Posts Tagged ‘Pagani Ranch’

Pagani Ranch arrives: The Alicante cometh …

October 20, 2011

I was fortunate enough to be on hand when the Alicante Bouschet arrived at the Monte Bello Winery from the Pagani Ranch.  In fact, I rode the fruit in!

Here’s me on the back of the grape truck (photo by Kim Korupp)…

Ahhh, kid in a candy store. That’s me when I’m at the winery …

Anyhow, and needless to say, the production team was ready to spring into action …

The pitchfork awaits ...

As does Paul Draper ...

 Alicante Bouschet is an amazing grape, and it was quite magical watching it come splashing onto the conveyor belt in all it’s crimson noir glory…

Paul Draper observes the fruit coming in off the gondola ...

 

... and Eric Baugher and Shun Ishikubo dig in and start tasting ...

Despite all the challenges of the vintage (rain, rain, rain, cold weather, rain, cold weather, fog, rain, cold weather, rain, rain, rain …), we’ve actually been quite happy with the character and quality of the grapes we’ve received, and think it will be a notable vintage for its elegance, its sophistication, and its concentration. Plus, we’ll be seeing low alcohol levels across the board, and a heightened focus on balance and harmony.

There is of course a fine line between elegance and austerity, but we feel strongly we’re on the right side of this line in 2011.

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Posted in Events & Photographs, Monte Bello, Paul Draper, Varietals & Blends, Video, Vineyards and Oenology, Winemaking | 1 Comment »

Pressing Pagani …

October 12, 2011

Up here at the Monte Bello Estate, we very recently hosted a wonderful group; a Japanese film crew. As it turns out, they happened to arrive on a day when the production team was pressing some Pagani Ranch zinfandel, and it proved to be an excellent opportunity to see a press happen live and in real-time.

Pressing is pretty much exactly what it sounds like; grapes are put in a container of sorts, and they’re pressed, in order to squeeze juice out.

Most of the juice that goes into Ridge wines is what you’ll see commonly referred to as “free run”; meaning, no pressing (or “extraction”) is required to obtain it. The juice essentially just makes its way out of the grapes of its own volition over the course of the fermentation process (In one of the video clips below, you’ll hear winemaker Eric Baugher –over the noise of the press! — explaining that about 75% of the available juice from the vineyard emerges as free run, while the remaining quarter continues to reside in the skins; thus, the press).

Free run juice is traditionally considered to be of a most pure, most elegant, most subtle character. That said, to make wines of the ageable and complex sort that Ridge Vineyards always strives to present, structure is very much required. And given that much of what we consider to be the vital structural components of any given wine are to be found in the skins (color and tannin, for example), a bit of extraction can potentially be very helpful in crafting a final assemblage.

For example, let’s say the free run juice of a particular vineyard parcel proves to be delicious, fruit-forward, elegant, beguiling, but just a tad light on the palate. A bit of pressed juice from the same parcel can be introduced to the “blend,” bringing a bit more intensity, and a tad more muscularity as regards tannin architecture. No tricks; it’s still the same vineyard, the same juice, the same personality, but with a modulated handling, different flavors can be obtained.

To complicate matters, we don’t just press. We do “press fractions.” Meaning, we press the same juice at different levels of intensity (i.e. pressure) and capture the results in separate tanks, so that they can be taste-tested in different assemblages with the core free run juice. Again, no tricks, just different handlings. What you’ll taste in the end is still essentially not much more than pure juice, but depending on whether press juice was added (and what “fraction” thereof it was), and in what amount(s), you’ll experience more or less of certain characteristics. To my mind, it’s a beautiful and singular way to work with what Mother Nature delivers, in such a fashion as to honor her, without changing her.

So, back to our primary story: Japanese Film Crew, Pagani Ranch Grapes, and a press.

Here are a few excerpts of me filming the filming. I hope you enjoy!

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Posted in Events & Photographs, Monte Bello, RIDGE Staff, Social Media, Varietals & Blends, Video, Vineyards and Oenology, Winemaking, Zinfandel | Leave a Comment »

Fall Release Event at Lytton Springs Next Saturday! It’s Goin’ ON!

