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Wine Bloggers Tasting: The Acrostic Anagram Sessions!

December 29, 2010

Greetings all!

So, we’ve just very recently hosted the final Wine Bloggers Tasting of 2010 here at Monte Bello, and as always, it proved to be a delicious, and deliciously entertaining session. Many, many thanks to the bloggers who attended!

Wine Bloggers Tasting #4

With every one of these happenings, one of my tasks is to assemble the roster of wines that we’ll be tasting, and I always try and do this to a theme.

-For Session #1, we tasted exactly the same wines that Robert Parker had just reviewed, to see how the collective Blogger Palate matched up (I included a barrel sample of the ’08 Monte Bello, a five-vintage vertical of post-2000 Monte Bellos, plus the 1996 Monte Bello!) …

-For Session #2, we tasted all limited-production/winery-only Rhone varietal offerings …

-For Session #3 (held at Lytton Springs), we tasted a 10-vintage vertical of Lytton Springs …

So what to do for Session #4? Why, an Acrostic Anagram, of course!

Meaning, I poured an 11-wine flight with no discernible theme. I then explained to the bloggers that each wine’s label contributed one letter (just from the BIG letters, not every bit of fine print text!) to the puzzle. If they could guess the letters, and then get the letters in the right order, they’d find the secret phrase that gave us our theme! Because I poured the wines in the “proper” order for tasting, and not in the order of the letters, it was not only an acrostic, but an acrostic anagram!

Perhaps needless to say, when I explained my plan to a fellow Ridge staffer, I was called “a dork.”

Anyhow, care to play along? Here are the wines I selected, in the order poured:

Buchignani Ranch Carignane

East Bench

Lytton Estate Zinfandel/Primitivo

Geyserville

Nervo

Grenache

Independence School

Old School

Lytton West Syrah

Ridge Monte Bello

Geyserville Essence

Solved it yet? Ok, here’s a hint; as you’ll see below, I’ve bolded the relevant letter from each wine:

Buchignani Ranch Carignane

East Bench

Lytton Estate Zinfandel/Primitivo

Geyserville

Nervo

Grenache

Independence School

Old School

Lytton West Syrah

Ridge Monte Bello

Geyserville Essence

Got it now? No, not BELGNG IOWRE! You have to rearrange the letters! Got it now?

WINE BLOGGER

I am happy to report that Fred Swan, of the very great NorCalWine.com, was the first to successfully blurt out the correct answer. Congratulations Fred!

And lastly, a special thank you to Allan Bree, of the very great GangOfPour.com, for bringing the extraordinary trio of mystery wines we were all so fortunate to taste: 1993, 1994, and 1997 Ridge Vineyards Pagani Ranch Alicante Bouschet! How were they tasting? I think all involved agreed that “pretty” was by far and away the most appropriate descriptor, though I might add delicious, elegant, beautiful, extraordinary, enticing, and vibrant as well! Cheers Allan, that was such a treat!

Alicante Bouschet!

To close, a heartfelt thank you to Ridge Vineyards, all our participating wine bloggers, and everyone out there devotedly writing quality wine blogs; I feel very honored to be a part of both Ridge, and the wine blogger community, and 2010 was an extraordinary year for me in that regard, and for that, I thank you all! I am also very happy to report that we’ll be continuing this event is 2011, so cheers to the coming New Year!

Oh, one more thing, two other posts about this event have already gone up, you can find them here:

RJonWine

WineBookGirl

Enjoy!

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Posted in Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignane, Events & Photographs, Geyserville, Grenache, Lytton Springs, Monte Bello, Press Reviews, Rhone varietals, Social Media, Syrah, Tasting Flights, Tasting Notes, Varietals & Blends, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine Blogs, Wine Tales, Zinfandel | 1 Comment »

San Francisco Syrah Tasting: 11/9/10!

