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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 91.5 pts. and median of 91 pts. in 21 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by bravo.solares on 2/22/2024 & rated 91 points: Decanted for 2.5 hrs (very oaky before air). Good, elegant, balanced Cab. By no means over the hill, at least to my palate (in contrast to some tasting notes here). Tannins are fine and have mostly melted, but acidity is still fairly good and provides structure. Very classic, old school, Cab. No fruit bomb, no oak bomb, fairly low alcohol. Paired great with a NY strip steak. Will revisit in 1-2 more yrs. (138 views) | | | Tasted by moxielady on 2/11/2024: Removed from cellar, waited too long (228 views) | | | Tasted by moxielady on 2/10/2024: This is past its peak. I’m not going to put a #score, because it’s not the Wine’s fault. I regret not following the advice of my review from 4 years ago - drink now, it’s not going to get better. We each had half a glass, and then let it go…. Maybe it would be OK as a second or party bottle, where you don’t notice how flat it is?? (211 views) | | | Tasted by Agunner23 on 12/29/2022 & rated 90 points: Fruit is starting to fade, but over good rare wine, I suggest if you have some start drinking. (642 views) | | | Tasted by WineJ2019 on 6/15/2022 & rated 93 points: Drank my last of 3 since this is at peak for my tastes. Very good! (639 views) | | | Tasted by WineJ2019 on 5/13/2022 & rated 93 points: At peak. Super smooth with raspberry, chocolate, light oak/vanilla. Drink now and enjoy! (594 views) | | | Tasted by Agunner23 on 11/4/2021 & rated 92 points: Another great Monte Bello vinyards cab. just 13 barrels produced and I have two more bottles that I will try again in a year or two. (962 views) | | | Tasted by Bill & Tamara on 11/1/2021: Used for Ridge Dinner (756 views) | | | Tasted by WineJ2019 on 10/11/2021 & rated 91 points: Fully integrated, drinking well now. For my tastes a little less complex than the estate bottling but it also is quite smooth. An Old World feel to this one that I like. (601 views) | | | Tasted by bjschmitt on 11/8/2020 & rated 91 points: Served with Guinness beef stew, bread.
Decanted 30 minutes prior to serving.
Opaque ruby with purple rim.
Lovely nose, approachable, beckoning you to drink.
Nicely integrated - drinking very well now. (811 views) | | | Tasted by moxielady on 4/8/2020 & rated 88 points: solid effort, but at this point (2020, covid) it is just a super vanilla oak bomb, not much depth, not much acid or tannin to promise better
drink now or forever hold your glass (786 views) | | | Tasted by moxielady on 4/8/2020 & rated 89 points: solid effort. but over oaked, Heavily vanilla, Not a lot of tannin or acid.. drink now or forget it (919 views) | | | Tasted by bjschmitt on 6/30/2019 & rated 91 points: First wine of the evening, served with Wagyu steak in bourbon cream sauce with roast potato and asparagus.
Lovely medium dark ruby tinged with purple - looks young!
Dry. Matt thought it needed more bottle time to open up. Agree. Nice balance on the acid/tannin side.
Believe there is upside potential - needs to open/mature some more. (989 views) | | | Tasted by jnewman77 on 5/14/2017: Delicious, dark fruits, oak, spice, earth. The oak needs to integrate a bit better for my preference, but otherwise still quite good and should continue to improve. (1900 views) | | | Tasted by Steve500 on 5/8/2017 & rated 92 points: Nice French style Cabernet Sauvignon. Still needed some aging but was approachable. (1602 views) | | | Tasted by Lekfranc on 8/25/2015 & rated 96 points: I wish I had bought more of this wine. Magnificent Cab, with smell and taste of dark chocolate, medium persistence. Hints of olive in the mouth. No red / black fruits, which is unusual for a Cab. (2722 views) | | | Tasted by aagrawal on 5/16/2015 & rated 90 points: Ridge Monte Bello Tasting (Cupertino, CA): Excellent nose with black fruits, mint leaves, great complexity; palate is full bodied, young but approachable tannins, blackberry fruit, mint, lacking only a bit of midpalate concentration. 90-91 (2941 views) | | | Tasted by kosinski on 11/7/2014: Aroma: Rich and fruity with red and black berries, baking spice, graphite and tobacco.
Palate: Rather tannic with rich berry flavors, vanilla, tobacco leaf and more subtle suggestions of green pepper and graphite. Well structured but needs time to integrate and mellow the tannins, at least three years. (2580 views) |
| By Antonio Galloni
Vinous, Santa Cruz Mountains – A Study in Terroir (Jul 2014)
(Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Klein Historic Vineyard Series Monte Bello) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Vinous. (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 SauvignonUSAAmerican 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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