The White House, Anaheim, CA
Tasted Saturday, June 5, 2010 by WetRock with 930 views
A long discussed event was finally pulled together by Andy Velebil where we spent an evening tasting the wines from one of the Ridge estate vineyards. The Jimsomare Ranch just below the Ridge property contains some Cabernet, Zinfandel, Merlot and Chardonnay vines with the Bordeaux varieties most often making it into the Monte Bello blend. Most of the Zinfandel vines on the property date back to 1884. Ridge also bottles wines for its ATP program from the Jimsomare fruit. Since they are made by Paul Draper these can age very well and last a long time as many of the other wines of the estate do.
We managed to pull together a large lineup of the Zinfandels and a few of the Cabs along with some other special treats to make for an adventurous evening that has probably never been done before. A similar dinner of Geyserville wines a few years back has been referenced by the Ridge people for checking in on the aging curves of the wines. We had a great time checking in on this parcel and saw wines all over the map from done to younger than expected. I have been able to try a few of these in the past and some good experiences with the 82 Cab and 93 Zin made me look forward to this night. Favs on the night for me were the 81 MB Zin, 82 Jimsomare Zin, 91 Jimsomare Zin, 85 & 94 Cabs and the 85 Phelps Scheurebe.
2008 Ridge Chardonnay Jimsomare Ranch
USA, California, Santa Cruz Mountains
The nose shows big marks of malo ferments in the way of butter. Rich palate with more creamy butter and some lemon. There is enough acid to make a finish that doesn't allow the fatness to be too much but this will never be in the mode of a lean minerally Chardonnay. Good for the style and best in a couple of years.
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1961 Hanzell Chardonnay
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley
Nose shows lots of madeirization with a touch of cream. Clean with strong acidity and notes of apples. This didn't show the oxidation on the palate as badly as the nose did but the fruit has faded behind the acids. Seen better days but a treat to try.
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