November 4, 2010

If you read my previous post (found here) then you’re already aware of our participation in the “Pneumonia’s Last Syrah” campaign. But did  you know we’ll also be pouring at a wonderful event in San Francisco on the 9th of November to support the campaign?

To purchase tickets for this fantastic event, just click here. You’ll be supporting a very worthy cause, you’ll be enjoying Syrahs from 20 different outstanding producers, and as far as our participation goes, you’ll have a chance to taste with our very own Vice-President of Vineyard Operations David Gates.

David is one of the warmest, most friendly and approachable members of the vineyard community I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting, let alone working with, and I encourage you to take this fantastic opportunity to talk over a glass of Syrah with him. But don’t let his folksy down-to-earthedness fool you; David is a veritable fount of knowledge, and his erudition, wisdom, and technical prowess are dazzling in the most unexpected of ways.

There are a multitude of reasons to support this campaign, and a multitude of ways to do so, and while this tasting is just one such opportunity, it’s a tasty one!

By the way, if you’d like to read more about this effort from writers outside of the organizational circle, you might want to have a look at the following rather esteemed bloggers and their posts:

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Posted in Events & Photographs, Rhone varietals, Syrah, Varietals & Blends, Vineyards and Oenology, Wine Blogs | Leave a Comment »

Pneumonia’s Last Syrah!

November 2, 2010

Here at Ridge Vineyards, we are very excited about our participation this month in an absolutely wonderful endeavor entitled “Pneumonia’s Last Syrah.” If you’re not yet familiar with this campaign, below you’ll find a little background to hip you up to what this is all about; the text was generated by Rhone Rangers, America’s leading non-profit organization dedicated to promoting American Rhone varietal wines (our very own David Gates serves on the board!):

A recent article by Eric Asimov in the New York Times began “There’s a joke going around West Coast wine circles: What’s the difference between a case of syrah and a case of pneumonia? You can get rid of the pneumonia.” As America’s leading organization dedicated to the promotion of American Rhone varieties (of which Syrah is the most widely planted) Asimov’s article, and the response on Huffington Post by pneumonia expert Dr. Orin Levine of Johns Hopkins Medical Center, got our attention.

We share the feeling many Rhone producers have had for years that more could be done to bring attention to this wonderful grape. So, the Rhone Rangers, in conjunction with Dr. Levine and the GAVI Alliance, have created Pneumonia’s Last Syrah.

Recognizing that pneumonia can be stopped by a vaccine that costs $10, members of the Rhone Rangers invite you to celebrate their commitment to donate $10 for each case of American Syrah sold to consumers in the month of November toward providing urgently needed pneumonia vaccines to children in the world’s poorest countries. 

As participants, Ridge Vineyards will be donating $1 for every bottle of Ridge  Syrah sold in November, and to coincide with this happening, we’ll be releasing our new 2006 Lytton Estate Syrah/Grenache! We think this is an absolutely wonderful wine, and should you happen to agree, then please consider purchasing a bottle. Or two. Or ten! Not only will you have a terrific wine to enjoy, but you’ll be helping us to contribute to a really wonderful cause.

The new 2006 Lytton Estate Syrah/Grenache is one of our most highly anticipated ATP offerings (for those of you not familiar with this acronymn, it stands for Advanced Tasting Program, and it’s the name of one of our membership programs here; the one through which we release all of our limited-production winery-only wines), and based on my early tastings, I think this vintage is going to be an outstanding contribution to the Ridge Syrah canon. Here are my first-pass tasting notes from last week:

