Posts Tagged ‘2007 Lytton Springs’

In The Tasting Rooms This Weekend!

September 17, 2010

As any of you who have been to both Lytton Springs and Monte Bello know, we pour different menus at the two different locations (unless we’ve unified up for an event); the reasons for this our manyfold, not the least being the singular whims of the respective tasting managers.

So I was on the phone with Sandy Johnson yesterday, Tasting Room Manager at Lytton Springs, and it turns out that we’re overlapping on a particularly interesting offering this weekend. Which might not seem unlikely, except for the fact that the wine is the 2007 Pagani Ranch, which doesn’t happen to be the current release. Perhaps in the recent aftermath of the 2008 Fall Releases, a little bit of sentimentality is creeping in? I’m more inclined to think it’s a quest for compare/contrast; I think it’s safe to say that the 2008 Pagani Ranch seems to be first out of the gate in terms of generating early excitement, and accordingly, I find that I’m all the more interested in tasting the 2007 now, which I haven’t done in some time.

For similar reasons, we’ll be having a look at the 2007 York Creek here at Monte Bello as well, and up at Lytton Springs, the 2007 Lytton Springs will be on offer. So now that the Fall Release hysteria has settled slightly, this should prove to be a nice chance to step back, enjoy a little bottle maturation, and add some context and history to the oenological palate analytics.

We’ll both also be pouring the 2007 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Cabernet/Merlot blend, which is an undoubtably still-young wine that is just now starting to open up and offer some expressive fruit and a delectable herbaceousness; something we only first spotted on the palate quite literally just last weekend, and with much internal fanfare.

These are just a few of the delicious wines we’ll be showcasing this weekend, and if you’re anywhere near either Lytton Springs or Monte Bello, we’re hopeful you’ll join us. Cheers!

For a look at the the full weekend tasting menus, please click here for Lytton Springs, and here for Monte Bello.

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Sauvignon, Events & Photographs, Lytton Springs, Merlot, Monte Bello, Tasting Flights, Tasting Rooms, Varietals & Blends, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine Tales, Zinfandel | Leave a Comment »

Zinfandel: The Art of the Blend!

August 21, 2010

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!

Tags:, , , , , , ,
Posted in Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignane, Events & Photographs, Geyserville, Lytton Springs, Mataro, Monte Bello, Petite Sirah, Special Offerings, Tasting Flights, Tasting Notes, Tasting Rooms, Varietals & Blends, Vineyards and Oenology, Winemaking, Zinfandel | 2 Comments »

To Louis Armstrong: Happy Belated Birthday!

August 5, 2010

I was out of the office yesterday, so I’m accordingly a day late in posting this, but I wanted to take the occasion to celebrate, with you, the birthday of the very, very, very great Louis Armstrong, who was born on August 4th, 1901!

 

The man and his music, his character, his influence, his life; these are all reasons enough to celebrate, but courtesy of our viticultural bias on this blog, I of course want to make sure we’ve a tie-in, and in this case, mine comes in somewhat funny, timely, and rather coincidental form.

I was reading a quite fine essay in the New York Times last night (from this past Sunday’s edition) over an asparagus, red pepper, mushroom, and fresh mozzarella pizza (with a glass of 2007 Carmichael, followed by the 2007 Lytton Springs), and the link popped into my head; the essay in question was sort of an extended investigation of the idea that all the various aphorisms related to the art of writing (“write what you know”, for example, which gives the essay its title) can oft be equally applied to the act of drinking — just substitute “drink” for “write”, and off you go — and it occurred to me that if one applied this same idea to some of Mr. Armstrong’s quotes, you could really come up with some doozies as regards wine. For example:

“What we play is life” becomes “What we drink is life”

“If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know” becomes “If you have to ask what good wine is, you’ll never know”

 ”There is two kinds of music, the good and bad. I play the good kind” becomes “There are two kinds of wine, the good and bad. I drink the good kind.”

and “You blows who you is” becomes “You drink who you are.”

 

(You can read the full essay, by Geoff Nicholson, here.)

 

Now, if that’s not enough for you, I’ll offer up one more wine-and-Louis Armstrong connection; which comes courtesy of a story told in Louis Armstrong: An American Genius By James Lincoln Collier:

Sometimes in this house, they’d have contests, like they’d put a jug of wine in the center of the floor and cut figures around it. “Cutting figures,” that’s what it was called. They’d dance around this jug of wine, a whole lot of steps, dance as close to it as they could and still not touch it or knock it over. The man who touched it, he’d have to go out and buy another gallon, buy more wine for everybody, the musicianers too — and then there’d be more dancing.

Now that’s wine the way I love it!

I’ve written laments on this blog before about how narrow the world of wine drinking has in some ways become

(see most recently Heimoff, The Bums, The Snobs, and #WBC10  from which comes the following: “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 …”)

and I think this story is just an exquisitely perfect expression of that “other” world of wine …

Anyhow, that’s all, Happy Birthday Mr. Louis Armstrong, and thank you for everything. I’m going to enjoy my 2007 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Cab, and listen to you blow and sing St. James Infirmary, just the way it ought to be … and I might just dance a bit.

Tags:, , , , , , , ,
Posted in Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine and Jazz | 3 Comments »

05 & 07 Lytton Springs Zin: Siblings!

July 28, 2010

Had a luncheon for some guests up here on the mountain quite recently, and for the most part, the roster of wines had been agreed upon ahead of time by a number of invested parties; yours truly included. One decision remained day-of however; which Lytton Springs to pour?

05 & 07 Lytton Springs

On deck were two wonderful vintages, 2005 & 2007. Siblings of a sort (or perhaps two only-children from the same family?), but each with singularities all to themselves

Anyhow, I’ve been tasting the 07 quite a bit of late; it’s the current vintage, and accordingly on offer to our weekend tasting menus, and in addition, it’s also finally starting to come into bloom a bit; to emerge from its shell, as it were. As to the 2005, I’ve tasted it quite often out of 375ml, and it’s been a joyous event every time. But out of 750ml?

I started with the 07. I looked, I listened, I smelled, I thought, I looked again …

Down The Hatch! So to speak ...

And I tasted. And then I was happy. The zin fruit was starting to blossom, the intensity of the carignane-derived acidity was softening, the intense adhesion of the petitie sirah tannins was rounding out … I still felt it to be a contender …

Then came the 2005. Even at point-of-decanting, the change was evident. The fruit was there!

Decantomatic!

Lush, supple, muscular yet balletic in its grace, this wine was singing. Bless the 2007, I love the vintage, and it’s on its glorious way, but the 2005 won the duel on this day.

Lunch was soon to be served …

Tags:,
Posted in Events & Photographs, Food & Wine Pairing, Lytton Springs, Tasting Flights, Tasting Notes, Tasting Rooms, Viticultural Salmagundi, Zinfandel | 2 Comments »

Robert Parker Scores Ridge!

March 4, 2010

 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!

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Lytton, Merlot, Monte Bello, Paul Draper, Press Reviews, Tasting Flights, Tasting Notes, Tasting Rooms, Varietals & Blends, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine Blogs, Zinfandel | 2 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!

    Tags:, , , , , , , , , , ,
    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 »

    Follow

    Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

    Join 66 other followers