September 6, 2011

(Spoiler Alert: This post is about the Fall Release Event at Lytton Springs on 9.10.11!)

There are a lot of things going on at Lytton Springs right now. 

For example, as I write this, many miles away in the wilds of Santa Cruz, the moon is probably rising in the brightly dusking sky above the Healdsburg vineyards …

And when the sun rises tomorrow, the Lytton grapes will again be in full swing, and looking beautiful …

And just as there are new vintages emerging on the vines, so too are there new vintages emerging in the bottle …

The 2009 Lytton Springs is dropping. And rising. Dropping and Rising. Dropping mad science like Galileo dropped the orange.

Or, put another way, Three. It’s the magic number.

2009 Ridge Vineyards Lytton Springs
2009 Ridge Vineyards Pagani Ranch
2009 Ridge Vineyards York Creek

Three. It’s the magic number. No more, no less.

Now you may try to subtract it
But it just won’t go away
Three times one?
(What is it? )
(One, two, three! )
And that’s the magic number

Three new vintages, three new zinfandels. All part of the Fall Release Celebration. You were just here, won’t you, at Monte Bello? And you’re just about there, aren’t you, at Lytton Springs?  

Lord knows you ought to be; this is gon’ be special … And,we’re celebrating the release of not only the three zinfandels above, but also new Monte Bello vintages; both Cabernet and Chardonnay!

And dig this…

Station #1

To pair with Chardonnay

Rock Shrimp & Scallop Sausage, Vanilla Bean Buerre Blanc & Cilantro Pistou

Station #2

To pair with Zinfandel

Sonoma Duck Sausage Kissed with Smoke, Cipollini Onion & Cherry Chutney

Station #3

To Pair with Zinfandel

Chicken-Apple Sausage, Apple Kraut, Soft White Bun

Station #4

To pair with Zinfandel

Sicilian Pork Sausage, Silky Polenta, Grill Roasted Pepperonata

Station #5

To pair with Cabernet

Sonoma Lamb Sausage with Piquillo Peppers & Chickpeas, on a Cumin Seed Bun

I’m sorry, did someone just say Vanilla Bean Buerre Blanc ?

The point being, you NEED this event. You NEED an entire barfull of chardonnay glasses …

…full of chardonnay.

And you NEED to drink wine in a BARREL ROOM …

…because that’s just hip.

What is hip?

Hipness is
what it is!
 

Join us, won’t you?

For more details, and to purchase tickets, please click here. The Fall Release Event at Lytton Springs.

Overpowered by Funk. Funk out.

(images courtesy of Brandye Alexander)

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Posted in Events & Photographs, Food & Wine Pairing, Lytton Springs, Special Offerings, Tasting Rooms | Leave a Comment »

Chez Mumu and The Buckler Triangle

February 15, 2011

Sailors and Stargazers have pondered its wonders & whereabouts, its meaning and mystery. Physicists and Philosophers, Mathmeticians and Moguls, all have sought the answer to its riddle. But none has sought harder than The Oenophile. Time and time again The Oenophile feels close, close enough to taste it on the tongue, only to come away unsated, not unlike Jack McGee losing Bruce Banner yet again, to the tune of maudlin piano and a rucksack disappearing in the mist.

Still, The Oenophile searches for the answer, collecting ephemeral clues like snowflakes melting on the tongue.

This one came in a dream; Chez Mumu, Chez Mumu, Chez Mumu the song went, looping in his brain like a sample stitched together over 4 long tub-thumping minutes.

The Oenophile awakes in a cold sweat, dressing rapidly, practiced fingers pulling on clothes robotically; electric shaver in the pocket, wrinkled tie knotted below the showing top button, coffee still too hot to taste.

Would it be this time? Would The Oenophile finally find … The Buckler Triangle?

What is The Buckler Triangle, you ask?

A strange moveable feast of disappearance, a shape-shifting vortex, a black hole to another place; portal to a world unknown, where giants stride with magnums cradled in mighty hands like thimbles full of life-blood.

It happens like this: Someone has an idea; a vision of a gathering. Wine will be drunk, specifically, wine from Ridge Vineyards. These gatherings can happen all over the world, as The Oenophile’s Passport can testify.