Ridge Vineyards 2006 Lytton Estate Syrah/Grenache

Right out of the gate, what I’m loving about this new release is a) the extent to which the grenache is already emerging out from under the proverbial black umbrella of Syrah into the sunshine of equitable aesthetic influence (something we didn’t see happen with the 2005 until quite a bit more bottle aging had occurred), and b) the interstellar array of aromatic and taste complexities on offer … The bouquet is tremendously rich, and shows a great spectrum of flavor components: dusky dark berry characteristics laced with cocoa liquor, sweet and succulent plum notes, a fascinatingly mysterious and savory middle layer evoking fire-roasted tomatoes and grilled red peppers, bright and vivacious high-tone red fruit delivering wickedly beguiling acidity, and an archetypal Rhone dusting of white pepper and tarragon herbality … All these notes resolve into an intensely compressed mid-tone-driven front-of-palate profile, with plum and a hint of raspberry being the dominant qualities … The tannins are astonishingly, and I mean astonishingly, supple and refined; powdery without being chalky, firm without being adhesive, structured without being ungainly. In short, astonishing … The viscosity evident in the legs makes its presence felt in the back half of the mid-palate profile, drawing the primary taste sensations away from the cheeks and towards the tongue; accordingly, the sweeter side of the wine emerges, drawing an elegantly silken layer across the percolating acidity … The finish is sweet and savory to the point of decadence, though the viscosity tapers and accordingly refocuses the acidity; flavors linger long, and the robustness of the overall profile lays with grace in the chest for what seems like hours after … Really, really wonderful, this wine.

The Pneumonia’s Last Syrah campaign will run throughout the full of November, so we very much hope you’ll have an opportunity to join us in enjoying some great wine, and contributing to a great cause!

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Posted in Events & Photographs, Grenache, Rhone varietals, Special Offerings, Syrah, Tasting Notes, Varietals & Blends, Wine Clubs | 1 Comment »

#WAFA10 -or- Wine, Confit, & You!

November 2, 2010

I’m struggling here, I really am. I have a really groovy event to chat about, and I’m torn on what to say. Of course, I could just heap praise on our Lytton Springs site — the phenom staff, the exquisite location, the multiple green-award-winning facility, the wines, the wines, the wines — and of course I could sing the praises of the organizational and community-minded spirit of the folks over at wineroad.com, those arch supporters of, and advocates for, that holy trinity of wine valleys in Northern California that is Alexander, Dry Creek, and Russian River (who are also the folks who are behind the event in question), and of course I could just  praise YOU, because YOU have apparently already rendered this event SOLD OUT!

Lytton Springs, pic courtesy of Dave Tong

What in blazes am I actually talking about? Why, Wine & Food Affair, of course!

And it’s happening this weekend! Ridge Vineyards/Lytton Springs is a proud participant, and if you have any way to get to Sonoma County this weekend — don’t rule out hiking, parasailing, transporting, extreme pogo-sticking, sack-racing, or donkeys — then I really and truly do strongly recommend that you attend. And if you didn’t get a ticket in time, then you might want to try and find a way to bribe someone who already has a ticket into giving you their ticket. (Bribes really are the obvious choice for the currently ticketless, but I suppose there are other ways to barter. Depending on who you ask … and of course, depending on what you offer …)

I kid! I’m a kidder! I’m just kidding … I’m a kidder.

Margot Kidder, with Superman

In all seriousness, Wine & Food Affair is really a kick of a happening, and if you’re going to be anywhere near our Lytton Springs facility this weekend, then I really hope you can find a way to participate. And if the Sold Out signs prove to be daunting, well, just write me with a really erudite and compelling explanation of why you should be in attendance, and I’ll see what I can do!

You can find all the relevant event specs here, by the way …

Now admittedly, that was a pretty roundabout plug for a fairly straightforward event. Perhaps what I really should have written was the following:

New Ridge Vineyards Syrah/Grenache …

WAIT! That’s no fun! Ok, let’s try it again … Here are all the WORDS I should have written, but let’s let YOU put them together …

Cannellini Mazzoni Lytton Confit Syrah Duck Grenache Soup Sonoma Carignane Northern

Dig?

Confit, dig?

And hey, by the way, if you do indeed plan to be on hand to dig the festivities, and if you really want to fully swim in the social media stream, then I should tell you that the Twitterisciously Hashtagged virtual nom-de-plume is as follows: #WAFA10 … (and if you’re tasting Ridge wines, don’t forget to include #ridgewine in your tweet!)

