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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 91.2 pts. and median of 91 pts. in 313 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by AK Wines on 3/5/2024: Amazing wine. Drank at 13 years (474 views) | | | Tasted by timewithwine on 12/14/2023: No real difference from my note in August when I mentioned the wine’s “[a]bundant cherry, plum, Draper perfume, molasses, coffee and mocha.” It’s all there with perhaps the mocha more dominate in the finish. Very much like a claret with its near-seamless transition from attack to mid-palate to long finish. Excellent fruit on the attack. Balanced with round, integrated tannins. 78% Zinfandel, 16% Carignane, 4% Petite Sirah, 1% Alicante Bouschet, 1% Mourvedre. Throwing some sediment. 14.8% alc., but without a trace of heat. With roasted pork tenderloin under a glaze of Dijon with mushrooms. 12.14.23. Recommended. (480 views) | | | Tasted by CondorKhan on 11/5/2023 & rated 94 points: Found a bottle at Safeway, of all places, nearly 10 years after I drank my last one...
Don't know if it's a library release or if it's been at Safeway for 10 years.. the lady at the wine section didn't know.
But I can say that it's just as good, if not better than 10 years ago.
Reading my notes, and remembering my experience, this is quite similar... Maraschino cherries, blueberries... gives the feeling of warm berry compote. Tannins are resolved, soft and silky. Body is medium, acidity present but quite soft. This is elegant, refined, with no sharp edges. Just a stunning example of a classic wine.
"Bad" years separate the wheat from the chaff, and it's evident that you need someone like Paul Draper to craft something so special and elegant in a year like 2011. (850 views) | | | Tasted by Vascular46 on 10/29/2023 & rated 90 points: Black cherry fruit on the nose and palate with pepper and spice on the finnish. (690 views) | | | Tasted by ogres3 on 8/20/2023 & rated 93 points: Drinking quite well. Integrated smooth fruit, ranks up there with similar vintage Lytton Springs. (986 views) | | | Tasted by timewithwine on 8/10/2023: This wine is developing nicely particularly for the challenging year that 2011 presented. Abundant cherry, plum, Draper perfume, molasses, coffee and mocha. Nose and palate track well. The fruit is lively, and the tannins are resolved. Balanced and with a lasting, claret-like finish. 78% Zinfandel, 16% Carignane, 4% Petite Sirah, 1% Alicante Bouschet, 1% Mourvedre. Throwing some sediment. 14.8% alc., but without a trace of heat. With seared boneless pork chops with mustard and shallot sauce. 08.10.23. Recommended. (742 views) | | | Tasted by chicsucre on 7/16/2023: Right out of the bottle is the same Geyserville bramble, ink, red flowers, but palate turned over mature quickly - once again proved cannot use Grassl 1855 on older bottles
Switched to riedel
On the palate, dates, fig and tiny bit strawberry left, tabacco leaves
Long finish
Nov last year was better lol (784 views) | | | Tasted by ChateauShiny on 1/25/2023 & rated 86 points: Bottle purchased at auction. Decanted about 30ish minutes before tasting. Deep ruby-garnet in color. First sniff comes off real heavy on sweet American oak. Give it a few swirls, then the fresh strawberries, bramble, light blueberries, and herbs come though. As soon as the glass sits for a few minutes, the heavy oak emerges into the glass again.
Heavy bodied, a bit flabby, and overall disorganized. Palate is light with plums, bramble, and strawberry. A bit of blue fruit eventually shows though. Then there’s an artificial sweetener aspect to the mid-palate that was hard to pin down. Tannins can’t make up their mind if they are velvetly smooth or sharp. Long dill dominated American oak herbal finish with black licorice, a bit of tar, stewed blackberries, and graphite. A persisting fig and graphite note lingers on for minutes after the finish.
As I sip on the wine more, that artificial sweetener note evolves into grapefruit oil and zest.
