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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 91.1 pts. and median of 91 pts. in 25 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by SoundinBetween on 12/30/2022: Fully mature as expected but fruit is still lively and interesting, along with notes of tobacco, red plum, with a mild herbaceous streak, mid weight palate and medium length finish. More than "holding on", this bottle improved over the course of 2 hours, not decanted.
1/4 bottle left accidentally in the fridge sampled almost 10 days later.. the wine was still captivating, balanced, fresh, and showing zero signs of oxidation, if a bit less lively than the first day. A "wow" bottle for certain. (647 views) | | | Tasted by blanquito on 12/11/2021 & rated 93 points: Enjoyed from an actively seeping bottle (I recently moved my wine cellar and this may have caused it)… sweet, slightly mulled nose of dried cherries, lemon zest, cinnamon, oaky vanilla, and cooling minty-cab notes. Beautiful bouquet. The palate is bright and tangy with a lemony taste, and shows a savory side on the finish. Smooth, utterly resolved, still vigorous. A joy. (1204 views) | | | Tasted by Tim Heaton on 6/9/2020: Very good, and a true joy to experience at this stage. A blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, with Merlot from Napa, with an alcohol of 13,9%. This was double-decanted about 2 hours prior to service - no extended aeration. The color shows some age, but certainly not 40 years of it. The nose is majority tertiary, but a narrow core still clings to the secondary realm. Elegant, long, filled with finesse, and a good sense of place/grape. Based on this showing, there's another 5-7 years at/near this level. Pretty much everything one could want in 40 year old Napa Cab. Bravo, sir Paul! highly recommended (2411 views) | | | Tasted by Silkeyj on 12/23/2019 & rated 93 points: Wow. Bottle was corked making flavor past peak yet still wonderful. Going orange at meniscus nose is rich cherry and currant Lovely cherry, light tobacco, cedar? touch herbaceous, light tannin that falls away, light alcohol, light acid, full bodied and soft mouthfeel. Just really really delicious and lucky to have had opportunity to drink. (1833 views) | | | Tasted by DaButtah on 1/15/2018 & rated 96 points: A wow wine. Smoky cedar, leather and graphite nose with a depth of fruit that is frankly astounding for a 40 year old wine. (3249 views) | | | Tasted by Wine_lvr on 10/29/2016 & rated 94 points: Was simply amazing. Still very alive. (3555 views) | | | Tasted by nywine68 on 10/25/2016 & rated 96 points: 1978 California with John Gilman (Craft): True elegance. Paired with food, the acidity really shone through. 1978 Cali Cab Tasting (3214 views) | | | Tasted by andtheodor on 2/7/2016 & rated 91 points: Began with some tired, oxidative tones but freshens up to show cola, dried currant, cedar, over a fleshy and silky palate. After 6 hours there's ample sweet fruit, some smoky gravelly tobacco notes, attractive green streak, pleasant acidity, I wish we hadn't drunk this up so quickly. Mmm mmm old school Cali. (3366 views) | | | Tasted by Tantamnt on 3/9/2015 & rated 94 points: Surprising bottle that more resembled a Bordeaux more than a Cal Cab. Decanted with slight sediment and showed dark fruit nose with no trace of leather/weedy aspects some reviewers mentioned. Over the next hour in the glass it continued to open and develop. Medium full body, lots of fruit in nose and any oak properly integrated with the fruit in a harmonious manner that was a delight to return to every few minutes. In the mouth it was round, firm, balanced with largely resolved tannins and a long lovely finish.
At about an hour and a half it started to thin out and show its age. But I had expected it to be like this when first opened, what a joy!
Could possibly hold up another decade in a good cellar just on its balance.
This bottle was a gift from a friend about 30 years ago. (3432 views) | | | Tasted by scottj on 3/1/2014 & rated 91 points: I'm a big fan of Ridge wines and I really like the detailed labels, even if I find the drinking windows a little conservative. In this case, Paul Draper was really conservative ! In April 1980, he wrote "The result is an elegant wine that should show well within a year or two, but gain in complexity with three years of bottle age". After more than thirty years, it's still an elegant wine with considerable complexity !
Dark red in color with no browning on the edges. Reticent nose of earth and tobacco. Very smooth on the palate, with tannins fully resolved and red fruits still evident but fading. Lengthy finish.
Given the label notes, I thought we'd be opening the back up bottle immediately. We eventually did, but only after we finished and thoroughly enjoyed this wine. (3711 views) | | | Tasted by Wine_lvr on 9/15/2013 & rated 94 points: Classical Californian Wineries (Zurich): Tasted blind: My tasting note is much different than many other Cellartracker users had with this wine. I must have just hit the perfect bottle.