The wines often travel great distances as well. In the end, in a spectacle of warm ritual, foils are cut, corks are pulled, glasses are filled. By night’s end, the wines will be gone, disappeared forever, into … The Buckler Triangle.

Not unlike the carnival gophers that magically appear — unexpected, unpredicted — in just the hole you failed to keep an eye on, The Buckler Triangle can seemingly emerge anywhere, at any time, anytime Ridge wines are being poured.

This time, The Oenophile knew, The Oenophile was certain; The Oenophile knew where to finally find The Buckler Triangle. Chez Mumu, Chez Mumu, Chez Mumu …

The bait was extraordinary.

1998 Ridge Dusi Ranch California Zinfandel 14,9% abv

100% Zinfandel

1999 Ridge Dusi Ranch California Zinfandel 14,5% abv

100% Zinfandel

2000 Ridge Dusi Ranch California Zinfandel 14,6% abv

100% Zinfandel

1998 Ridge Pagani Ranch California Zinfandel 14,2% abv

88% Zinfandel, 9% Alicante Bouschet, 3% Petite Sirah

1999 Ridge Pagani Ranch California Zinfandel 14,1% abv

90% Zinfandel, 7% Alicante Bouschet, 3% Petite Sirah

1999 Mazzoni Home Ranch California Zinfandel 13,7% abv

50% Zinfandel, 32% Carignane, 18% Petite Sirah

2000 Mazzoni Home Ranch California Zinfandel 13,7% abv

47% Zinfandel, 47% Carignane, 6% Petite Sirah

1999 Ridge Lytton Springs California Zinfandel 14,5% abv

70% Zinfandel, 17% Petite Sirah, 10% Carignane, 3% Mataro (Mourvedre)

2000 Ridge Lytton Springs California Zinfandel 14,8% abv

80% Zinfandel, 20% Petite Sirah

1998 Ridge Geyserville California Zinfandel 14,1% abv

74% Zinfandel, 15% Petite Sirah, 10% Carignane, 1% Mataro (Mourvedre)

1999 Ridge Geyserville California Zinfandel 14,8% abv

68% Zinfandel, 16% Carignane, 16% Petite Sirah

2000 Ridge Geyserville California Zinfandel 14,9% abv

66% Zinfandel, 17% Carignane, 17% Petite Sirah

1997 Ridge York Creek California Zinfandel 15,3% abv

95% Zinfandel, 5% Petite Sirah

1998 Ridge York Creek California Zinfandel 14,9% abv

88% Zinfandel, 12% Petite Sirah

1999 Ridge York Creek California Zinfandel (Late Harvest) 16% abv

98% Zinfandel, 2% Petite Sirah

2000 Ridge York Creek California Zinfandel 15% abv

88% Zinfandel, 9% Alicante Bouschet, 3% Petite Sirah

The Oenophile is driving. From the radio speakers, the maudlin tinkle of a sway-backed saloon piano. The mist is closing in, wrapping itself around The Oenophile like Eliot’s yellow fog …

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,

The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes

Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,

Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,

Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,

Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,

And seeing that it was a soft October night,

Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

… in The Oenophile’s mind, the loop is beginning. Chez Mumu, Chez Mumu, Chez Mumu …

—–

Mumu is in fact Mumu of Mumu Les Vignes, a fantastic wine blog written by Mulan Chan-Randel, and she recently ran a post detailing an extraordinary tasting of Ridge wines. Among the guests was our own Dan Buckler. If you wish to visit her blog, and read the full post, please click here. Enjoy, and thank you Mumu!

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Posted in Geyserville, Lytton Springs, Press Reviews, Tasting Flights, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine Blogs, Wine Tales, Zinfandel | Leave a Comment »

In San Francisco on October 18th?

October 8, 2010

Then have we got an event for you!

