4/24/2024 - noni15 Likes this wine: 94 points

Much better wine now than the bottle I opened in 2022. Still room to improve but right now is amaizing a very well structured.

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4/24/2024 - Montesquieu wrote: 92 points

As a Monte Bello collector since 2001, I normally don't open bottles until they're mature - 15+ years in good vintages, 10+ in an off one. I made an exception in this case to assess the smoke presence and whether these should be consumed younger as a result. My palate isn't the most sensitive, but I do believe I detected smoke, which challenged the otherwise good MB core. The wine was still a good wine, though not for the price, for the first 60 minutes. After that, the smoke became more prominent relative to other notes. Consequently, I'll plan to consume these younger than normal and without long decants.

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4/24/2024 - Mattshank wrote: flawed

2 hour decant (mag decanter). Well this was disappointing given how great the last bottle was on 9/22. While not corked nor any evidence of brett this was devoid of fruit for the most part and overly acid driven. No score given.

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4/24/2024 - LEEJV123 Likes this wine: 90 points

Medium light body, tremendous fruit, round, balanced.

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4/23/2024 - rbfleming Likes this wine: 90 points

Brighter and fresher fruit than the 18, 19 and 20. Still excellent, though. This has been a fun vertical.

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4/23/2024 - rbfleming Likes this wine: 90 points

Raspberries and alcohol. Excellent, but a notch below the '18 in this vertical tasting.

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4/23/2024 - rbfleming Likes this wine: 90 points

"pale shadow of the 2018" says Erik. Still excellent, but more subdued. Gentle fruit, gentle tannins.

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4/23/2024 - rbfleming Likes this wine: 91 points

Cherries. Really interesting.

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4/23/2024 - JM_MadTown Likes this wine: 90 points

This is an enjoyable Zinfandel with lots of black cherries, plums and cranberries. The firm acidity holds in check the sweetness of the fruit. It is certainly at its peak and probably will not improve, so I would recommend enjoying your bottles sooner rather than later.

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4/23/2024 - AdrianBordone wrote: NR

Drank with Kat and Elia. Outstanding, as usual.

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4/23/2024 - Garfield Likes this wine: 92 points

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4/22/2024 - pmik Likes this wine: 91 points

Store Vinnørd i Holte. Min vin

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4/22/2024 - Burgundy Al wrote: 94 points

Wines Before / At / After a Passover Seder (The Krengels - Bannockburn IL): Small glass from 375 ml bottle. Very impressive. Very rich, well spice, lots going on, unfolding in glass in front of us. Complex and very well balanced.

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4/22/2024 - Burgundy Al wrote: 92 points

Wines Before / At / After a Passover Seder (The Krengels - Bannockburn IL): Small glass from 375 ml bottle. Rich and ripe with plenty of black fruit. Very tasty, lacking the dimensions of the 2006 tasted next.

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4/22/2024 - gharter Likes this wine: 92 points

PnP. Opens with raspberry, pepper, anise, vanilla, cherry, plum and floral aromas. Still has plenty of fruit showing blackberry, raspberry, cherry, plum, anise, black pepper, floral, and light vanilla notes. Medium body with silky tannins. This was very rustic on release and has mellowed nicely with time. Drinking very well now, but has years ahead of it.

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4/22/2024 - wchrisw Likes this wine: NR

Drank over 2 days. After about 2 hour decant this peaked. Violets wrapped in fine leather. Bright with energy for an old red.

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4/22/2024 - ppmm wrote: NR

This is probably at peak. Red and black berry fruit lightened by bottle age and surrounded on all sides by sweet spice. Rich without being heavy. Not the most distinctive, not the most concentrated, but a fine and characteristic Ridge Zin caught at a very good moment.

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4/22/2024 - tedcholl wrote: 88 points

My first 2020 Ridge Geyserville and was a little disappointed in this vintage/bottle. Had alot of unripe fruit and vegetative notes and was a bit more flabby. Per the back label there was an early harvest on this vintage.

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4/22/2024 - cspeninsula wrote: NR

Much more fruit forward than the 2020. Or perhaps it seemed so when tasted with other wines

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4/21/2024 - Dine&Vine Likes this wine: 93 points

Ditto previous comments. Went great with smoked baby back ribs.

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4/21/2024 - SMRasher Likes this wine: 92 points

Deep color amplified by the Alicante Boushet and Petit Syrah. Reticent nose with plum and anise/licorice scents, asa well as dried flowers. Mixture of red and black fruits on the palate with a bit of earthiness. It does finish short with a bit of drying tannins. A mannerly Zin, and while enjoyable I am not sure the fruit will outlast the tannins. While I have found wines from the Pagani vineyard tend to mature earlier than those from other heritage vineyards, this one lacks the flesh I would expect from this vineyard in 2018. I would suggest drinking this up within the next year or two before the fruit dissipates.

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4/21/2024 - Tundra Bacchus Likes this wine: 93 points

Perfectly balanced despite the almost 15% alcohol with oak and fruit in harmony

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4/21/2024 - rossta0825 Likes this wine: 91 points

Tasting at Ridge. Very lush and smooth though still will benefit from some aging. Maybe plum and red berries on the nose.

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4/21/2024 - Cailles wrote: 88 points

From two half bottles. To talk about the elephant in the room first: yes, there are smoky/ashy notes noticeable in the wine. No doubt for me, in both bottles. Yet, with all the youthful exuberance, all the fruit as a counterbalance, the notes can be perceived as just another layer, as minerality, even as a feature (depending on your sensitivity and whether you like ashy/smoky notes), but I fear that as the wine ages, these notes will take over and wreck the wine. I liked the hints of smoke on the nose but didn‘t like those on the palate and in the finish (and it stays in your mouth long after the sip). Today, it‘s still a decently drinking wine, but with this „ticking time bomb“ in the wine, certainly not worthy to have been released as Monte Bello. Drink up - not one to lay down.

TN: Intense, expressive bouquet with perfectly ripe dark berries, spices, some vegetal aromas and minerality which extends into a clear ashy note, which adds to the nose rather than negatively dominating it. Quite particular but luxurious and inviting. On the palate the same perfectly ripe and fresh dark and dark blue fruit, cedar notes, minerality, some spices. Quite beautiful, complex and precise. Towards the mid-palate and especially in the finish, the ashy and smoky notes come forward and they stick in your mouth. Not very pleasant, especially in the second bottle it was quite penetrating. The longer the wine is open the stronger the notes are on the palate. The strucutre is impeccable: Fine tannins, light and airy feel, good freshness, silky texture and good overall balance.

Decanting: Not decanted. Open from the go.

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