Ridge Vineyards, Monte Bello Futures Tasting and Comments from Paul Draper
Today and tomorrow Ridge is having a tasting of barrel samples of the 2004 Monte Bello Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine will not be released until 2007. They were also tasting some older Monte Bello’s, the 1988 and 1992.
In addition to tasting these wines, I got a chance to listen to Paul Draper, wine maker at Ridge since 1969, discuss various topics and I got to ask him a few questions too. Paul Draper says he believes in minimizing the manipulation of wine. He thinks many wine makers try to get too fancy and lose some of the fruit character and complexity through over processing. He named some famous California Cabernet producers as well as the big name Bordeaux estates that he felt were guilty of this.
Paul Draper told an interesting story from his early days at Ridge, when they bought a number of barrels of a 1967 Bordeaux from one of the lesser growths (in those days you could still buy wine by the barrel from the lesser growths and bottle it yourself). They had the barrels shipped to Ridge and bottled it at Ridge. Latter Paul Draper was at a blind wine tasting which included the Ridge bottling and the Estate bottling of this wine. Before they found out which one was which, most tasters had agreed that one was better than the other, and it turned out to be the Ridge bottling which was better. Paul Draper said he could not believe that the Bordeaux estate had actually sold him the best barrels of wine, so he started calling to investigate. He discovered that the Estate had not fined the wine that they had shipped him, since they expected the bottler to fine the wine before bottling, as the British bottlers did. At Ridge they had seen no need to fine the wine, and so they had bottled it without fining. He thinks the estate had unnecessarily fined the wine and that is why the Ridge bottling turned out better. Paul Draper feels even today too many Bordeaux wine makers do too much fining and other manipulations of the wine, which rob the complexity from the wine.
Paul Draper also talked about ripeness or over ripeness of Zinfandel in California. He said that at Ridge they try to make Zinfandel from ripe, but not over ripe grapes. He is not a fan of the over ripe, high alcohol style of Zinfandel that some people now seem to like. Ridge has large numbers of people that go out daily into the main Zinfandel vineyards that Ridge owns or controls like Lytton Springs and Geyserville, and samples fruit to make sure that they harvest when the grapes are fully ripe, but not over ripe. He said that in many years when there are hot spells in September, even 2 or 3 days can make the difference between ripe and over ripe. He said when Zinfandel is ripe, but not over ripe, the alcohol will usually be just over 14%.
Paul Draper indicated that in 2004 they started harvesting Lytton Springs in mid August, because the sugar levels were correct, and the fruit had reach full ripeness. No one else in the area started harvesting until September, and there was a hot spell in early September after Ridge was finished harvesting Lytton Springs that left most other producers in the area with very over ripe fruit.
Paul Draper did say that Ridge just doesn’t have enough people to monitor all the smaller vineyards used to make the ATP wines as closely, and those vineyards have sometimes accidentally gotten over ripe.
Here are my tasting notes:
2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, Monte Bello
I have limited experience tasting barrel samples. This young wines are usually very fruity and the tannins are less obvious. Moderately dark. Nose had cherry. Forward fruit was cherry and currents with mineral and earthy overtones. Moderately high acid. Tannins seemed soft and covered by the fruit, but I am suspect they will be more obvious in a few years when this wine is released. Long fruity finish. Based on my limited experience with barrel tasting, I think this wine looks promising. Futures are available from Ridge until May 31st. Future price is $65 a bottle with a minimum 6 bottle purchase.
1988 Cabernet Sauvignon, Monte Bello
Medium color, brownish around the edges. Very open nose with earthy and mushroom aromas. Forward fruit flavors of cherry, chassis, violets and earthy mushrooms, high acid, soft tannins, long fruity finish. A very nice Monte Bello that seems fully mature and ready for drinking. My rating 88-92. This is available from the winery for $200.
1992 Cabernet Sauvignon, Monte Bello
Medium color. Tight nose. Fruit is dominated by mineral and earthy flavors, high acid, surprising hard tannins, long fruity finish with some astringency. The fruit on this seems promising, but it is still surprisingly tight. My rating 86-90. This is available from the winery for $200.
2001 Cabernet Sauvignon, Home Ranch
The Home Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon is Ridges second wine, and is made from lots that are not chosen for the Monte Bello. It is intended to be age worthy, but not as long lived as the Monte Bello. Medium color. Tight nose. Flavors of minerals, high acid, moderate tannins, long finish. A nice wine that could use a few more years of aging. List price $60. My rating 86-89.
2000 Cabernet Sauvignon, Santa Cruz Mountains
This is Ridges third wine. It is made from lots that were not used for the Monte Bello or Home Ranch and is intended to be more drinkable at release. Medium color. Light nose of cherry. Cherry and minerals on the palette, high acid, soft tannins, long fruity finish. Very drinkable right now. List price $33. My rating 84-88.
