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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 91.5 pts. and median of 92 pts. in 8 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Horseflesh on 10/27/2021 & rated 93 points: Cork turned to crumbs but the wine suvived well. After a good few breaths the alchohol smell faded and this Merlot got really good. Super smooth velvety fruit. Faint hints of coacoa? (785 views) | | | Tasted by jhw425 on 9/3/2019 & rated 91 points: Great wine from High Mountain Liquor (1130 views) | | | Tasted by werlbonn on 7/1/2019 & rated 93 points: No decant. Consumed with food. Probably a bit past peak imho, however, this ist still a great wine. The balance between the different flavors is just great. I would drink this up within the next 2 or 3 years.
In detail: The wine looks crimson colored. The legs are medium. There is moderate sediment in the bottle. It smells like blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, black currant (cassis), raisin, cherry, plum, banana, mineral, espresso, cedar, oak, vanilla, lead pencil, sandalwood, cinnamon, violet, black olive, tea, eucalyptus, lavender, mint, walnut, honey and sherry. It tastes like strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, grapefruit, mineral, espresso, smokey bacon, lead pencil, black pepper, cinnamon, black olive, tea, mint, lavender, thyme, meaty, sherry, chocolate and walnut. The body is medium. The wine has round texture. The wine finishes medium. The wine has medium acidity. (1117 views) | | | Tasted by mwanasheria on 11/27/2014 & rated 92 points: Round and full with som cassis, brambles, underwood, earth, herbs. Quite nice. (2464 views) | | | Tasted by SimonG on 8/23/2013 & rated 92 points: R, B, H, B @ Harwood Arms (Harwood Arms, London): Blind. Another Ridge. A little dustier on the nose with some blackcurrant leaf. Colour makes this seem a little younger but the palate suggests a little older. Softer. Early 90s Santa Cruz Cab? No, 97 Santa Cruz Merlot. **** (3154 views) | | | Tasted by Goldstone on 8/30/2008 & rated 90 points: Drank with Greg and Sayo over an indulgent dinner at Crown Wine Cellars, Hong Kong. Still a beautifully deep ruby colour, fully translucent. A Wow! nose of classic Merlot perfume but which proved short-lived. Nice harmony on the palate of fruit, a remaining touch of oak and some firm-ish tannins which powdered away fairly quickly in the glass. Lovely velverty but assertively structured mouthfeel. Good length. Very well made. I wouldn't keep this any longer. (2729 views) | | | Tasted by Rollerball on 1/1/2000 & rated 93 points: Guessing at exact tasting date (writing it 20 years later) but seeing WERLBONN's review reminded me that in this wine's youth we had a six-pack and were just crazy about it. The '97 Ridge Merlot stopped us in our tracks and heightened our interest in wine, definitely. (473 views) |
| 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.MerlotMerlot is a dark blue–colored wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to be a diminutive of merle, the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the color of the grape. Its softness and "fleshiness", combined with its earlier ripening, makes Merlot a popular grape for blending with the sterner, later-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon, which tends to be higher in tannin.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 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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