#WAFA10 & #ridgewine!

And all THAT said, don’t let the on-site specificity leave you feeling left out; if you have a Rhone-varietal Ridge Vineyards wine at home, dig it out, and dig participating in some on-line virtual community tasting! Why? Well, not only will you be unity-planing with the on-site cats and kitties, you’ll be joining the jetstream of a particularly special charitable endeavor that Ridge Vineyards is pleased to already be on board with; it’s Syrah-centric, it helps young children dodge a disease that really should no longer still be considered a threat, and it involves drinking wine. Problem? No, of course not …

I’m talkin’ Pneumonia’s  Last Syrah, people!

Pneumonia's Last Syrah!

More on this in the next post, but for the time being, back to Wine & Food Affair. The gist of it is that we’ll be pouring a rippingly delightful selection of wines, and those wines are going to be paired with a delectable in-house-crafted dish created specifically for its contribution to the food & wine pairing paradigm, and if you already have a ticket, then don’t miss the Lytton Springs contribution, and if you don’t have a ticket, but will be in the area, then get ahold of me for some velvet rope mojo (don’t forget,erudite and compelling!), and if you don’t have a ticket and aren’t in the area, but want to join in the tasting festivities on-line, then pull some Ridge from your cellar, and join us for some virtual tasting via the hashtags noted above! (#WAFA10 and #ridgewine) …



Cheers!

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Posted in Events & Photographs, Food & Wine Pairing, Grenache, Lytton Springs, Social Media, Special Offerings, Syrah, Tasting Flights, Tasting Rooms, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine Tales | 2 Comments »

Food & Wine Pairing

August 20, 2010

I have had, on a number of occasions of late, the rather exquisite opportunity to experiment with, and subsequently present, taste, and enjoy, Ridge wines in a variety of food pairing constructs, and I thought I’d share some of the pairings I was particularly fond of.

To begin, my absolute favorite pairing for our chardonnays in general, and the 2006 Monte Bello Chardonnay in particular …

… is the one and only Haig’s Hummus.

If you’re a reader of this blog, then you’ve certainly heard me wax beautific about Haig’s before, and if you’ve tasted wines with me in a wine and food pairing situation, then you’ve probably heard some variation on my feelings for this hummus; that either it, or all other hummus, needs  a name change, because Haig’s is simply so much better that it is accordingly a linguistic disservice to both to link the two.

Moving on from Chardonnay, I usually like to pour one of our single-vineyard zinfandels, and preferably, one of the more elegant, subtle, and less weightier offerings; a zinfandel that expresses herb, spice, and acidity over muscularity of structure and opulence of fruit. The 2008 Geserville is just such a wine …

 

… and I recently took a bit of a gamble, and paired this with bruschetta topped with a dollop of chevre, and served with crostini …

 

I say “gamble,” by the way, because I actually  find fresh tomato dishes somewhat challenging to pair with red wines (you can see more on this here), but in this case, the pairing was delicious!

Moving on, were we to consider this a proper tasting flight, I would probably go with another zinfandel, something with a tad more muscularity, and perhaps a wine that introduces a touch of rusticity, earthiness, even shades of umami savoriness. One particular pairing caught my palate recently, the 2007 Carmichael Zinfandel (also Alexander Valley in origin, but a very limited-production, winery-only offering) paired with a delicious spread composed primarily of eggplant, garlic, and fefferoni peppers …

 

I quite like the combination of ingredients in this dish; the eggplant adds just a hint of smokiness, without being oppressive, the garlic brings a bit of bite, while the peppers add a nice blend of sweetness & spice; perfect with an Alexander Valley zin!

