4488: A Ridge Blog

Well, we’ve quite quite an interesting flight on for this weekend, and in all honesty, I really wanted to find a title for this post that would allow me to play off “The Rumble In The Jungle” with a viticultural twist; but all I could come up with was “The Row In The Rows,” which I thought was fairly feeble. Equally feeble, or should I say geographically inaccurate, were”Fisticuffs On The Bluffs,” and “The Fray By The Bay.” And “Insane On The Moraine” was flat-out too obtuse. But the point is, we’ve got two major heavyweights set to duke it out in the sales arena this weekend, two wines that have consistently been guest favorites every time we pour them, two very, very limited-production, winery-only rarities that have each developed substantial cult followings, two wines that have each commanded multiple weekends on the mountain, two wines that have never, however, until now, had to face one another directly!

In this corner, in the off-white label with the green optima font, weighing in at 750ml, 100% pure San Luis Obispo County Zinfandel, let’s hear it for “The Ah-So Noble From Paso Robles,” THE DUSI RANCH!!!

And in this corner, in the off-white label with the green optima font, weighing in at 750 ml, with a blend of 96% Sonoma Zinfandel and 4% Petite Sirah, let’s hear it for “The Head-Trained Cali From Alexander Valley,” THE CARMICHAEL!!!!

ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE!!!!???

Ok, that’s enough boxing metaphor for now; in case it’s too hard to figure out what exactly was going on there, what I meant to say was that two of the wines that we’ll be pouring this weekend are the 2006 Dusi Ranch, and the 2006 Carmichael. Both these wines are ATP wines, meaning they’re very limited-production (only 48 barrels for each), and only available to members of our ATP program, or in our tasting rooms (no restaurants, no retailers, etc.), and they’ve both been perennial cult favorites, but I’ve never put them on the same flight together, so it should be really interesting to see how our guests respond. I think they’re quite different wines actually, each with their own singular strengths. But in case you’re coming in this weekend, I won’t say more, as I don’t want to pre-bias anyone. Suffice it to say though, it’s gonna be a heck of a flight to taste!

This isn’t the only highlight, by the way; I am also looking particularly forward to tasting the 2006 Lytton Springs. This one came out of the gate last year wrapped up pretty tight, and it’s pretty much stayed that way for quite some time. And as key to the Lytton Spring mojo as the emergence of fruit is, a tight Lytton Springs is not necessarily a particularly pourable Lytton Springs. Now, all that said, this wine has very recently taken an absolutely MARVELOUS turn, and is suddenly showing an absolute all-you-can-eat smoothie bar’s worth of plush, vibrant, aromatic fruit. So I’m riddled with expectation as regards tasting it this weekend.

Hope to see you!