This is just not doing it for me. Fails to come together and has some real jarring tastes that make it unpleasant for me. (1364 views) | | | Tasted by drmarclevine on 12/12/2022 & rated 90 points: Short decant to remove sediment. Complex aromas of green bell pepper, black cherry, and something like creamy licorice. Light-to-medium weight with sappy black cherry and pronounced cola notes in the mouth. Lacked persistence, however, and left me wanting more depth and power. The terroir shines through (as it almost always does with Ridge) but missing some stuffing. May evolve more in the bottle but will likely not bulk-up. Drink now or soon. (1385 views) | | | Tasted by chicsucre on 11/23/2022 & rated 95 points: Did a blind at home with a few burgs with same age, this is NOT shy!!
Cedar right off the bat, dried flowers, beautiful red fruits to follow
Nice nuttiness and bramble
Smell like old library - fascinating (1240 views) | | | Tasted by deadwax on 11/16/2022 & rated 92 points: About what I expected. Hints of an aged Bandol (1259 views) | | | Tasted by StefanAkiko on 11/3/2022 & rated 91 points: Fantastically gulp-friendly, easy drinking, flattering, BUT lacks depth. Starting to feel a little sorry for these $30 pigs when they have now run off to pretend to be $70 pigs. In Japan, the latest vintage actually demands over $100 per bottle.
There are a hell of a lot of wines produced every single vintage at this quality level and above, that carry better price tags... Early finders reap magical pleasures. Those who jump on the hype-trane late, they need to pay a premium.
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Fantastiskt klunkvänlig, lättdrucken, insmickrande, MEN saknar djup. Börjar bli lite leds på dessa 300-kronorsviner när de nu sprungit iväg till att låtsas vara 700-kronorsviner. I Japan kostar senaste årgången tom över 1000 pix.
Det finns faen i mig en fjädra massa viner som är bättre för prislappen... Men, vill man haka på en trend sent, Jamen: FAN TA FÖR DIG!
Vi kommer rikta våra blickar mot att jaga fram mer plånboksvänliga dunderviner. Dessa produceras varje dag. De som hittat tidigt skördar magisk njutning. De som hoppar på hajpen sent får, som sagt, betala premium... (1299 views) | | | Tasted by ogres3 on 5/17/2022 & rated 93 points: Could have been the star of the night. Competition was from 6 quite disparate bottles. Aged very well, great drinking window. In general a fan of Ridge wines, this hit the spot. (1618 views) | | | Tasted by forceberry on 11/27/2021 & rated 89 points: A blend of organically farmed Zinfandel (78%), Carignan (16%), Petite Sirah (4%), Alicante Bouschet (1%) and Mourvèdre (1%) from the Geyserville vineyard in Alexander Valley. The harvest started on 21st of September and ended on 2nd of October. Fermented spontaneously, macerated with the skins for 7 days. The wine was blended using 12 separate fermentation lots, selected from a total of 24 different ferments. Aged in American oak (24% new, 50% second and third use and 26% fourth and fifth use) for 12 months. 14,2% alcohol. Tasted in a mini-vertical of Geyserville 2016, 2012, 2011 and 2010.
Slightly evolved and moderately translucent ruby-red color with a faint brick-red hue. Ripe, rich and very juicy nose of sweet dark fruits and slightly wizened plums, some boysenberry tones, a little bit of blackcurrant juice, light earthy notes, oaky hints of vanilla, cloves and toasty mocha character, an evolved touch of something meaty and a whiff of red cherries. The wine is ripe, silky and somewhat soft on the palate with a full body and somewhat sweetish flavors of wizened dark berries, some evolved meaty character, a little bit of cherry marmalade, light jammy notes of raspberries, oaky hints of toasty mocha and vanilla and a touch of dark pruney fruit. The wine is a bit on the soft side with its medium-to-moderately high acidity and quite ripe and mellow medium-minus tannins. The finish is ripe, juicy and slightly sweet-toned with nary a tannic bite and slightly brief flavors of raspberry jam and juicy dark plums, some vanilla oak, a little bit of boysenberry, light blueberry juice tones, a toasty hint of mocha oak and a touch of peppery spice. The alcohol makes the wine end on a subtly warming note while the tannins lend a bit of grip towards the end of the aftertaste.