From here I would traditionally make a turn towards the Rhone; I’ve been pouring our 2008 Buchignani Ranch Carginane in the #4 spot quite often lately, and a particularly favorite pairing of mine for this wine is chevre topped with a sprinkle of dried basil and a drizzle of olive oil …

 

… I find that the acidity of the Carignane is a nice counter-balance to the fatter, fleshier side of the chevre’s flavor profile (enhanced by the olive oil), while the herb & spice component of the wine blends nicely with the chevre’s tanginess, and the dried basil draws just a touch of rusticity from the wine.

In the tasting room, I find I am often deploying the Buchignani Carignane as a set-up for the 2007 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Cabernet/Merlot; something about these two wines in this order seems to really serve both well.

So, as to a food pairing, one of my favorite pairings for our Cabs is one of our truly favorite cheeses around here, Cypress Grove’s Humboldt Fog, a goat’s milk cheese with a washed rind and an ash thread …

 

This is truly a magic pairing; funky, fruitful, lascivious and luscious!

The #6 spot in a 6-wine flight invariably goes to something with some huskiness, muscle, and depth, and in this case, I’m going to mention another of my favorite pairings, our 2004 Lytton Estate Syrah (co-fermented with viognier, and winery-blended with two small blocks of old-vine grenache), with an olive tapenade …

 

This pairing is all about dark, deep, rustic, earthy, fleshy flavors, and a great way to end a flight crafted to achieve a trajectorial experience in which the movement from lighter to heartier flavors is the key architectural determinant.

So there you go, a small sampling of some of my favorite recent pairings. How about you? Any particular pairings for Ridge wines that you’re particularly fond of? I’d love to hear about them!

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Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignane, Chardonnay, Food & Wine Pairing, Geyserville, Grenache, Merlot, Rhone varietals, Santa Cruz Mountains Estate, Syrah, Tasting Flights, Tasting Notes, Varietals & Blends, Wine Tales, Zinfandel | 3 Comments »

A Whole Lotta Ridgin’ Goin’ On! -or- All The Wine That’s Fit To Print!

February 5, 2010

Great slew of Ridge information out there lately, in terms of contemporary tasting notes and other such items of interest to the Ridge-O-Philes among ye; some of it is Post-Zap commentary, some of it is Post-Ridge Events commentary, and some of it is just plain self-generated commentary, but it’s all good, all interesting, and all most appreciated! Here’s a lil’ round-up of some quite interesting articles out there:

For an excellently thorough look at a very fine line up of Ridge zinfandels from a very fine wine blog, look no further than “The Great Ridge Zinfandel Line-Up: Or, Yet Another Reason Why California is the Best State” over on Vinicultured: A Wine Blog. Here is what was tasted and notated:

  • 2005 Ridge “Paso Robles” Zinfandel | 100% Zinfandel | Paso Robles
  • 2006 Ridge “East Bench” Zinfandel | 100% Zinfandel | Dry Creek Valley
  • 2006 Ridge “Ponzo” Zinfandel | 95% Zinfandel, 5% Petite Sirah | Russian River Valley
  • 2005 Ridge “Pagani Ranch” Zinfandel | 96% Zinfandel, 2% Petite Sirah, 1% Alicante Bouschet, 1% Mataro | Sonoma Valley
  • 2006 Ridge “Geyserville” Zinfandel | 70% Zinfandel, 18% Carignane, 10% Petite Sirah, 2% Mataro | Alexander Valley
  • 2007 Ridge “Geyserville” Zinfandel | 58% Zinfandel, 22% Carignane, 18% Petite Sirah, 2% Mataro | Alexander Valley
  • 2007 Ridge “Lytton Springs” Zinfandel | 71% Zinfandel, 22% Petite Sirah, 7% Carignane | Dry Creek Valley

    •  

    For those of you who might prefer the more technical side of oeno-literature, there is an absolutely  fascinating article currently available over on “Wines & Vines” by Tim Patterson entitled “With Fermenters, Does Size Matter?”  Tim is a wine writer and home wine-maker, or garagiste, shall we say, and this is a fascinating look at the matter of fermentor sizes, and the effect this has on resulting wines. Our very own Paul Draper makes an excellent appearance in the article, and while I encourage you to dive in and read the whole thing, I’ve included Paul’s portion of the content below:

    Paul Draper at Ridge Vineyards says that Ridge tries to fit the fermenter to the size of the parcel being harvested — a portion of a particular vineyard that comes ripe at the same time. The Ridge facilities have several sizes available — all of them small by Lockwood standards, not because of some philosophy of tanks, but rather a philosophy geared toward careful parcel picking.

