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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 90.5 pts. and median of 91 pts. in 17 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by TahoeSki on 12/25/2023: This was excellent and better than the 1989 Pichon-Longueville Baron the previous night. Highly underrated (self) and impressed it has lasted so long so well. Can’t imagine improving so suggest drinking if you have. But really impressed. Know Napa has it in it to last this long but still. And has to be very, very few and far between that can. Almost 40 years….. wow. No formal notes. Too busy celebrating with family. (430 views) | | | Tasted by hprphf on 11/18/2023 & rated 92 points: Nose is very good, dimensional, dark fruit, super fresh. Palate is slightly weaker showing thin structure. 92-93 (518 views) | | | Tasted by Neecies on 11/21/2022: An incredible bottle from WT. Not decanted/just Andouzed 8 hours prior, and it even improved for hours after serving. As close as it gets to immortal. A privilege. (1035 views) | | | Tasted by WST on 11/19/2022: My bottle. Served blind to the rest of the tasting group. Andouzed for 8 hours, no decant. Gorgeous on the nose and on the palate. Black cherries, cassis, cinnamon, truffles and more. Eternal finish. A few sips left in the glass for four hours were even better. It developed a beautiful minty note with air. No only didn't it decline, it improved. It could have used a decant, but was outstanding without it.
Ready the other notes on CT illustrated the view that there are no great wines, only great bottles. This was a magnificent bottle, and it takes its place amongst my most memorable wines. Strong praise from a Europhile. (1000 views) | | | Tasted by Goldstone on 10/30/2020 & rated 91 points: Old Napa Wines Dinner (Joseph's Place, Wong Chung Hang, Hong Kong): Drank blind in a long line of older Napa reds. Slightly dusty but clean-jeweled transparent ruby colour. Nose is immediately "oh, this is special"...very light but ethereal, hints of smoke in a pork ribs on a barbecue kind of way. Palate is rounded, fully resolved tannins, medium weight and quite feminine. But....it came with an impressive explosion of resonant power and length on the finish. I upped it a point for the finish. (2328 views) | | | Tasted by MC2 Wines on 12/12/2018: Funny but coming on the heels of the Chalone Vineyards Pinot this wasn't showing quite as well. It's god a nice age style to it. Fruit mostly faded. Get a lot of spices and floral notes. It's a pretty wine, but perhaps a touch less vibrant than the one before. (2731 views) | | | Tasted by tinybubbles on 11/4/2015 flawed bottle: Soapy. (5165 views) | | | Tasted by UMhemePA on 5/15/2015: Not sure what to think about this. I don't believe that this is bad, but past its prime, possible.
Used a Coravin to access this. Cork was level with bottle rim, has grey crusting there, mold like.
brown rim, deep red brown color, leather on the nose, fades quickly, light mouth feel, tannins have rounded off at this point, tart and bright fruits almost resembles a young Beaujolais.The more air it gets the more metallic the nose becomes.
Haven't had much experience with older bottles to have a difference between flawed/defective and age. My gut tells me this is age, but I will leave that to the people on this site that have more experience. (4964 views) | | | Tasted by Burgundy Al on 7/22/2013 & rated 91 points: Dark color and intense black fruit aromas with some tobacco, earth and spice. Firm and slightly backward to start, I thought this improved over 30-45 minutes, then started shortening and getting less interesting after the the one hour mark. (6420 views) | | | Tasted by Wine_lvr on 9/29/2012 & rated 88 points: Ridge Monte Bello Vertical Tasting 1974 - 2008 (Switzerland): Still youthful in color. Taste of leather and coffee. Acid is present, strawberries. A bit short in the finish but surprisingly fresh. This was the last Monte Bello with 100% Cabernet. Drink now (8191 views) | | | Tasted by ljones on 5/12/2012 & rated 96 points: A thoroughly mature bottle of Monte Bello. Notes of leather, tar and other tertiary flavors, fruit is in the background, good acid for the steak dinner. 12.7% ABV. Tannins are there, but fully resolved. This bottle was at a peak.