I was already stunned by the first contact with this wine. It still was deep red like a young wine. The nose showed leather, barn and malt notes. Once it hits the tongue the wine is very smooth, has a long finish and is surprisingly complex. Ripe berries and coffee are the present aromas. I like it and was very surprised about the ageability of this single vineyard Ridge CS. Drink now. (3998 views) | | | Tasted by Bobbyk222 on 3/24/2013 & rated 88 points: Even though the cork was defective and pushed through, the wine was remarkably good after about thirty minutes. Full of flavor and very smooth. (3286 views) | | | Tasted by Bobbyk222 on 3/24/2013 & rated 88 points: Even though the cork was defective and pushed through, the wine was remarkably good after about thirty minutes. Full of flavor and very smooth.
The wine looks Garnet colored. The legs are Fast. It smells like Forest floor, and Cherry. It tastes like Forest floor, and Cherry. The body is Medium/Full. The wine has Smooth texture. The wine finishes Medium. (3893 views) | | | Tasted by dmatley on 12/5/2011 & rated 87 points: Bonham's Pre-Auction Wine Tasting (San Francisco, CA): pretty astringent and high toned. (5531 views) | | | Tasted by granikmw on 11/27/2011: still alive. fully integrated; still bright sweet red fruits. (4111 views) | | | Tasted by G SQUARED on 11/17/2011 & rated 90 points: Closed down like a sprung bear trap initially. After about an hr it pried itself open and started showing some Bdx like qualities. This would have been a hard wine to blindly identify as a CA Cab. Loads of tobacco, coffee grinds and pencil shavings. Still, once it did open up there was enough fruit to support the still tannic structure. Always fun to try 78 CA Cabs and while this didn't disappoint it didn't blow me away either. Guess that means I'm spoiled!,, (5327 views) | | | Tasted by TheEngineer on 1/1/2011 & rated 90 points: Again, far from a dead soldier, in fact, better than the 91, 92 and 94 Ridge I had earlier in the day...I'll post on those later. Tannins have fully gone but still a bit of grip o the wine, still a good density, a strange detergent nose blew off after a splash decant, rock solid and still a deep garnet for colour. Not as balanced as the Insignia but drinking like a 15 year old wine versus a 32 year old.... (4858 views) | | | Tasted by rjonwine@gmail.com on 8/7/2008 & rated 84 points: 1978 Cabernets (and Cab Blends) - Last of 5 Retrospective Tastings (Palo Alto, California): Group's #2 (my #7) – 63 pts; 2 1st place votes, 4 2nd place votes, 3 thirds, 0 last place votes – Medium red color with pale meniscus; herbaceous, tobacco nose, a little weedy; herbal, minty red fruit palate with tart acidity; medium-plus finish (95% Cabernet Sauvignon; 5% Merlot) (6636 views) | | | Tasted by jamiekutch on 5/15/2006: San Francisco MONSTER Offline - 31 Notes, Pictures & Review of the Evening: Hints of Brett Mouth Alive factor 5. Drying tannins, mouth drying. (9628 views) | | | Tasted by jamesn on 5/4/2006: Still very alive. Dark fruit and lots of tannin. Perhaps the tannins were a little dry. (6929 views) | | | Tasted by bestdamncab on 6/5/1993 & rated 85 points: Ridge Wines (Hi-Time Wine Cellars, Costa Mesa, Ca.): Mini version of the 1976, tastiest of the 3 today. (108 views) | | | Tasted by buckeye76 on 6/27/1989 & rated 92 points: DEEP RED COLOR, CHOCOLATE, LEATHER, AND DEEP FRUIT IN THE TASTE. STILL A LITTLE TIME IN THIS BOTTLE. VERY IMPRESSIVE. (532 views) |
| By John Gilman
View From the Cellar, Jan/Feb 2017, Issue #67, The Magnificent 1978 Vintage of California Cabernet Sauvignon
(Ridge Vineyards “York Creek” Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa)) Login and sign up and see review text. | By John Gilman
View From the Cellar, Jan/Feb 2014, Issue #49, Another Round of Recently Tasted Old School and Neo-Classical American Wines
(Ridge Vineyards “York Creek” Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa)) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Richard Jennings
RJonWine.com (8/7/2008)
(Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon York Creek) Group's #2 (my #7) – 63 pts; 2 1st place votes, 4 2nd place votes, 3 thirds, 0 last place votes – Medium red color with pale meniscus; herbaceous, tobacco nose, a little weedy; herbal, minty red fruit palate with tart acidity; medium-plus finish (95% Cabernet Sauvignon; 5% Merlot) 84 points |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of View From the Cellar 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 SauvignonYork CreekRidge Vineyards has a nice graphic showing the location of their Napa vineyards: York Creek and Dynamite Hill.
York Creek Vineyard, high atop Spring Mountain overlooking the Napa Valley. Zinfandel and petite sirah vines, planted 1970-1990.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 North CoastThe North Coast American Viticultural Area (AVA) in California, covering more than three million acres, includes Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake counties, and portions of Marin and Solano counties. (see The Wine Institute for more information) |
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