    The Ridge Monte Bello Cabernet ripens in patches of maybe 1- to 5-tons, and the same is true for some portions of the Zinfandel harvest from Lytton Springs and Geyserville. The Dusi Ranch vineyard in Paso Robles, on the other hand, is more rolling than ridge-y, so its lots of Zinfandel tend to be routed to larger fermenters.

    The array of relatively small fermenters offers more chance for control and probably better extraction, Draper believes. He adds an interesting historical observation: The current fondness for small fermenters is partly a reaction to the early days of California winemaking, when huge vessels produced uneven fermentations and poor extraction.

    And I’d of course be remiss if I didn’t mention to you that, as it turns out, Ridge was not just Day 23 over on Jerry Bullfrog’s Wine Stash, we were days 23-29! Meaning there is a lot of excellent reading on our wines to be found on this site; in case you didn’t catch my initial discovery of this blog, you can find out about it here; in short, it’s a great premise for a blog, and something very well worth reading, both for the Ridge commentary, and, well, everything else! But if you want to sample some idiosyncratically intensive and endearingly left-of-center contemporary tasting notes on the following wines: the 2007 Late Harvest Dusi Ranch Zinfandel, the 2005 Lytton West Syrah, the 2003 Geyserville, the 2006 Buchignani Ranch Carignane, the 2007 East Bench, the 2004 Dynamite Hill Petite Sirah, the 1992 Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay, and the 2006 Monte Bello, then you need to read the Bullfrog!

    Thanks for reading, and check back shortly for a follow-up round-up of Post-Zap commentary!

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    Posted in Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignane, Chardonnay, Lytton, Monte Bello, Paul Draper, Petite Sirah, Press Reviews, Rhone varietals, Syrah, Tasting Notes, Varietals & Blends, Vineyards and Oenology, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine Blogs, Winemaking, Zinfandel | Leave a Comment »

    A Belated Jazz Birthday …

    January 28, 2010

    What with so many other things to write about recently, I inadvertently let slip by a very important anniversary, a sin of omission for which I wish to atone for now; on January 23rd, the world celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the legendary guitarist Django Reinhardt, and I too would like to join the ranks of those honoring the life and works of this great man, and this great talent.

    But first, some justification, as the question may already be in your mind as to why a wine blog would focus on this man and his music.

    Given my firm belief that the consumption of wine is a deeply experiential endeavor that fully transcends the boundaries of the simple taste experience, I can confidently assert that I am hard pressed to conjure up reference to any another body of musical work that so flagrantly evokes the experience of drinking wine, or is so suited to it; perhaps it’s simply the French-ness of the music, or the mysterious Gypsy origins of the genius sewn into the code of the compositions;

    perhaps it’s something in the curiously addictive dichotomy of hot-cold vibes, the blistering paces matched against the sensuous tones, the melancholic melodies against the buoyant techniques, the sex and the sorrow; or perhaps it’s modern conditioning, endless hours in wine bars spent sipping, sampling, and savoring to the soundtracks that have become now so standard.

    Perhaps it’s a timelessness born of a specific time; something about the devil-may-care passions of a post-war Europe trying to rediscover its soul in the fevers of wine and song, the clouds of smoke, the loves and furies of Gypsy Jazz, the poems, the romances, the jazz in the cafés …

    this headiness seems to speak through the decades to all of us; who doesn’t find it somehow strangely and spiritually decadent to sit with friends and loved ones over wine and bread and cheese talking deep into the early morning hours about anything and everything, as if everything said mattered more than anything in the world, as if a revolution of emotion were being born.

