, Food & Wine Pairing, Lytton Springs | Leave a Comment »

SF MOMA: How Wine Became Modern …

January 10, 2011

Depending on your current knowledge of exhibitions in the San Francisco museum community, you may or may not know that there is a rather fine and wine-centric show currently on at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art entitled “How Wine Became Modern.”

Here is the exhibit in SFMOMA’s words:

How Wine Became Modern explores the visual culture of wine and its stunning transformation over the last three decades. Designed in collaboration with renowned architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the exhibition combines historical artifacts, architectural models, design objects, newly commissioned artworks, and enticing installations, including a “smell wall,” to probe many aspects of wine culture, among them: the globalization of wine; concepts of terroir; wine in popular media; new strategies in label, glassware, and winery design; and wine tourism.

One of our wonderful Regional Sales Managers, Dan Buckler, recently attended the exhibit, and sent us the following quote from our very own Paul Draper; a quote Dan discovered encased in glass as part of a winemaking practices display:

“In California for at least the last ten or fifteen years we have heard that the wines are now made in the vineyards. What is not mentioned is that in most cases they are then remade in the winery” — Paul Draper

If the implication and inference is not quite clear as regards where Ridge stands, here is Paul on our Monte Bello Vineyard:

Monte Bello is first and foremost a wine of place. That place – high atop the Santa Cruz Mountains underlain by decomposing limestone and Franciscan rock – produces a wine unlike any other. It is our belief that this vineyard with its very low yielding vines (less than two tons per acre) is capable of creating a wine of great significance, depth, complexity and aging potential – but only if we take care in sustaining it. Our vineyard practices, therefore, do not intervene; rather they use and preserve the existing eco-system through techniques such as sowing cover crops and utilizing integrated pest management to nurture and protect the vines. We do not add anything to the vineyard that is not natural.

All of which calls to mind a comment that recently came through to our blog in response to our Year In (Visual) Review post, an excerpt of which reads as follows:

please may we belatedly insert the gleaming thread that was the visual artist Louise Bourgeois? she passed away at age 98 in May of last year, though her work and ideas remain with us. she was outspoken and intelligent, and i like to view much of what she said through the lens of artists in general (be it painters, writers, or yes, a certain class of winemakers):

“art is manipulation without intervention”
“i am not what i am, i am what i do with my hands”
“art is a guarantee of sanity” (i believe this last pertains not only to the making of art, but also to the partaking of it!)

Art is manipulation without intervention.

I don’t know as I’ve heard a better mantra; for wine, for art, for life. Safe travels to you, Louise Bourgeois, and bless you for your wisdom.

And thank you to you “Stella” for calling our attention both to this great artist’s passing, and to the parallel visions at work.

And to you Dan Buckler, for alerting us to Paul’s great quote.

And thank you to you Paul Draper, and all at Ridge, for pursuing the ethical path, the artist’s path, the only path.

To quote Abraham Lincoln (from a poster that hangs on an office wall here at Monte Bello)

on the subject of Ethics:

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.

No coincidence, methinks, that Lincoln should ground ethics in place.

 

…Monte Bello is first and foremost a wine of place …

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Posted in Events & Photographs, History, Monte Bello, Paul Draper, Vineyards and Oenology, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine Tales, Winemaking | Leave a Comment »

Morning Breaks At Lytton Springs!

January 8, 2011

In Sonoma? Anywhere near Healdsburg? Need to osmosisize some serious beauty?

Morning Breaks At Lytton Springs

Posted in Events & Photographs, Lytton Springs | Leave a Comment »

Might be cold down there …

January 8, 2011

Might be cold, wet, and foggy down there, but it’s warm, dry, and sunny up here! Come to Monte Bello and find out! There’s wine here!

Might Be Cold Down There ...

Posted in Events & Photographs, Monte Bello | Leave a Comment »

The 2005 Lytton Estate Grenache Is Landing On Runway #Delicious!

January 7, 2011

You can meet your arriving parties at Decanter #1, in the Riedel Terminal, and thank you for flying Air Grenache …

For those of you continuing on with your tasting, please see an agent for directions to the Royal Typewriter …

Yes, pulling out ol’ faithful to pen some tasting notes …

Assuming you can read that, you’ll note that I tasted this wine with a rather fine food pairing; whole wheat rotelle with a broccoli, mushroom, and spicy Italian Sausage red sauce …

 

 Delicious!