In addition to tasting these wines, I got a chance to listen to Paul Draper, wine maker at Ridge since 1969, discuss various topics and I got to ask him a few questions too. Paul Draper says he believes in minimizing the manipulation of wine. He thinks many wine makers try to get too fancy and lose some of the fruit character and complexity through over processing. He named some famous California Cabernet producers as well as the big name Bordeaux estates that he felt were guilty of this.
Paul Draper told an interesting story from his early days at Ridge, when they bought a number of barrels of a 1967 Bordeaux from one of the lesser growths (in those days you could still buy wine by the barrel from the lesser growths and bottle it yourself). They had the barrels shipped to Ridge and bottled it at Ridge. Latter Paul Draper was at a blind wine tasting which included the Ridge bottling and the Estate bottling of this wine. Before they found out which one was which, most tasters had agreed that one was better than the other, and it turned out to be the Ridge bottling which was better. Paul Draper said he could not believe that the Bordeaux estate had actually sold him the best barrels of wine, so he started calling to investigate. He discovered that the Estate had not fined the wine that they had shipped him, since they expected the bottler to fine the wine before bottling, as the British bottlers did. At Ridge they had seen no need to fine the wine, and so they had bottled it without fining. He thinks the estate had unnecessarily fined the wine and that is why the Ridge bottling turned out better. Paul Draper feels even today too many Bordeaux wine makers do too much fining and other manipulations of the wine, which rob the complexity from the wine.
Paul Draper also talked about ripeness or over ripeness of Zinfandel in California. He said that at Ridge they try to make Zinfandel from ripe, but not over ripe grapes. He is not a fan of the over ripe, high alcohol style of Zinfandel that some people now seem to like. Ridge has large numbers of people that go out daily into the main Zinfandel vineyards that Ridge owns or controls like Lytton Springs and Geyserville, and samples fruit to make sure that they harvest when the grapes are fully ripe, but not over ripe. He said that in many years when there are hot spells in September, even 2 or 3 days can make the difference between ripe and over ripe. He said when Zinfandel is ripe, but not over ripe, the alcohol will usually be just over 14%.
Paul Draper indicated that in 2004 they started harvesting Lytton Springs in mid August, because the sugar levels were correct, and the fruit had reach full ripeness. No one else in the area started harvesting until September, and there was a hot spell in early September after Ridge was finished harvesting Lytton Springs that left most other producers in the area with very over ripe fruit.
Paul Draper did say that Ridge just doesn’t have enough people to monitor all the smaller vineyards used to make the ATP wines as closely, and those vineyards have sometimes accidentally gotten over ripe.
Here are my tasting notes:
2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, Monte Bello
I have limited experience tasting barrel samples. This young wines are usually very fruity and the tannins are less obvious. Moderately dark. Nose had cherry. Forward fruit was cherry and currents with mineral and earthy overtones. Moderately high acid. Tannins seemed soft and covered by the fruit, but I am suspect they will be more obvious in a few years when this wine is released. Long fruity finish. Based on my limited experience with barrel tasting, I think this wine looks promising. Futures are available from Ridge until May 31st. Future price is $65 a bottle with a minimum 6 bottle purchase.
1988 Cabernet Sauvignon, Monte Bello
Medium color, brownish around the edges. Very open nose with earthy and mushroom aromas. Forward fruit flavors of cherry, chassis, violets and earthy mushrooms, high acid, soft tannins, long fruity finish. A very nice Monte Bello that seems fully mature and ready for drinking. My rating 88-92. This is available from the winery for $200.
1992 Cabernet Sauvignon, Monte Bello
Medium color. Tight nose. Fruit is dominated by mineral and earthy flavors, high acid, surprising hard tannins, long fruity finish with some astringency. The fruit on this seems promising, but it is still surprisingly tight. My rating 86-90. This is available from the winery for $200.
2001 Cabernet Sauvignon, Home Ranch
The Home Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon is Ridges second wine, and is made from lots that are not chosen for the Monte Bello. It is intended to be age worthy, but not as long lived as the Monte Bello. Medium color. Tight nose. Flavors of minerals, high acid, moderate tannins, long finish. A nice wine that could use a few more years of aging. List price $60. My rating 86-89.
2000 Cabernet Sauvignon, Santa Cruz Mountains
This is Ridges third wine. It is made from lots that were not used for the Monte Bello or Home Ranch and is intended to be more drinkable at release. Medium color. Light nose of cherry. Cherry and minerals on the palette, high acid, soft tannins, long fruity finish. Very drinkable right now. List price $33. My rating 84-88.
posted by mikeca | 8:16 PM
3 Comments:
I really like the Ridge wines, but are they old school? Are they new school? In the old days they were far ahead of the other winemakers, better than most Cabernet Sauvignons. Are they as good, or better than their competitors? I’m asking, ….
I have found the Ridge Monte Bello cabs very, very good in the best years. They age very well, and develop into great wines. Certainly 1981 and 1984 are/were great wines (the 1981 is probably past its prime now). The 1990 seems to be a great wine to me also. Many other vintages are good, but not really great.
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