Man, I have been on a Monte Bello tasting rampage of late! In rather timely fashion I might add, given all this #cabernet business afoot … So, as a first entry, I recently tasted the following with Paul Draper and James Suckling …
Preparing for James Suckling's visit with Paul Draper, at Ridge/Monte Bello
If you’re anywhere in the area of either our tasting rooms today, and if you have any interest in Zinfandel, I think we may have a little something special on offer for you. It’s the third edition of our Summer Wine Series for 2010, and for today’s theme, we’ve selected “Zinfandel: The Art of the Blend.” And what we’ve put together for a tasting flight, is, I think, a rather uniquely educational opportunity to experience the full range of what this oft-misunderstood varietal truly has to give.
What we’ve done is put four wines together, and staged them as a progression of blending varietal expressions; meaning, the first wine is solo-varietal zinfandel, the next has one varietal in the blend, the next two, and the next three. The specific wines we’ve selected are as follows:
2008 Paso Robles
—Zinfandel—
Vines ripened uniformly, and we harvested all three parcels within a week—a record. Primary fermentation was carried out by natural yeasts. Juice was pumped over the cap twice daily until pressing—day eight, on average. Uninoculated secondary fermentation took forty days. The finished lots were blind-tasted for assemblage; for once, all could be included. Exotic barrel spices complement the vineyard’s ripe bramble fruit, and this year’s intense color is striking. Integrated and enjoyable now, this excellent vintage will develop over the next five to seven years. EB (8/09)
2008 Ponzo
—Zinfandel & Petite Sirah—
Cool spring weather delayed budbreak, but flowering and fruit set were complete by early June, and a warm summer ripened the grapes fully by early September. The grapes all fermented on their natural yeasts for twelve days, on average. After natural malolactic, we racked the new wine to american oak barrels, fifteen percent of which were new. Rich and full-bodied, the 2008 Ponzo is nonetheless elegant—a zinfandel to be enjoyed over the next five to seven years. JO (11/09)
2007 Lytton Springs
—Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, & Carignane—
After a dry winter and spring, budbreak came early. A warm August ripened the fruit earlier than expected, and we harvested the thirty-four parcels as flavors developed fully, fermenting each separately on its natural yeasts. Aged for fifteen months in air-dried american oak, this classic Lytton Springs is remarkable for its richness, balance, and elegant texture. It will soften and gain complexity over the next ten years. JO (11/08)
2008 Geyserville
—Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignane, & Mataro—
In tank, color and tannin extraction was unusually rapid, as were uninoculated primary fermentations. We reduced pump-overs and pressed early, avoiding harsher tannins. Zinfandel and carignane showed exceptional quality, and form the core of the blend. (Wines from the petite sirah parcels were too tannic; the six percent included comes from a field-blend.) Twenty percent new oak adds exotic spice. Superb concentration and firm acid will allow this fine zinfandel to develop over the next ten to fifteen years. EB (11/09)
And if that wasn’t enough, we’ve capping this tasting with a sample of our 2006 Monte Bello, and our 2007 Geyserville Essence!
2006 Monte Bello
Summer was unusually warm; picking began on September 18, ahead of schedule. Though a cool October slowed ripening, all parcels were harvested within five weeks, and natural yeasts started the primary within three days. Uninoculated secondary began in tank; eighty percent of the thirty-six lots were racked to barrel for completion. Thirteen were selected for the first assemblage in late January. Additions of petit verdot and cabernet franc contributed depth. Balanced and elegant now, this exceptional vintage has the structure to carry it for twenty-five years or more. EB (3/08)
2007 Geyserville Essence
We made our first Zinfandel Essence from Geyserville in 1966. To produce an essence, the vines must remain vigorous late into the season, with green leaves for photosynthesis. To intensify color and concentrate sugar, the grapes were left on the vine for three additional weeks; they co-fermented on natural yeasts. To our delight, the initial Brix reading was beyond the hydrometer’s ability to measure. It took five days for the yeast to begin fermentation, another five days to stop naturally—fully stable. The wine aged in air-dried american oak barrels; clarity was achieved through careful racking. Opulent and full-flavored, the 2007 Essence can be enjoyed now and over the next twenty years. EB (9/08)
So, if you can, come join us!