 For those of you who might be curious, I found it interesting to read the notes above in comparison with notes I penned some two+ weeks back; should you wish to do the same, you can find those previous notes here.

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Posted in Food & Wine Pairing, Grenache, Tasting Notes, Varietals & Blends | Leave a Comment »

The 2011 ATP Line-Up!

January 6, 2011

I very recently had the opportunity to sit down to a tasting with winemakers Paul Draper and Eric Baugher, President Mark Vernon, and DTC Director Ryan Moore, to review the 2011 crop of ATP releases, and let me tell you, hand over heart, this is as exciting a line-up as we’ve ever proposed releasing! I am telling you, I am thrilled with these wines, and I know you’re going to be as well …

The first of these to be released is the new 2005 Lytton Estate Grenache; here are my notes from the tasting:

Dark and rich hues in the glass, cranberry highlights … Strong and deep notes of everything from fudge brownies and cocoa powder to black olives, candied plums, and blood orange on the nose … smoothly coating tannins on the palate, quintessially Grenachian, with medium-to-light acidity … resolving well as regards overall integration, and showing a nicely unique and dusky minerality with hints of crushed rock and just-post-rainfall-sidewalk … overall, and by comparison, a less exotically swashbuckling spice profile than the 2004 rendition, but also more harmonically pure, registering more depth, and a lower-tone, earthier darkness … a great wine for the colder months, and showing very well right now.

If you’re a member of our ATP Wine Club,  you should be receiving this quite soon, unless you happen to be an RSVP’d First Friday attendee, in which you case you can taste it tomorrow!

And if you’re not yet a member, well, we just better figure out a way to get you to taste this, cuz I think you’ll be converted!

One last item, just in case you’re interested; here are winemaker Eric Baugher’s notes from the tasting; good luck deciphering!

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Posted in Grenache, Varietals & Blends, Wine Clubs | Leave a Comment »

2010: The Year in (Visual) Review!

January 6, 2011

Well, it’s been quite a year.

I am certain we all say this when we reach the end of a journey, but in this case, I really feel this year took a LONG TIME to play out; thinking back on the events of January, they seem to shimmer so distantly in their translucent veil of misty obfuscation, I can hardly make them out. Perhaps a ride back in time can help us recollect and reassemble the complicated patterning of this mischievous and mercurial year gone by.

January 2010

Hard to believe it was only 12 months ago that Warren Buffet was wielding his substantial shares in Kraft to try and block their proposed acquisition of Cadbury, that The Dauletabad – Salyp Yar gas pipeline between Turkmenistan and Iran was being opened, or that Rihanna was busy making international news by falling off the stage at the NRJ Music Awards at Cannes. And doesn’t it just seem like ages ago that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed five new Senators? And do you remember when the fine folks at Fatted Calf came to our tasting rooms? Were you here? Can you even remember that far back?

Fatted Calf at Ridge!

Yeah, it was pretty memorable. I remember it too.

February 2010

February starts to come into a little more focus for me; who could forget Beyonce’s legendary awards acquisitions spree at the 52nd Grammys, or that Yahoo sold HotJobs to Monster, or that Goodluck Jonathan was appointed acting President of Nigeria? And of course, February 2010 was when EMI put Abbey Road up for sale!  None of that, of course, compares to the excitement of the ZAP festival, but then again, what does?

Ridge at ZAP: Zinfandellin'!

March 2010

March was all about NEW. A new name at the top of the world billionaire list (Carlos Slim), a new baby elephant at Taronga Zoo in New South Wales, a new record deal (the world’s largest!) for the estate of Michael Jackson, the signing into law of a new health care bill by President Barack Obama, and perhaps most exciting of all, the debut of our Wine Bloggers Tasting!

The First Wine Bloggers Tasting!

April 2010

April was all about celebrating birthdays: Ron ”Horschack” Palillo (from Welcome Back Kotter!), Rachmaninoff, Marvin Gaye, Herb Caen, Muddy Waters, Billy Dee Williams, Billie Holiday, Eudora Welty, and this blog!

Happy 1st Birthday to 4488: A Ridge Blog!

 May 2010

May was all about returns; the return of the Mauritian Labour Party to power, planes returning to the skies over Ireland after the Icelandic volcanic explosion, the Chinese man who was returned to freedom after the man he was accused of killing was found alive, supermodel Naomi Campbell returning to court, this time to discuss her possible receipt of a blood diamond, and of course, the return of the lizards to Monte Bello!