Kick off your week right with a Ridge Vineyards tasting at California Wine Merchant in San Francisco. Join Ridge’s Christina Donley Monday, October 18 from 6 to 9 for a sampling of single-vineyard zinfandels and the world-renowned Monte Bello. For only $20, taste wines such as the 2008 Lytton Springs, Pagani Ranch, and East Bench. Christina will also be sharing the very-limited 2008 Chardonnay Santa Cruz Mountains Estate and the highly rated 2007 Monte Bello. In addition, receive 15% off purchases the evening of the event. We hope to see you there! California Wine Merchant 2113 Chestnut Street, San Francisco Monday, October 18, 6-9pm $20

For more about California Wine Merchant, please click here!

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Posted in Bordeaux varietals, Chardonnay, Events & Photographs, Lytton Springs, Monte Bello, Special Offerings, Tasting Flights, Varietals & Blends, Viticultural Salmagundi, Zinfandel | Leave a Comment »

1999 Monte Bello: The Rematch!

September 11, 2009

Back in May of this year, we’d only just been April Fool’d by Conficker, the temperatures were still cool and I could still occasionally wear a scarf, the 2007 Pagani was but a twinkle in a winemaker’s eye, Hélio Castroneves had not yet won the 93rd Indy 500, the Community of the People had yet to enact their coup on the Parliament of Greenland, and perhaps most important of all, it was time for the Monte Bello Final Assemblage tasting.

Although of course much of note took place that wild and wooly day (Did I say blisteringly hot? That’s what I meant to say. Not “wild and wooly.” My bad.), one particularly singular opportunity was present in the form of the Vintage Pack. Yes, ’twas true. Guests were able to taste the 1995, 1997, and 1999 Monte Bellos. I remember it as if it were yesterday … (initiate dream sequence)

13304w_dali_lights_dream

If the picture of the floating eye doesn’t make the dream real for you all over again, you can also click here to read my original recapment.  A particularly relevant excerpt follows, the relevance of which I hope to make clear shortly:

Summary: Appropriately showing the “youngest” of the three, but highly notable for the depth, concentration, and singularity of the earth and spice components. For my final compare-and-contrast with notable wine writers, we’ll this time turn to Steve Heimoff, who wrote in Wine Enthusiast back in 2005, “Will be very good, but don’t touch it until 2014,” which seems to confirm the youthful character of this fine vintage. And by the way, he then went on to give the wine a 95 point rating!

The excerpt above comes from my notes on the 1999 Monte Bello; notes, it turns out, that would cause certain wine writers to take a certain degree of umbrage, given their feeling that my notes were, or so they seemed to think at the time, apparently wildly inaccurate. An excerpt:

Seriously, you thought the 1999 was showing the *youngest* of the wines?

Well, yes, actually, I did. So much so, in fact, that I “challenged” said wine writers to another tasting. Put another way, I invited the writers up to Monte Bello, to revisit the 1999. I am happy to say that my invitation was accepted.

Sorry, just had to sneak that eye in there again.

So anyway, there we were, August 7th, 2009, in the Monte Bello Tasting Room. So deeply engrossed were we in our endeavor that we were barely aware that Florida Senator Mel Martinez was announcing his resignation, or that Ronnie Biggs, one of the masterminds of The Great Train Robbery, was being freed. No, all we could think about, talk about, LIVE FOR, was the 1999 Monte Bello.

Fast forward to the end of the story. Which is here. Which is where I say, “Suffice it to say …”, which then rather smoothly segues into the moment where I smugly quote from one of the writers, who writes, most writerly:

Still got plenty of life.

About the 1999.

I win.

I jest of course. Or do I?

I do. In truth, I was honored to have these wise gentlemen present, and I was happy that their verdict, in the end, was a positive one as regards the 1999. If you’d like to read what one of the participant’s had to say about our tasting, please click here, and you’ll be directed to a fine blog that goes by the handle Santa Cruz Mountains and Santa Clara Valley Wines. And if you’d like to read what one of the other participants posted at Cellar Tracker, please click here.

Elegant and with years ahead of it.

That’s an excerpt from his notes.

I win.

I mean, I jest. Or do I?

(Thank you to Dave Tong, Richard Jennings, and Wes Barton for your participation!)

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Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, Events & Photographs, Monte Bello, Tasting Notes, Tasting Rooms, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine Blogs, Wine Tales | Leave a Comment »

Fall Release Weekend!