MB Vertical, Post Tasting!
2007 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello
Deep purple belly in the bowl, with a gorgeous magenta limn … aromatics rich with blueberry, lavender, anise, and fennel, populating an architecture built with great crushed rock and wet-stone minerality … loads of herb & spice front-palate, with hints of pepper, clove, and blackberry-seed tannin … ridiculously full mouthfeel, with almost kinky-supple tannins spreading to every part of the palate … acidity is both vibrant and supple … while the finish is still somewhat short on the palate, the ostensibly empty bowl of the glass, 15 minutes down the line, is still humming a blueberry-and-lavender tune …
2006 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello
Interwoven ribbons of garnet, magenta, and plum make up the tapestry of hue in the bowl, halo’d by a rich ruby limn; gracefully premeditated legs bespeaking graciousness and depth run elegantly down the glass … aromatics are redolent of plum, currant, quince, and blackberry preserves, with hints of black peppercorn and charrings from the grill … the mouthfeel is round, resolving, and rich without obtuse girth; secondary and tertiary herbatics (herb and spice profiles) dominate, with an emphasis on the autumnal C-triumverate of clove, coriander, and cinnamon … lots of dried fruit notes as well, and a tad leathery (or perhaps suede-y?), with a heavy dose of lip-to-teeth tannins that show a decidedly adhesive intensity, as opposed to, say, a more powdery astringency; less saliva-inducing, and more culinarily companionable …
1995 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello
Tremendously rich, ripe, meaty, and bloody on the nose (but not gamey!); with a spectrum running from pate to pot roast; hearty and hale, but not at all aged; it’s still only showing the very early stages of secondary maturation characteristics … the color in the bowl is almost black it’s so concentrated; so deep, with no degradation of color at the limn at all; rather, an elegant, pale ruby only barely pokes through … a chandelier’s worth of silky rivulets ring the inside of the bowl; visual elegance incarnate … On the palate, resolution is divine; supple acidity, elegant tannin, all in perfect balance; acidity bright at the first, then tempering, tannins tempered at first, then lingering … at 15 years, this is a promising young athlete, with intellectual maturity beyond its years, physical prowess to die for, and only experience required to complete the conceptual circle …
1984 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello
Slight bricking in the belly, and some salmon/crimson hues in the limn; elegant viscosity and streamlined legs … aromatics definitely moving towards the dry fruit realm (currant, raisin, plum), all ensconced in a delicious bed of yeast and sugar; almost pannetone-like … remarkably sweet, buoyant fruit on the palate, tremendously relevant and vital acidity, and well-tempered tannins fully integrated … sweetness of the fruit on the finish is just remarkable, possibly decadent, assuredly graceful …
1978 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello
Deeply rusty and rustic bowl hues; a blackened magenta of sorts, with an amber-y, oolong-tea-ishly-hued limn … wood and bark bracket the aromatics, with hints of dried fruit, exotic cardamom, and a touch of fennel & graphite; there is even a dose of jerked umaminess, and a trace of cured & spiced pepperoni … As to the mouthfeel; plush, supple, seamless, and truly unbelievable! So elegant, so lush, so layered, so silken; not so much the experience of walking on air, but rather, air walking on you …
Round Two of our Summer Wine Series touches down on terra firma this coming Saturday, and it affords a literally first-in-a-lifetime tasting opportunity; never before have we offered a flight like this one! In addition to closing with the very highly regarded 2006 Monte Bello (94 points Robert Parker/92 Points Wine & Spirits!) and the very rare 2007 Geyserville Essence (only the 13th Essence in our 50+ year history!), we are pouring not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR different Ridge Chardonnays!
Chardonnay, on display, at Lytton Springs!
I think it’s probably safe to say that Ridge has built its reputation on a red wine program comprised of world-class zinfandels and international-stature cabernet sauvignons, but did you know we’re also one of the most well-regarded chardonnay producers in California?