A pleasant and surprisingly soft vintage of Geyserville that is quite nice on its own, but suffers a bit from comparison to the surrounding vintages of Geyserville. Although Ridge's style is often quite "old world" when it comes to winemaking, this wine had a relatively "new world" feel to it when tasting it next to more savory, structure-driven and less oaky vintages. Here the oak use feels surprisingly pronounced and even after 10 years of aging the wine still exhibits quite a bit of vanilla and toast. Furthermore, the acidity feels surprisingly soft for a Geyserville (I wonder why - according to the data sheet - they had to use calcium carbonate to moderate the wine's acidity, when it feels this is the lowest-acid vintage we tasted?) with very mellow tannins. All the other Geyservilles we tasted were still surprisingly youthful and brimming with further potential, whereas this wine felt markedly more evolved in character and perhaps closer to its apogee than any other vintage - so I guess the cooler, more rainy vintage shows here. Although the oak could use many more years to integrate better with the fruit, I don't feel the wine will benefit much from further aging in any other way. All in all, I have a feeling this wine was a bit better in its exuberant youth than it was now. Feels a tad pricey for the quality at 40,70€. (2690 views) | | | Tasted by VinoVeloVinyl on 9/11/2021 & rated 94 points: Magic from a magnum. Purchased at Montebello during a trade visit and tasting with Eric Baugher.
Consumed at Sophie and Cecilia's wedding in Oxfordshire. Had already found great favour with Sophie's father on the top table!
You cannot go wrong with Ridge. Nothing formal to say except this was delicious and I wish I had more. (1844 views) | | | Tasted by WetRock on 8/7/2021: Quite berry forward still. Some blackberry rather than redder Zinberry. The fruit is still quite fresh even if the palate feel is less fleshy now. In a good spot for a more mellow drink versus the exuberance of younger Zin blends. (2418 views) | | | Tasted by VinCA on 7/25/2021: This was our least favorite of the five vintages that we drank. Definitely the lightest, this wine seems to have peaked. Wow it improved some over the few hours that we were drinking it never matched the other wines in the group. Certainly not bad and probably typical of this rainy cold year. (2040 views) | | | Tasted by gkentm on 7/9/2021 & rated 94 points: This wine had been properly cellared and decanted for 30 minutes. Complex nose of dark berries, licorice and mint jumped out of the glass. Fine, moderately dry, resolved tannin balanced with ample acidity. Palate of dark and red berries, mint, graphite, chalk and lead. Long finish. Sweetness and more complexity emerged as the wine opened up in the glass. This wine went well with angel hair pasta marinara with Italian sausage.
I believe this vintage has another 10 years or so of enjoyable life ahead. Impressive winemaking again and again from Ridge. What a treat. I wish I had more of this vintage.
The wine continues to be delicious on Day 2 (1820 views) | | | Tasted by fozzibaer on 6/30/2021 & rated 88 points: This lacked a bit of structure. I remember Geyserville to hold up better over time. (1712 views) | | | Tasted by Presidio Wine Bunker on 6/13/2021 & rated 87 points: fig. Well past peak. 86-87 (1662 views) | | | Tasted by JVG on 3/31/2021: Medium, rich ruby color. An absolutely ravishing nose of bright, fresh, ripe red fruit—like perfect cherries and raspberries, just picked. But there's also a lovely spices sweetness of cinnamon sticks and vanilla pods, as well as a subtle and surprising hint of peppermint, which I'm not sure I have ever found in a wine before. And finally, with a little air, there is an undercurrent of savory smoked meat hiding behind the fruit. And then with a bit more air, a very distinct note of black tea leaves. And then maybe some other herbs—dill, perhaps, and sage. Just one of those fascinating wines that gives you something more and different each time you put your nose back in the glass.