Absolutely fabulous! (6260 views) | | | Tasted by WetRock on 6/12/2010: Pro Kids of San Diego Charity Event - Older Bord and Cabs (Weissman Residence, Rancho Santa Fe, CA): Terrific integrated complex palate. The fruit is completely integrated and the secondary and tertiary notes really come through still strong. This has no where to go but down. The fill wasn't so hot on this bottle but it performed very well. (5509 views) | | | Tasted by rjonwine@gmail.com on 2/7/2008 & rated 87 points: Ridge Ruby Cabernet Monte Bello Blindtasting 1972-1984 (Palo Alto, California): Group's #5 (my #5) – 46 pts.; 1, 5, 0, 0 – Dark garnet with pale meniscus; nice mature, leather and porcini mushroom nose very mature, Bordeaux-like leather, porcini and tart red fruit palate that hung in strongly throughout the evening (unlike a few of the Ruby Cabernets); short-medium finish (100% Cabernet Sauvignon) (4448 views) | | | Tasted by peternelson on 9/28/2007 & rated 89 points: Chronicle: Blueberry, drk cocoa, leather, grt soft t’s, gd structure--very nice stuff. (3024 views) | | | Tasted by Russell Faulkner on 1/23/2006 & rated 95 points: The Full Monte - 35 Year Monte Bello Vertical (Alba Restaurant, London): 100% CS, 12.7% Alcohol
Mid ruby, darker blackcurrant fruit compares with the lighter summer fruit of the previous few wines, slightly dense, still has some time to live. (6232 views) | | | Tasted by MicklethePickle on 5/28/1990 & rated 85 points: At Ridge Day in the Vineyard 1990. Low fill bottle. Ruby with orange rim. Nice, mellow, medium-weight nose. On the palate, fairly light but good fruit. Nice finish. Ready. Good stuff. 5-10-14-6: 85/100. (1347 views) |
| By John Gilman
View From the Cellar, May/Jun 2020, Issue #87, Recently-Tasted American Wines Lifting the Spirits Of The Sad Spring of 2020
(Cabernet Sauvignon “Monte Bello”- Ridge Vineyards (Santa Cruz Mountains)) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Jeb Dunnuck
JebDunnuck.com, Ridge Monte Bello 1976-1962 (2/14/2019)
(Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Bello Red) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Antonio Galloni
Vinous, Cellar Favorites: Seven Classics from Ridge (Jun 2017) (6/17/2017)
(Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello Central Coast Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Richard Jennings
RJonWine.com (2/7/2008)
(Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Bello) Group's #5 (my #5) – 46 pts.; 1, 5, 0, 0 – Dark garnet with pale meniscus; nice mature, leather and porcini mushroom nose very mature, Bordeaux-like leather, porcini and tart red fruit palate that hung in strongly throughout the evening (unlike a few of the Ruby Cabernets); short-medium finish (100% Cabernet Sauvignon) 87 points |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of View From the Cellar and JebDunnuck.com and Vinous and RJonWine.com. (manage subscription channels) |
| Ridge Producer website | Wikipedia
Ridge Vineyards is a California winery specializing in premium Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Chardonnay wines. Ridge produces wine at two winery locations in northern California. The original winery facilities are located at an elevation of 2,300 feet (700 m) on Monte Bello Ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA near Cupertino, California. The other Ridge winery facilities are at Lytton Springs in the Dry Creek Valley AVA of Sonoma County.Cabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is probably the most famous red wine grape variety on Earth. It is rivaled in this regard only by its Bordeaux stablemate Merlot, and its opposite number in Burgundy, Pinot Noir. From its origins in Bordeaux, Cabernet has successfully spread to almost every winegrowing country in the world. It is now the key grape variety in many first-rate New World wine regions, most notably Napa Valley, Coonawarra and Maipo Valley. Wherever they come from, Cabernet Sauvignon wines always seem to demonstrate a handful of common character traits: deep color, good tannin structure, moderate acidity and aromas of blackcurrant, tomato leaf, dark spices and cedarwood.
Used as frequently in blends as in varietal wines, Cabernet Sauvignon has a large number of common blending partners. Apart from the obvious Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the most prevalent of these are Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere (the ingredients of a classic Bordeaux Blend), Shiraz (in Australia's favorite blend) and in Spain and South America, a Cabernet – Tempranillo blend is now commonplace. Even the bold Tannat-based wines of Madiran are now generally softened with Cabernet SauvignonMonte Bello On weinlagen-infoUSAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Santa Cruz Mountains Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association | Wikipedia
Once referred to by wine writers as the Chaine d'Or -- or "golden chain" -- the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA sits above Silicon Valley, running along the craggy range next to the Pacific on some of the prettiest parts of Northern California. The area supports more than 75 wineries, despite being limited by geography and high land prices.
In 1981 the Santa Cruz Mountains Viticultural Appellation became federally recognized, one of the first American viticultural areas to be defined by geophysical and climatic factors. The appellation encompasses the Santa Cruz Mountain range, from Half Moon Bay in the north, to Mount Madonna in the south. The east and west boundaries are defined by elevation, extending down to 800 feet in the east and 400 feet in the west. |
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