External search
Google (images)
Wine Advocate
Wine Spectator
Burghound
Wine-Searcher
Vintages
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
Show more
From this producer
Show all wines
All tasting notes
|
| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 93.4 pts. and median of 94 pts. in 8 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by roddey3 on 11/17/2023 & rated 89 points: Won at fundraiser auction. Last Montebello vintage at Ridge before Paul Draper came on board. Opened & served immediately July 25, 2022 with roast pheasant: prune color; only fair nose; oddly tart; not well balanced. But not, however, "madérisé" as the French say. Overall, quite disappointing when compared to other Montebello bottles from the early-mid-1970s. No improvement the following day. Perhaps indeed past its prime. (432 views) | | | Tasted by Jeff Leve on 2/21/2019 & rated 96 points: WOW! The blast of tobacco, cedar wood, smoke, herbs and cassis could have come from Pauillac, and a serious Classified Growth at that. Full-bodied, a little rustic, but long and dense, the wine is rough and ready, leaving you with a lengthy flash of red fruits and herbs. (5765 views) | | | Tasted by William Kelley on 6/27/2017 & rated 95 points: A complex and vibrant bouquet of cedar, dried cherry, cassis, forest floor and a touch of leather is the prelude to a wine of striking amplitude, power and intensity; firm, savory tannins and bright acidity still make an impression on the palate. This early Monte Bello gives the measure of the site’s potential. 12.7% (8095 views) | | | Tasted by europat55 on 6/10/2017 & rated 92 points: From double magnum (!) (5915 views) | | | Tasted by rjonwine@gmail.com on 10/27/2013 & rated 94 points: Bricking medium dark red violet color; appealing, tart cassis, light menthol, shitake mushroom, tart red currant nose; delicious, mature, tart red currant, light tobacco, mushroom, tart raspberry palate with medium-plus acidity; long finish (12.7% alcohol) (666 views) | | | Tasted by dream on 10/23/2013 & rated 96 points: Dinner With Paul Draper in NYC - older vintages of Ridge (Cafe Boulud): Wow, a great bottle of this wine which smells very much like a Latour with a wonderful nose of black fruits, minerals and roasted walnuts. Perfectly mature now with wonderful earthy dark fruit flavors and a smooth, silky first-growth type texture. Really elegant and fine but also grippy on the finish with complex notes of tar, black earth and minerals. Wow! (9080 views) | | | Tasted by AndrewSGHall on 8/22/2003: Past its peak, but very enjoyable. Beautiful brick color. Sweet nose with tobacco. Nice fruit, a touch acidic. Clay and more tobacco notes. Very good finish.Intricate structure. Delicious
as well as fascinating. Lasted for a whole dinner and excellent with a special duck prep.
(Alana’s - brought for Andrew’s 35th) (10202 views) | | | Tasted by MicklethePickle on 2/2/1991 & rated 92 points: With MPL and BLR at Singer & Foy. Very dark ruby. Very mature. Very dark chocolate aromas. Loads of rich fruit-just monstrous fruit-it's so big and rich. I LOVE it. Really amazing at this age. Chocolate covered cherries. 5-10-18-9: 92/100. (3974 views) |
| 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, Ridge Monte Bello Revisited: 1968 – 2012 (Jul 2016) (7/1/2016)
(Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Central Coast) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (10/21/2015)
(Ridge, Monte Bello Santa Cruz Mountains Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (3/2/2010)
(Ridge, Monte Bello Santa Cruz Mountains Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Richard Jennings
RJonWine.com (10/27/2013)
(Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Bello) Bricking medium dark red violet color; appealing, tart cassis, light menthol, shitake mushroom, tart red currant nose; delicious, mature, tart red currant, light tobacco, mushroom, tart raspberry palate with medium-plus acidity; long finish (12.7% alcohol) 94 points |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of JebDunnuck.com and Vinous and JancisRobinson.com 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. |
|