As but two examples as regards our Monte Bello Chardonnay, consider Matt Kramer’s words in Wine Spectator,
“If you say “Ridge” the automatic word association is “red.” (Or, alternatively, “Zinfandel.”) But one of Ridge’s greatest wines is white, specifically its Monte Bello Chardonnay.”
Or, consider James Laube’s numerical rating of this wine (also in WS); 95 points! (Joshua Greene has given 90+ point ratings to this wine in Wine & Spirits as well, as has Robert Parker). Or how about our Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Chardonnay? #2 on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 list for the 2005 vintage, a Year’s Best in Wine & Spirits for the 2007 Vintage, and a 93 points from Wine Spectator for the current 2008 vintage? Not so very bad!
Now, add to all that the 2008 Jimsomare (debut vintage!) and the 2008 Mikulaco Chardonnay (only the second vintage!) with all of 700 cases made between them, and you’ve got yourself quite a chardonnay showcase!
You can get the full specs on the event here, but here’s the brass tacks:
The fee for this flight will be $25/person (non-members), and $10/person (members). No reservation is required. (For our guests who opt not to participate in the Summer Wine Series event, we will offer, as always, a Guest-Member flight option for $5/person.) Best of all, if you return on a following Saturday with your receipt from a previous Saturday’s tasting, your flight is complimentary, and we’ll include a 6-bottle Ridge Vineyards eco-tote!
As noted above, our Monte Bello and Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Chardonnays have been nicely well chronicled in the world of wine writing, but given that both the Mikulako and Jimsomare Chards are not only new and extremely limited-production, but not available anywhere else but through us, I thought it might be worth posting some tasting notes, in case you’ve not yet tasted them. So here are some notes for you, should you be so inclined:
2008 Mikulaco Chardonnay
Strong mineral component in the aromatics right out of the gate, accompanied by hints of lemon and raw almond; in the glass, fairly spry legs bespeaking a lighter-side mouthfeel — toasty and viscous on the tip-of-the-tongue at point-of-entry, with crisp mountain fruit acidity lining the side-tongue sensors, and some warmer, toastier layers hovering just between – the cool-climate acidity at side-tongue lingers long into the mid-palate, carrying forward a chalky minerality mitigated by an almost honey’d mouthfeel; the regularly stirred lees lend some weight here, while the (very rare) deployment of french oak adds a rich nutty fleshiness — Overall, mid to high-tone fruit, and while somewhat short of finish, it’s definitely wide of palate, with enough acidity to sip alone in warmer months, enough viscosity to lend this to the summer table with aplomb, and enough minerality to keep things interesting throughout. By comparison to other Ridge chardonnays, it’s lighter and arguably less complexly multi-dimensional, but it’s also fresh, eminently drinkable, and displays a savvy degree of culinary companionabilty for the warm months.
2008 Ridge Vineyards Jimsomare Chardonnay
Pale straw-yellow tones in the glass, interwoven with warm gold highlights, and exhibiting both great clarity and rich viscosity. Hints of wheat and yeast on the nose, balanced by some citrus, a strong minerality, and a nice spread of multiple strains of pear (Bosc, Anjou, and especially Bartlett). Weighty on the palate, and even warmer and more viscous than the aromatics foreshadow; toasty, but not burnt, with compelling hints of warmed milk and crème fraiche. The finish is long and chest-fillingly pleasant, balancing a savory toasted-honey character with a sparkling re-display of mountain minerality.
And I think that says it all, so please, join us for this very special Chardonnay Showcase!
Had such a fine time today! We very happily hosted the extraordinary wine team from the impossibly fine French Laundry today; wonderful, wonderful guests, and dare I say it, wonderful, wonderful wines. Such a treat to have them here, it was an absolute pleasure to host. And what a spread of wine! Couldn’t imagine more pleasant company to share these offerings with, and I hope our guests enjoyed the opportunity to be on the receiving end of the hospitality endeavor; lord knows they’re committed to providing it, I hope we were able to offer at least a modicum of payback. Special cheers to our VP of Vineyard Operations David Gates for his exceptional touring and hosting, and a heartfelt thank you to our guests; for their participation in The French Laundry’s timeless contribution to California’s culinary legacy, and of course for their support of our wines!
