Posts Tagged ‘1984 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello’

Why Hello There, Amazing Wine Lunch!

October 8, 2012

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A truly unbelievable line-up, I have to say. The 1999 Geyserville was one of the most delicious library Zinfandels I have ever had …

Some brief notes, Haiku style:

2010 Ridge Vineyards Geyserville

A bounty of fruit;
a house built over forty
years; sublime safety.

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2010 Ridge Vineyards Lytton Springs

Autumn curls ’round wet,
nutmeg mornings; fires start; first
kind words are spoken.

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2009 Ridge Vineyards Estate Cabernet

Where crisp winds meet the
gravitas of forest, blues
gives ocean to sea.

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2009 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello

To disappear in-
to sleep is restful. To get lost
in dreams is divine.

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1992 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello

Wisdom’s cane taps on
cobblestone below; a knee
to sit on awaits.

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1984 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello

Rivers and mountains
bookend life; to see soul, one
must close all two eyes.

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1999 Ridge Vineyards Geyserville

Wine imitating
the gods; more beautiful
than even the gods.

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(for more “traditional” tasting notes, please click the title links above each Haiku)

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Posted in Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Sauvignon, Geyserville, History, Lytton Springs, Monte Bello, Tasting Flights, Tasting Notes, Varietals & Blends, Virtual Verticals, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine & Poetry, Zinfandel | 4 Comments »

When Paul Draper calls …

May 26, 2011

Well, yes, I know it’s #Chardonnay Day, and I’ve lots more to say on that subject; more so even than I’ve already shown, but the truth of it is, when Paul Draper calls, and he wants to taste a three-vintage vertical of Estate Cabernet, PLUS a 2001 horizontal of Geyserville and Lytton Springs, PLUS the 1995 and 1984 Monte Bellos, well, calendar be damned, one must rise to the occasion!

The 2007 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate is a lovely combination of forceful architecture and unctuous fruit, the 2006 is all herbaceousness and rusticity and beguilingness, and the 2005 is settling into a lover’s pose on the chaise; all fading sun creeping through the nooks and shadows of fleshy crooks and sensual curvaceousnesses …

2001 Geyserville? So young still, but with sophistication, if not maturation, beyond its years; all in attendance, oddly (or perhaps not so oddly) enough kept mentioning Japanese food …

And the 2001 Lytton Springs? In Paul’s words, more structured, more masculine; deeper and rougher … and in my words, equally entrancing, but with a simmering reserve that sears the edges of your soul whilst cooling the mist on one’s forehead …

Which brings us to the oh so sublime 1984 Monte Bello. If there is one library vintage you wish to acquire now, one wine you wish to bedazzle a companion at table with, one magical bottle to be your own personal genie of wishes, it is this one. This is the most skin-pimplingly, spine-tinglingly, breath rapidifying wine I have had in some time … utterly perfect.

And the 1995 continues its long, slow, noble march to resolution and harmony; possibly the most ponderously developing Monte Bello in the history of Monte Bello, this hermit is ever so slightly finally emerging from its shell, and finally we can see, sense, savor just a whimsical pinch of the promise yet to come …

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Posted in Events & Photographs, Geyserville, Lytton Springs, Monte Bello, Paul Draper, Santa Cruz Mountains Estate, Tasting Flights, Tasting Notes | 2 Comments »

Cheese Tasting with Library Monte Bello!

May 9, 2011

Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day!

Being in the hospitality game, I work weekends. That’s a given. Which makes Mondays my Fridays. Which can be strange, and often troubling; what it usually means is that, at my tiredest point, all my fresh-faced and well-rested colleagues are peppering me with e-mails, requests, and questions I largely lack the energy to field. And I have to get everything done before my “weekend.” Suffice it to say I work a lot of late Mondays.

But every once in a while, Monday comes wrapped in a smile. Today was one of those days.

My outlook calendar for this morning? “10:30am-11:00am: Cheese & Wine Tasting.” Nice.

And it gets better; the purpose of the tasting? To find suitable cheeses to pair with the 1984 and 1978 Monte Bellos. Nice.

In the continuing spirit of my Haiku Wine Tasting With Paul Draper (who was very happily in attendance at the tasting!), I offer the following 17-syllable synopses of these extraordinary wines:

1984 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello

Cranberry, currant,
umami and root. Snowflake
tannins percolate!

1978 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello

Bacon at campfire,
clean, wet, mineral. Figs and
cheeses for dessert!

And as to the cheeses, here is what was tasted:

So, if this was YOUR Monday morning,, which cheeses would YOU pair?

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Posted in Food & Wine Pairing, Monte Bello, Paul Draper, Tasting Notes, Wine & Poetry | 3 Comments »

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