    In the end, I don’t know what it is, I can only say that somehow, the sound of Django Reinhardt is the sound of drinking wine.

    Tonight, my missus and I will raise our glasses (Syrah seems most appropriate; perhaps one of our few remaining bottles of the 2005 Lytton West Syrah), and toast to friendship and love, to passion and vision, to the old world and the new, to wine, to Django, and to each other, and we’ll do so as the last flickering rays of the setting sun light the bellies of the bay-cloaking clouds with their epic flares, to the strains of “Nuages.” If you’ve not already done so, I encourage you all to put a little Django on tonight, and have a glass or two of wine. There’s a revolution in the air …

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    Posted in History, Syrah, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine and Jazz, Wine Tales | 2 Comments »

    Things I’m Thankful For …

    November 23, 2009

    I’ll be out for the rest of the week, so in honor of the coming holiday, I’d like to offer a spontaneous list entitled “Things I’m Thankful For …”

    The twin loves of my life: my astonishingly wonderful missus Amy, and my magical, beautific daughter Clara Bay

    Our parents

    Our collective friends and relations

    The 1991 Monte Bello

    The music of Sleepy John Estes

    Coupe glasses, and those that drink champys from them

    Rivers

    Ireland

    Haig’s Hummus

    Han-Shan’s Cold Mountain Poems

    Single-Vineyard wines

    Pocket watches

    Pomade

    People who know how to shake hands properly

    That I don’t own a Kindle

    Rock skipping

    Son House

    The movie “Casablanca”

    The novels of John Fante

    That I’ll be serving the 2006 Monte Bello Chardonnay on Thanksgiving Day

    Duct Tape

    Winnie The Pooh

    California

    The poems of William Matthews

    Pre-fusion Miles Davis

    Tasting Room Staff that can, when tested, pour perfect 1 0z. pours every time

    Capitola

    That I’ll be serving the 2005 Lytton West Syrah on Thanksgiving Day

    T-Shirts that cleverly deploy swear words

    Champys, and the people who drink it out of Coupe glasses

    The magnums of 2002 Home Ranch Cabernet that we served at our wedding

    Our wedding

    The book “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind”

    Peanut Butter Toast — actually, toast of just about any sort, especially baked beans on toast, next to a peat fire, in the west of Ireland

    That I got to know Donn Reisen before he passed

    Jumbo Paper Clips and #2 Pencils

    Curtis Mayfield’s soundtrack to “Superfly”

    That I’ll be serving the 2006 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Cabernet Sauvignon on Thanksgiving Day

    Typewriters made before the 1960s, and especially typewriters from the 20s through the 40s, preferably the ones made by Underwood, Royal, and Remington

    My unbelievably wondrous missus Amy, and my heart-achingly stupendous daughter Clara Bay

    That Nicole was willing to grant me a phone interview from a truck stop in Wyoming

    The surround-sound speakers I hope to have in the tasting room next year

    John Coltrane’s album “A Love Supreme”

    The 2007 vintage of the Buchignani Carignane

    Dice. Especially Boss Dice

    Swear words

    Ankle boots

    Sharpies with sharp points

    Ah So Cork Pullers

    Hand-harvesting

    Haiku

    The Clash

    Really excellent neckties

    People who still call refrigerators “Iceboxes”

    People who say “undershirt” instead of “wifebeater”

    That I’ll be serving the 2007 Geyserville Essence on Thanksgiving Day

    National Steel Resonator Guitars. Specifically, mine

    Vertical Tastings of Monte Bello. Specifically, when I’m invited

    Red Sauce

    The music of Bukka White

    Autumn

    Every single person who works for Ridge

    My job at Ridge

    Ridge.