September 2, 2009

This coming weekend is one of my favorite weekends of the year! Why? Because it’s Fall Release Weekend, which means, among other things, the arrival of the new Monte Bello! And this year we’ve got a double dose of Monte Bello, because we’re releasing a Monte Bello Chardonnay as well!

We’re also releasing the new 2007 Lytton Springs, Pagani Ranch, and York Creek Zinfandels, and we’ll be pouring all five of these wines this weekend! If you’re going to be anywhere near either our Monte Bello or Lytton Springs tasting rooms this weekend, this is a flight you don’t want to miss! For full details, please click here for Monte Bello, and here for Lytton Springs.

And here’s a quick tip, be on the lookout for news about The Last Chance Chalkboard! It’ll be the straight dope, the inside scoop, the 411, the buzz, the skinny, the story morning glory …

In the meantime, here are some quick winemaker notes on the new releases:

2006 Chardonnay Monte Bello

Grapes were whole-cluster pressed, and the juice racked to barrel. Natural primary lasted four months; natural secondary took only three. In August 2007, we chose four exceptional parcels, which were racked, assembled, and returned to barrel. At eighteen months the wine cleared, and was bottled without filtration. This fine chardonnay will benefit from a year or two in bottle, and develop fully over another six or seven. EB (2/08)
2007 Lytton Springs

After a dry winter and spring, budbreak came early. Despite the lack of spring rain, temperate summer weather mitigated vine stress and created ideal ripening conditions. 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. We chose twenty-one lots for this year’s wine. 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)
2007 Pagani Ranch

Fully-crushed fruit fermented on its natural yeasts in eight small, open-top tanks. As juice circulated through the skins, rich color and firm tannin extracted quickly. We pressed early, on day five, avoiding an excessively tannic structure. When uninoculated malolactic fermentation finished in late November, the lots were combined and racked to air-dried american oak barrels. This opulent Pagani exemplifies the complexity that can be drawn from old field-blend vines. Enjoyable now, it will develop fully over the next ten years. EB (1/09)


2007 York Creek

For the 2nd year in a row, the vines produced a full crop, which slowed ripening, and pushed harvest into October. We fermented each of the seven parcels separately, on their natural yeasts. Re-tasting after assemblage, we decided to include a significant amount of petite sirah for greater complexity and firmer structure. The wine was then racked to american oak barrels for twelve months of aging. This York Creek, though rich and structured, is one of the most supple and elegant wines we have made from the vineyard. Enjoyable now, it will continue to develop over the next six to eight years. JO (8/08)

2006 Monte Bello

Winter was wet and cold through April, but May’s warm weather let the vines set a full crop. 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)

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Posted in Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Events & Photographs, Lytton, Merlot, Monte Bello, Petit Verdot, Tasting Flights, Tasting Notes, Tasting Rooms, Varietals & Blends, Zinfandel | Leave a Comment »

New Fall Releases: Staff Tasting -or- The Sneak Peak Of The Week! -or- Monte Bello For A Thirsty Fello, Lytton Springs And The Joy That Sings, Pagani Ranch As The Olive Branch, And York Creek, Of Thy Beauty I Speak!

August 14, 2009

So, myself and a delightful cross-section of esteemed Ridge staff members sat down yesterday to have a tasting of the new Fall Releases, as well as the upcoming September ATP offering. Below, you’ll find photos of the tasting, with my tasting notes to follow. And remember, Fall Release Weekend is the first weekend of September, both here at Monte Bello and at Lytton Springs as well; this will be your chance to dive in and sample the new Monte Bellos (both the Chardonnay and our Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend), and the new Lytton Springs, Pagani Ranch, and York Creek! For more about the Fall Release Weekend, click here, and please view and read onwards to learn more about our tasting of these soon-to-be-released wines.

 

Tasting Notes: 2009 Fall Releases (plus September ATP), Staff Tasting, 8.13.09

 

2006 Monte Bello Chardonnay

A pale golden-yello in the glass, fantastic limpidity, and fairly sparse and slow-moving legs … The nose is redolent of caramel and a light woodiness at a slightly chilled temperature, and as it moves towards room temperature it begins to express a complex array of fruit notes, with lychee, pineapple, and honeydew melon leading the way. A constrained amount of minerality shows through as well, with little influence from any yeast aromas. The first thing I notice is the wildly buoyant acidity, balanced against a surprisingly supple viscosity. Pear and green apple notes are front and center, with a faint trace of (probably imaginary!) residual malic acid. During the movement from mid-palate to finish, notes of meringue (cream of tartar) start to emerge, making for a pleasantly structured close.