Wow—on the palate, it's a knockout. An explosion of fruit and spice that manages nevertheless to be fresh and poised, and not heavy or overbearing in any way. Medium-full bodied but with plenty of acidity, and pleasantly "foresty" tannin, if that makes any sense. And despite how refined and classy it is, it manages to retain a compelling wildness—which is maybe the greatest strength of good zinfandel, and of field blends, for that matter. It's been made so well and with such care that it seems not to be "made" at all. Hats off. (1800 views) | | | Tasted by SpoochMan on 3/18/2021 & rated 92 points: Really nice bottle and in a good place now. Still plenty of fruit, but this has really come into a nice balance. Lively acidity makes it food friendly too. Good stuff from Ridge and the drinking window goes for at least a few more years. But I see little reason to wait longer. (1848 views) | | | Tasted by sirwine on 2/15/2021 & rated 94 points: Wow. This ten year old field blend dominated by Zinfandel was beautiful. Decanted for an hour, the wine still had its fruit — blackberry and cherry — and was showing secondary flavors of herbs and spices. Well worth the wait. (1826 views) | | | Tasted by chifred on 1/24/2021 & rated 92 points: Decanted 3 hours, no significant sediment. Very elegant and smooth with blackberry, earth, licorice; no formal notes. Even the white wine drinkers finished their glasses. Great with the braised short ribs. Won't get any better, may start declining soon. (1765 views) | | | Tasted by JM_MadTown on 1/17/2021 & rated 92 points: Another lovely bottle of Geyserville with lots of black fruit, bramble, cola, some vanilla, spice, and forest floor. It has a medium to long finish with nice acidity to balance out the sweet fruit. This is fully mature and I think it is best to consume this vintage in the near term. (1734 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Sara d'Amato
WineAlign (6/6/2014)
(Ridge Geyserville, Sonoma County red) Subscribe to see review text. | By David Lawrason
WineAlign (6/4/2014)
(Ridge Geyserville, Sonoma County red) Subscribe to see review text. | By John Szabo, MS
WineAlign (5/26/2014)
(Ridge Geyserville, Sonoma County red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Antonio Galloni
Vinous, Santa Cruz Mountains: California’s Best Kept Secret (Jul 2013)
(Ridge Zinfandel Geyserville Sonoma County) Subscribe to see review text. | By Josh Raynolds
Vinous, May/June 2013, IWC Issue #168
(Ridge Vineyards Geyserville Sonoma County) Subscribe to see review text. | By Antonio Galloni
Vinous, California's Central Coast: Better than Ever (Aug 2012)
(Ridge Geyserville Sonoma County) Subscribe to see review text. | By Richard Jennings
RJonWine.com (5/19/2013)
(Ridge Geyserville) Very dark cherry red color; aromatic, dried berry, lavender, dried herb nose; tasty, complex, dried berry, lavender, dried herb palate with good balance; medium-plus finish (78% Zinfandel, 16% Carignane, 4% Petite Sirah, 1% Alicante Bouschet, 1% Mataro; 14.2% alcohol) 94 points | By Richard Jennings
RJonWine.com (5/11/2013)
(Ridge Geyserville) Dark ruby color; tart berry, dried berry, dark chocolate nose; tasty, complex, dried berry, licorice, tart black cherry, mineral palate; medium-plus finish 93+ points (76% Zinfandel, 16% Carignane, 4% Petite Sirah, 1% Alicante Bouschet, 1% Mataro; 14% alcohol; best young Geyserville on release ever?) 93 points |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of WineAlign 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.2011 Ridge Geyserville78% Zinfandel
16% Carignane
4% Petite Sirah
1% Alicante Bouschet
1% Mataro (Mouvedre)
A long winter delayed the start of the growing season.
Having escaped late spring rains, the vines set a large
crop—more than an unusually cold summer could
ripen. Severe thinning became essential. Harvest
began September 21, and ended October 3—a day
before the first rain. Twenty-four parcels were
fermented, and kept separate. In late spring, during
rigorous blind tastings, we chose twelve parcels to
make up the 2011.Ridge Geyserville(Ridge Spring 2012 Wine Club notes)
In 1966, Ridge made its first Geyserville from a strip of river rock and clay soils along the abandoned San Francisco and Northern Pacific tracks. Over time, we have added two adjoining vineyards on this same defined site. Each vintage is distinct but typical flavor characteristics include the blackest of blackberry fruit, ripe plum, cedar, and a distinctive mineral quality.USAAmerican 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 Sonoma CountyMendocino CountySonoma CountySonoma Coast |
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