    And every thing else I haven’t written down yet, like Fred McDowell, Dylan Thomas, the 2006 Carmichael, brand-new  foil cutters, really well made chopsticks, walking not running, upright bass players that can really swing, kindness, the constellation Orion, Thelonious Monk, the 2002 Lytton Estate Petite Sirah, my daughter’s Ramones t-shirt, that no one I know eats Fudge with any kind of regularity, bicycles that don’t require the wearing of weird footwear, music, literature, the visual arts, beaches, rivers, forests, and WINE!

    On this lovely holiday, may your hearts be filled with thanks, your rooms filled with loved ones, and your glasses full of wine! Cheers, and Happy Thanksgiving!

    Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignane, Chardonnay, Food & Wine Pairing, History, Monte Bello, Petite Sirah, RIDGE Staff, Syrah, Tasting Rooms, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine & Poetry, Wine and Jazz, Wine Tales, Zinfandel | 2 Comments »

    2005 Ridge Vineyards Syrah Lytton West Takes Top Honors In Blind Syrah Tasting!

    October 15, 2009

    Over at Purple Liquid: A Wine And Food Diary, our 2005 Lytton West Syrah recently came in first place in a blind tasting of international Syrahs. This is a great blog in general, and this particular post is a wondrous read if you’re a Syrah fan, so I highly recommend checking it out. You can find the post here. This wine was also the subject of a recent post on our blog about co-fermenting Syrah and Viognier, which you can find here if you’re interested, and didn’t catch the story the first time around.

    05YLW1-L

    Officially, this wine is no longer available, but we have a few bottles squirreled away in the Monte Bello cellars, so if you’re up for a visit to Monte Bello, mention this post, and I’ll see what I can procure!

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    Posted in Lytton, Press Reviews, Syrah, Tasting Notes, Varietals & Blends, Wine Blogs | 2 Comments »

    The Last Chance Chalkboard!

    September 2, 2009

    The Last Chance Chalkboard. What is it?

    Here’s a little language from our website:

    “…This will be a unique opportunity to taste and purchase special older vintage and end-of-vintage wines from the Ridge cellar … Offerings will vary at each location and bottle purchase limits will apply. Please try to arrive early for the best selections, as availability will be very limited…”

    And what does that mean?

    It means during the course of our Fall Release Weekend, each of our tasting rooms (Lytton Springs and Monte Bello) will be pulling some extraordinary wines from our respective cellars; to be tasted, then purchased, ’til there ain’t no more left! We’ll go one wine at a time, and when all remaining bottles of the current offering have been purchased, we’ll move on to the next wine.

    Here’s a quick look at some of the  elusive acquisitions you might snare at the Lytton Springs Tasting Room:

    2000 Lytton Springs (only 1 case left; what a vintage!)

    2003 Geyserville (just 3 cases on hand!)

    1999 Buchignani Zinfandel (only 1 case left of this brilliant old-vine zin!)

    2005 Lytton Springs (the last magnums!)

    1999 Lytton Estate Grenache (just over 2 cases left!)

    1977 York Creek Cabernet Sauvignon (1977! Need we say more?)

    And here’s a sampling of some of the rarities you might be able to acquire at the Monte Bello Tasting Room:

    2001 Lytton Estate Syrah (less than 3 cases left!)

    2003 Pagani Ranch (less than 1 case left!)

    2005 Santa Cruz Chardonnay (#2 on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of the Year!)

    1977 York Creek Cabernet Sauvignon (see above!)

    2005 Syrah/Grenache (less than 3 cases left!)

    1992 Whitten Ranch Carignane (16-year Sonoma Carignane! It doesn’t get rarer than this!)

    If you’ll be near Monte Bello or Lytton Springs this weekend, then please come join us in celebarating the new Fall Releases, and prepare thyself for the magic that will be The Last Chance Chalkboard!

    Posted in Carignane, Chardonnay, Events & Photographs, Grenache, History, Lytton, Monte Bello, Ridge Memorabilia, Syrah, Tasting Rooms, Varietals & Blends, Zinfandel | Leave a Comment »

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