 

2006 Nervo

Shows beautiful mid-tone plum/ruby in the bowl, with a gorgeous pink & raspberry limn, lightly tinged with a pale orange; quick, thin legs running down the sides … Fantastically fascinating nose, with a whole menagerie of aromatic offerings: loads of black pepper, cocoa, clove, cinnamon, baked orange/marmalade, sandalwood, a slight tarriness, and hints of both cola syrup and berry syrup … Fairly firm tannins on the palate, but good acidity as well … a certain spiciness definitely present, though the herbal components are far more dominant. Structurally, the tannin/acid balance is near perfect, but the herb &spice/fruit balance is currently tipping to the former. Not a particularly fruit-forward offering, but perfect for those who prefer their zins with a hearty offering of herbs and spices.

 

2007 Lytton Springs

Elegance. Subtlety. Suppleness. Grace. These are the terms that come to mind in trying to capture the sophistication and near-shyness of this otherworldly uber-balanced wine. Everything about this wine is restrained, and beautiful. The aromatics are loaded with mixed harvest berry notes, as is the palate, and both are richly intertwined with a complex quilt of lilac, lavender, and violet. A secondary tier of higher-tone red fruit makes itself felt in the mid-palate, bringing in strains of strawberry and cherry, and the finish expresses some nicely chalky, and very-slow moving tannins. Again, elegance, subtlety, suppleness, and grace. Consummately approachable already.

 

2007 Pagani Ranch

Beautiful magenta tones dominate the color spectrum in the bowl, with some dark plum in the very belly, and some beautiful, pale, bright garnet highlights at the limn. As is seemingly always the case with wines from the Pagani Ranch, the aromatics are a veritable potpourri of, well, potpourri! Add to that strains of cinnamon, strawberry, and the sweet spices of hookah tobacco, and you’ve got a Pagani bouquet. The palate springs a trap full of rich, sweet fruits, almost on the edge of showing some candied character, though this is all firmly counterbalanced by some strident acidity. Certainly still in development, but this wine has both the structure and the fruit to emerge into yet another fascinating contribution to the Pagani canon.

 

2007 York Creek

It was put forth, during the tasting, that this wine is what the color blue tastes like. I most certainly agree! Blue fruit, blue highlights, blue halo, blue, blue, blue. Which is clearly the influence of the full 22% petit sirah on this wine, a welcome addition, at least to our collective palates, all being petit sirah fans, to say the least. This is a dark, rich, complex wine; burnt blueberry pie sugar, beurre noir, blueberry preserves, sweet black licorice, asphalt, sweet moist pipe tobacco, cigar box, I could go on and on and on, but I imagine you’re getting the picture. If you’re a fan of zinfandel as darkened and molded by petite sirah, this is for you.

 

2006 Monte Bello

I’ll come right out and say it; I love this wine. I bought in hard on the futures for this vintage, if that’s any kind of worthwhile endorsement. And tasting it again today, I’m happy I did so. I believe this is going to be a Monte Bello for the ages, one of the greats. Of course it’s impossibly young now; the colors are almost impenetrably dark, the limn barely exists yet, the viscosity is intensely adhesive, etc. Interestingly though, the nose is already showing some beautiful florality (lilac and lavender in particular), married to some beautiful herbaceousness. The palate experience is driven primarily by clove, anise, fennel, and hazelnut, with a shake of cocoa powder and vanilla extract, and the finish, while admittedly still  youthfully short at this point, already shows great balance. Can’t wait for the development trajectory of this vintage to play out over some time …

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Posted in Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Events & Photographs, Petit Verdot, Petite Sirah, RIDGE Staff, Tasting Notes, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine Tales, Zinfandel | Leave a Comment »