As to the wines themselves, here is the rundown of what we tasted:
2008 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Chardonnay
2006 Monte Bello Chardonnay
2008 Lytton Springs (not yet released)
2008 PaganiRanch (not yet released)
2008 York Creek (not yet released)
2008 Geyserville
2008 East Bench
2008 Paso Robles
2008 Ponzo
1999 Geyserville
1999 Lytton Springs
2007 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Cabernet/Merlot (375ml)
2007 Monte Bello (not yet released/375ml)
2006 Monte Bello (375ml)
1988 Monte Bello
1990 Monte Bello
1995 Monte Bello (375ml)
For myself, quite a day. Thelong journey from here …
… to there!
“… a slightly suspect beverage consumed by skid row bums and snobs …”
Per Steve Heimoff, this was the world of wine that he came to as a novice back in the day … and I’m thinking, fantastic! What happened to that world?
(pic below is Mr. Heimoff in the middle of giving his keynote speech at the 2010 Wine Blogger’s Conference, otherwise known as #wbc10)
At heart, other than my father, I learned to drink wine from The Beats. Wine went with wild poetry readings, and mountain meditation sessions. Wine went with trains, and camping. Wine sometimes went with nothing other than, well, wine. Just wine. And mainly, wine went with people. It was living with people, in a memorable way. Being where you were, and demanding nothing less that an exhilarating devotion to the moment …
From my father (the true architect of my personal house of wine), a professor of literary criticism rooted in an Italian Marxist tradition, I also learned that wine goes with lividly vibrant political arguments between hairy professors wearing plaid sportcoats with leather elbows, or strangely somber yet passionate poetry readings headed up my bespectacled and shambolic graduate students. And I especially learned that wine goes with family. “At table.” One of my favorite phrases of all time.
This past Father’s Day, my father and I shared a moment over the phone, a moment in which we each gave love to one other as fathers, and we capped it with each of us opening, double-decanting, and drinking a 375ml bottle of 2006 Monte Bello. Just fantastic.
So as far as I’m concerned, Snobs? Skid row bums? You’re all welcome at my table!
The February 2010 Issue of Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate has arrived, and in it is a wealth of commentary on a large portfolio of Ridge wines. And might I say, we fared rather well! Here are the scores:
| 2003 | Ridge Monte Bello | 95+ | |||
| 2004 | Ridge Monte Bello | 91 | |||
| 2005 | Ridge Monte Bello | 97+ | |||
| 2006 | Ridge Monte Bello | 94+ | |||
| 2007 | Ridge Monte Bello | 92 | |||
| 2008 | Ridge Monte Bello | (94-96) | |||
| 2005 | Ridge Santa Cruz Mtns Estate Proprietary Red | 92 | |||
| 2006 | Ridge Santa Cruz Mtns Estate Proprietary Red | 91 | |||
| 2007 | Ridge Santa Cruz Mtns Estate Proprietary Red | 88 | |||
| 2007 | Ridge Geyserville Proprietary Red Wine | 91 | |||
| 2008 | Ridge Geyserville Proprietary Red Wine | (90-92) | |||
| 2007 | Ridge Lytton Springs Proprietary Red Wine | 92 | |||
| 2008 | Ridge Lytton Springs Proprietary Red Wine | (91-93) | |||
| 2007 | Ridge Zinfandel East Bench | 90+ | |||
| 2008 | Ridge Zinfandel East Bench | (90-92) |
97 points for the 2005 Monte Bello! Wow … And overall, that’s an average score of about 92 points. Not so very bad at all!