Monte Bello Lizard!

June 2010

How were we feeling in June? I think we were unsure about what the future held; we didn’t know what lay ahead, where we were going, what was to come. When Ireland “officially” left recession in June of 2010, how could they be imagining the UN bailout awaiting them by year’s end? Did Manuel Noriega know that, come July, he’d be looking at another 7 years? When Dick Cheney went into the hospital yet again, did he know whether this would be the last time? And when we selected our very special vine for VineWatch 2010, did we know the harvest outcome?

VineWatch 2010 #1: The Debut!

July 2010

In July, we experienced the rarefied glory of unexpected discoveries, unprecedented pairings, and unparalleled glimpses into worlds we could only imagine;  Scientists confirmed the first ever picture of an extrasolar planet orbiting its star, Chelsea Clinton married Mark Mezvisnky, and with our very own Paul Draper as guide, we received an invitation to Dinner at Julia Child’s house …

Julia Child & Paul Draper: Dinner at Julia's!

August 2010

You may as well have called August 2010 National Change-Of-Heart Month. Not only did the Netherlands pull out of Afghanistan, not only did Raul Castro decide to loosen state control of the Cuban economy, not only did Ivan Lendl decide to end a 16-year hiatus and return to professional tennis, not only did Bristol Palin call off her engagement, but I personally rediscovered the 1993 Monte Bello, and discovered that I love it!

The Revelation of 1993 Monte Bello!

September 2010

September was just plain ol’ WTF month (“what-the-heck-is-goin’-on-month” if you’re at work and someone asks you what you’re reading!). A scientific journal discovers that the mammalian cerebral cortex (mind you, humans are mammals!) shares an evolutionary origin with something called a “mushroom body,” and I decide to grow a beard to help harvest. What ‘evs …

If The Beard Fits ... Make A Harvest Pledge!

October 2010

Back in October, we had our minds focused on the ends of very long journeys; voters in Ivory Coast were finally able to go to the polls in a presidential election, YouTube was finally able to air again in Turkey, George W. Bush finally released his memoir, Google finally secured the rights to publish The Dead Sea Scrolls online, and here at Ridge/Monte Bello, our lil’ vine of VineWatch 2010 made its final contribution to the harvest …

VineWatch 2010: The End

November 2010

We might have been acting locally in November, but we were thinking globally; China was continuing its ascendency to the world stage by inaugurating a domestic census (the first in ten years!); George Clooney was winning the Ripple of Hope award in D.C. for his work in Darfur and Haiti, and winemaker Eric Baugher and I were celebrating Global Zinfandel Day by tasting 2000 Geyerville in his office …

Global Zinfandel Day Begins!

December 2010

And in December, we celebrated. The end of a year nearly gone, the beginning of a year almost here. And perhaps most importantly, the anniversary of the end of Prohibition!

Huzzah!

And that was 2010.

Quite a year indeed. It ended on December 31st. Possibly with some singing.

Inevitably with some toasts, and some half-drunk attempts at eloquence …

("Half-drunk all the time, and all drunk the rest" -- Tom Waits, from "A Sight For Sore Eyes)

And with that …

I thank you all for traveling with us through these twelve months, and I wish you all safe travels for the journeys ahead. Whatever it is you’re called on to face in the New Year, and however joyful or sad you might feel, please know there is always a bottle of wine for you, and someone who is happy to share it. You are never alone, and be you old acquaintance or new, once met, you’ll never be forgot.

Happy New Year!

Posted in Events & Photographs, History, Lytton Springs, Monte Bello, Ridge Memorabilia, Social Media, Tasting Rooms, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine Blogs, Wine Clubs, Wine Tales | 1 Comment »

A New & Delicious Wine & Food Pairing!

January 5, 2011

Are you on our mailing list? If yes, then you probably know what I’m about to tell you about, but if not, well, I’m going to let you in on a little something, but you really might want to consider signing up (you can do so right here) as this isn’t the only treat that’s going to come down the pipe, and I can’t always be here to help you. Anyhow, if you’d like to read about what wine we suggest pairing with Moroccan Lamb Stew, and how to make said stew yourself, then just click here, and let the deliciousness commence!

Posted in Food & Wine Pairing | Leave a Comment »

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