First, the facts:
–We are about to release the 2010 Monte Bello.
–You can be amongst the first to try this highly-anticipated – highly-regarded new vintage by attending our upcoming Fall Release Celebrations this weekend and next.
–Today is #CabernetDay.
–I work for Ridge Vineyards, so I am fortunate. I tried the 2010 Monte Bello today.
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There are a great many things to love about living in Northern California.
Avocados, for example.
And Cabernet.
Northern California — properly to be thought of as being The West — allows for something a little bit extra-wonderful today.
New York, are you out there? How’s #CabernetDay going? Good? What??? Almost over? Oh, right. The East.
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Hello, Bello.
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Tasting Notes.
Agreed. Unintelligible.
A translation:
Red meets blue in a gorgeous purple striation from limn to belly.
Good, wide legs, steady movement.
Very dense and focused clarity.
Beautiful aromatics; loads of red & blue fruit
persimmon, eucalyptus, mint, fig, anise, menthol
elegant cool climate profile.
Classic cool-climate Monte Bello.
Round, smooth, elegant, balanced, with great acidity,
succulent fruit, chalky tannins and minerals.
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Ah, The West.
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To all, I say, enjoy what remains of #CabernetDay. It’s a very fine day, indeed.
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As to why poetry matters?
A poem should be a poem if it can’t be anything else; meaning, could it have been written as a short story? A letter? A song? If you answer yes to any of these, then it shouldn’t be a poem. A poem is special. It is rarefied. It is magical. It must be treasured, honored, and respected. Line breaks do not a poem make. Nor do rhymes, leaps, images, metaphors, similes, or abstractions. A poem is not form, nor the lack thereof. A poem is a piece of writing that cannot be written otherwise. A poem can only be a poem, and nothing else. This is why a poem is special, because it cannot be replicated in any other fashion; it cannot be made in any other form; it cannot do anything but what it does, and nothing can do what it does but it.
This is why single vineyard winemaking matters. This is why terroir matters. Because a wine of truth, a wine of origin, cannot be replicated, and it cannot be anything but what it is. And only when you’ve learned what that is, can you make it.
Asked once how Rodin made a sculpture, he replied, “I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don’t need.”
This is what a poem is. Chop off the short story from it, chop off the novel. Chop of the epistle, and the song. Chop off everything. Is there anything left? If so, that is the poem.
This is what a wine is. It is what remains when all that is not needed is discarded.
This is what Monte Bello is.
A poem.
Categories: Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Sauvignon, Monte Bello, Press Reviews, Social Media, Tasting Events/Opportunities, Tasting Notes, Varietals & Blends, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine & Philosophy, Wine & Poetry, Winemaking
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