Horizontal Multi-Designation Zinfandel Tasting With Friends Of The Winemakers

June 30, 2009

This past weeskend, I had the great pleasure of hosting a very interesting group, and presenting them with a very interesting tasting flight. The group in question was Friends of the Winemakers. Per their website, they are “a non-profit corporation whose purpose is to preserve the history of winemaking and the enjoyment of wine in the Santa Clara Valley and the Santa Cruz Mountains; to share the knowledge with others; and to stimulate interests about vineyards, varieties of wine, and the process of wine production.” The flight in question was a horizontal multi-designation zinfandel tasting. By “horizontal” I mean that all 6 wines were of the same vintage; in this case, 2006. And by “multi-designation” I mean that each zinfandel we tasted was comprised of fruit from one vineyard only, and each wine was from a different vineyard designation.

RIDGE Vineyards practices what we refer to as single-site winemaking. Save for one exception, all the wines in our portfolio are comprised, as noted above, of grapes grown on one single vineyard; accordingly, most of our wines are named for the vineyard property, as opposed to, say, the varietal. Given that we deploy a notably non-interventionist methodology in the vineyard (hand-harvesting, head-training, dry-farming, etc.), each vineyard that we work with has very different characteristics on offer as far as micro-climate, topography, soil type, vine history, etc. Meaning that the differences in taste between each wine ideally have to do with differences in the vineyards. Put another way, we practice single-site winemaking as a way to try and capture, as best as possible, the singular qualities of any particular vineyard property. To say this is to capture “terroir” is to invite critical debate to be sure, as the term has become rather loaded; suffice it to say that our wines taste the way they do primarily because of where they come from. If thats’ terroir, so be it.

Anyhow, the idea behind this special tasting was to try and showcase some key ways in which single-site winemaking can affect the character of a wine. For this 6-wine flight, I set up three sets of two wines to taste side-by-side, with each duo being selected to effect a compare-and-contrast between two sides of a spectrum.

For the first pair, I selected the 2006 Ponzo as an example of a Cool-Climate zinfandel, and I selected the 2006 Paso Robles as an example of a Warm-Climate zinfandel; for the second duo, I selected the 2006 Pagani Ranch as an example of an Old-Vine Interplanted zinfandel blend, and the 2006 East Bench as a Younger Vine Solo Varietal zinfandel; for the final duo, I selected our “Flagship” zinfandels, the 2006 Lytton Springs, and the 2006 Geyserville.

I am happy to report that in each case the collective response to the pairings was that all involved agreed there were marked differences between the two wines being compared. To my palate, the distinctions were very clear; in the first duo, the Ponzo, being a cool-climate offering, is leaner, more elegant, with a heightened focus on acidity and spice as opposed to opulent fruit. The Paso Robles, conversely, being a warmer-climate offering, is all about fruit; ripe fruit, sweet fruit, big fruit. In the second duo, the Pagani is multi-tiered and multi-dimensional, showcasing a veritable potpourri of aromatics and spices, yet its bodyweight and mouthful are comparatively subtle; the East Bench, on the other hand, is all adolescent muscularity. It’s big, and firm, and structured, and it showcases great depth. In the final duo, we see, I think, the clearest proof-of-concept of just how important site-specificity is; on paper, these wines are very similar. They’re both zin blends backed by complimentary Rhone varietals. They’re both RIDGE wines. The vineyards are located within just a few miles of one another. And so on and so on. But yet they’re very different wines! Soil type is the primary answer here; the two properties share very little in the way of common soil type, and accordingly, they show very different characters. Again to my palate, the Lytton Springs is a quintessential expression of California fruit; fruit in all its opulent, fleshy, sweet beauty. Not too ripe, not too plush, just plain delicious. And the Geyserville is all about complexity; tertiary flavors, multi-dimensions, the spice, the earth, the rusticity. Together, these two “flagships” form the twin pillars of our zinfandel program.

And that was our Horizontal Multi-Designation Zinfandel Tasting! It was a lovely tasting, and I thank the Friends of the Winemakers for the support and their participation.

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Posted in Events & Photographs, Lytton, Rhone varietals, Tasting Flights, Varietals & Blends, Viticultural Salmagundi, Zinfandel | Leave a Comment »

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