A Ridge Tahoe Weekend
Edgewood Resort
Tasted Thursday, June 29, 2023 - Sunday, July 2, 2023 by MC2 Wines with 163 views
Introduction
We booked this adventure well over a year ago which was perfect (very hard when a winery comes up with an event that is just a few months away). At the time we had absolutely no conflicts and in fact with the date change it worked great to feed into a visit to family in Portland and short Willamette visit as well.
Flight 1 - Welcome! (2 Notes)
At the front welcome desk in addition to a cava that the hotel was pouring was a Ridge greeting committee with the Lytton Estate Rose. We hadn’t had that before so was fun to try. A few hours after we checked in there was a knock and a bottle of Grenache Blanc was delivered. We had our first glass as a weekend starter. Nice wine to have through the weekend.
Flight 2 - Library Tasting & Reception (3 Notes)
First time in Tahoe and it really is beautiful here. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. The rain from the last few months means the mountains are all snow capped and the lake is full and yesterday was a brilliant blue sky and just perfect. Nice way to kick off the evening with a little gathering and a few library wines.
Flight 3 - Welcome Dinner (2 Notes)
Served buffet style which seemed to work quite well. There was also a 2016 Estate Chardonnay although I didn’t partake of that.
Flight 4 - Winemaker Workshop: Monte Bello (6 Notes)
Likely to be one of my favorite events of the weekend. A chance to get to hear from the different winemakers including Paul Draper who is just a fount of knowledge about everything from different oaks to coopers to how to think about aged wine (and a quite charming story about a 1864 Lafite). Some takeaways - American oak is really important to the Monte Bello story. Yes, there’s a bit of French in there but don’t be fooled - that’s not what makes the wine. All wines are made with the idea that they can and should age. Honestly I think they undersold themselves a bit. I’ve loved the wines with 50 years of age. They said 15 generally but can of course be more. Picked an interesting set of years and nice to see the style of the wine come through across those but also the nuances. It was overall a very informative and enjoyable tasting.
Flight 5 - Catamaran Cruise (2 Notes)
Ok - so probably not actually a catamaran and more of a yacht style boat but this was just a lovely afternoon. Wine was all Ridge which was great. Something quite enjoyable about being out on a boat on a really beautiful day.
Flight 6 - Dinner at the Bistro (1 Note)
Lucky to have someone when I checked in suggest that we grab a dinner reservations for the night so we were able to get into the bistro. Wine list was all over the place but the Corison is always a safe choice and it was no different today. Enjoyable but much too young.
Flight 7 - Wine Conversation: Ancient Vines (3 Notes)
Funny because we walked out of our room and I will definitely need my coat and then in the next 15 or so minutes we got out by the water in the sun and I was using to to shade myself. The only perhaps downside to this was the sun didn’t do good things for the wine and it was hard to have a few glasses out in it. Otherwise beautiful setting and an interesting conversation about older vines which is something that I’ve always enjoyed (places like Australia are always quite proud of what they have there). Different from some places in France where it’s hard to manage the lower yield and so there’s a greater interest to change out. Nice to see Ridge focusing on some of the history of the places (which they did as well as they do their conversations on wine making itself).
Flight 8 - Winemakers Dinner (5 Notes)
Predinner snacks including scallops and a melon bisque
Crushing
Straw smoked steelhead crab
Avocado marble, Kataifi
Pressing
Pierce Point
Bruleed Fig, Walnut Cracker, Peppercress
Fermentation
Squab Ballantine
Vanilla corn succotash, black cherry cassis jus’’
Bottling
Caribe & Caramelia
Dark chocolate, praline, caramel
Closing
Overall just a very well done weekend. I’ve always known that I like Ridge since we did that first dinner almost ten years ago in NYC but this showed a different side of the place. This is a group of wine geeks and I mean it in the best possible way. Tons of knowledge. It surprised me to hear that none of the winemakers have a degree but it’s clear they read voraciously and are very interested in all aspects of the craft. Impressive set of folks. And the people who actually got the event organized were just wonderful - magnificently done. We’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for the next retreat in two years (our vote is San Diego or Seattle).
2022 Ridge Rosé Lytton Estate
USA, California, Sonoma County, Dry Creek Valley
(6/29/2023)
It always amazes me the breadth of wine that Ridge is able to create with the quality that they also have. It’s quite impressive. I think maybe vaguely I knew there’s a Rose but it is usually released in March which means it’s usually not around when we do our winter visit. This is slightly higher production and more available than previous bottling of wines were. Made from Grenache, Cinsault, Zin and a variety that I am forgetting. Very classic light Provence-style rose. Reminds me of drinking water lightly soaked in petals with a hint of that freshness from a stone or similar. It’s very classic and a nice way to start the weekend.
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2022 Ridge Grenache Blanc Adelaida Vineyard
USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles Adelaida District
(6/29/2023)
Welcome to a weekend with Ridge bottle. This is a grape that I’ve always quite liked and I have enjoyed many of their versions of it as well. It’s more of a mouthful to it. Round and with some nice stone fruit. Easy sipper when we had some downtime during the day.
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