And for those of you who might be in the area this weekend, please note that we will be pouring the 2007 Lytton Springs (“It is a fuller-bodied, richer wine with beautiful texture, purity, and length”) and the 2007 Geyserville (“Medium to full-bodied, elegant, and pure”) in the Monte Bello Tasting Room, as well as the 2006 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate (“An attractive, round, rich, full-bodied mouthfeel, sweet tannin, and a long finish”), and should you wish to step up to our Monte Bello Tasting Flight, the 2006 Monte Bello! (“Well-balanced, dense, pure, layered, and rich”). That’s a 92 point flight right there …
AND, for those of you who are Monte Bello Collector Members who are planning to attend our member event this weekend, you’ll be tasting your newly-arrived 2007 Monte Bello! (And don’t forget the very special pre-release opportunity on the 2007 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate!)
Cheers to all, and a hearty toast to all at Mr. Parker’s publication for their kind words about our wines! And I would especially like to raise a glass to everyone on the production team here at Ridge; you make brilliant wines, and it’s wonderful to see the world responding with such positivity! Cheers! Cheers! Cheers!
Jerry Bullfrog’s Wine Stash. I love it! What a great name for a blog … And what a great idea for a blog! Here’s the tagline from the site:
A review of a different wine/beer/spirit everyday for a year, blended with commentary on random observations.
I love it!
So, if you haven’t checked this blog out yet, I highly recommend it.
(Do note though, that some of the posts are, well, a tad profane. Often wonderfully, artfully, passionately, singularly profane, but profane nonetheless. Just something to know going in …)
Mainly, there are some lovely tasting notes on the current vintage of Monte Bello (2006) as well as commentary on a rare tasting of 1992 Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay to be found there, amidst all the other “commentary on random observations.”
And so I say, cheers Bullfrog! And cheers to your companion “Crotchy” too!
p.s. For those of you keeping score, Ridge is Day 23!
p.p.s The 1992 Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay is no longer “officially” available, but between you and me, well, I just might have a line on a bottle or two … shhhhhh!
I had the great pleasure of tasting a decade-wide two-vintage vertical of Monte Bello today, and might I add,I did so in wonderful company. I hosted Eric Baugher, our VP of Winemaking here at Monte Bello, and Ilir Kacaniku, the Head Sommelier at Gordon Ramsey at Claridge’s in London, and among the wines they were tasting were these two vintages of Monte Bello; one admittedly very young, one very much moving towards enhanced pourability. Here are my notes:
2006 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello
Appearance: Deep, deep, dark ruby hues with a brilliantly limpid limn plush with ripe raspberry and strawberry highlights. Rich, adhesively viscous glaze in the bowl, with reasonably measured and well-moving legs.
Aromatics: Tar, leather, and black pepper predominate; the fruit layer is still recalcitrant as to its emergence; hallmarks of a young Monte Bello, certainly.
Front: Beautiful acidity, albeit showing very, very youthfully; surprisingly languid tannins.
Mid-Palate: Very gracious mouthfeel, with some lovely yet restrained herbaceousness on offer at the far end of the middle. Hints of forestation are at work aesthetically, in that there is both an herbal leafy quality, counterbalanced by a darker root and bark layer.
Finish: Here is where the tannins begin to make their presence known; super-intense, but beautiful, in that sort of “method-actor” way …
Summary: A decidedly young Monte Bello that should be unbearably charismatic in a decade.
–
1996 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello
Appearance: Unbelievably youthful coloration; deep, plush garnet core halo’d by a gorgeously winsome pale salmon limn. Thick, wide legs down the bowl-side, and an almost hedonistic glaze.
Aromatics: A gift-basket’s worth of fruit on aromatic offer; pomegranate, plum, plum sauce, and blood orange, plus a classic “black trio”: black cherry, black currant, and black raspberry.
Front: The mouth-watering iciness of mint creme and the decadent depth of dark chocolate.
Mid-Palate: Strong emergence of cassis and anise; co-mingling with deep berry fruit tones, subtle tobacco and umami smokiness, and just a trace of garden herb.
Finish: Tannins for days still, bespeaking a long future to come, even as the acids have begun to soften and integrate.
Summary: Just excellent. Really a treat to taste, and still very much in development.
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