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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 90.5 pts. and median of 91 pts. in 89 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by AK Wines on 9/3/2022 & rated 91 points: Sour cherry, a little acetate, smooth tanin, quite acidic for a zin - might have drank better 2-3 years earlier. (530 views) | | | Tasted by timewithwine on 6/5/2022: Distinctly opaque and a youthful plum color. Scents of plum, rhubarb, and bramble berry initially (and on the attack as well), followed by notes of coffee and cinnamon. The cinnamon note continues and carries the finish along with more brambles. The precision of the flavors kept us coming back and enjoying sip after sip. This 100% Zin remains youthful and inviting. 14.6% alc. A bit of sediment. With grilled beef hanger steak. 06.05.22. Recommended. (568 views) | | | Tasted by IAmVintage on 4/30/2021 & rated 92 points: 10 years young we enjoyed the age on this bottle of wonderful Zin fruit. (977 views) | | | Tasted by mike l. on 3/26/2021 & rated 92 points: this wine was electric and fresh despite its years in the bottle. there was some complexity but still definitely a fruit forward effort. lovely captivating bottle. (959 views) | | | Tasted by timewithwine on 7/4/2019: A wine just entering its “ready to drink stage” with just barely resolved tannins. While not claret-like yet the way its 2008 sister is, it nevertheless delivers plum, brown sugar, rhubarb, and black fruits. Some coffee on the finish. 71% Zinfandel, 23% Petite Sirah and 6% Carignane. Sediment coats the entire neck and a portion of a side of the bottle. 14.5% alc. With homemade pork barbeque (day two). Recommended. (695 views) | | | Tasted by txtiebreaker on 1/13/2019: Victor for helping undecorate. (1439 views) | | | Tasted by timewithwine on 8/12/2018: When the 20212 went down in a flash, I returned from the cellar with this, which is what I originally wanted to pull, but couldn’t find it. While casting a similar ox blood red and equally opaque, the color is not as bright. No Draper perfume fills the nose. Brown sugar and molasses around sweet cherry and rhubarb wash across the palate with a softness, but lacking the refinement of the 2012. The tannins appear fully integrated. The mouthfeel is surprisingly thin next to the 2012. A finish of coffee closes out the show. If I drank this by itself, I’d likely be satisfied, but next to the 2012, its deficiencies are magnified. A fair amount of sediment clings to the bottle’s side. 14.6% alc. With mushroom, pepperoni and sausage pizza. Recommended. (387 views) | | | Tasted by nowine4u on 9/16/2017 & rated 91 points: Wonderful. Drink now, don't wait any longer.. (1997 views) | | | Tasted by AlexB70 on 4/17/2017 & rated 92 points: Delicious with ribs! (2266 views) | | | Tasted by jshearer on 1/27/2017 & rated 91 points: Purple bramble fruit. Integrated but less complex than first time around. Finishes with some tannin. (2263 views) | | | Tasted by SLOFred on 8/10/2016 & rated 91 points: Very nice Zin. Fruity, not very spicy or is there much cherry in it, something I really like in a good zin. But still, high quality. (2388 views) | | | Tasted by sbfern on 8/3/2016 & rated 90 points: The wine looks crimson colored. The legs are medium. There is light sediment in the bottle. It smells like fig, strawberry jam, plum, forest floor and violet. The body is medium/full. The wine has juicy texture. The wine finishes medium. The wine has medium acidity. (1993 views) | | | Tasted by diananm on 7/17/2016 flawed bottle: Corked (1492 views) | | | Tasted by PNIELSEN on 6/25/2016 & rated 92 points: This wine is in a great spot right now. Vivid, rich and lively, with tannin receding. Unfortunately this was my last bottle, but I could see this drinking well for another 3-4 years before declining. Probably my favorite East Bench of the past 6 vintages. 2011 was a special year for Sonoma zins! (1145 views) | | | Tasted by dpolivy on 6/10/2016: Vindredi (Ridge Cellar Night) (Bellevue, WA): Starts with sweet fruit and spice. Lush and lovely, with dark purple and black fruit. Finishes softly and well balanced. (1006 views) | | | Tasted by Martin Redmond on 5/23/2016 & rated 91 points: Pours a brill black red color with very appealing and aromatic dark berry, briary, peppery spice and a hint of eucalyptus aromas. On the palate it's very fresh with mouth watering acidity, round and intensely delicious with blackberry, black raspberry, and baking spice flavors and a giving finish 100% Zinfandel (1178 views) | | | Tasted by twoamps on 4/11/2016 & rated 89 points: dark red, some fine hard sediment coating the bottle. Decanted. Nice enough, but more earth than fruit, and not much of the typical zin spice. (1096 views) | | | Tasted by PNIELSEN on 3/5/2016 & rated 91 points: If 2011 was a challenging vintage, you'd never know it from this zinfandel, which is one of my absolute faves from this decade so far. I inadvertently let it breathe for 90 minutes, but right out of the bottle and into the decanter it was very fragrant. For me, it has reached the window of optimum drinkability, the earlier tannic grip having loosened a bit. The wine is rich and bright with high-toned cherry fruit and orange spice. It has a certain elegance to it that is not found as often in warmer vintages. I'd say it easily has 4-5 years in it, but I probably won't be able to keep my hands off my remaining bottle nearly that long. (1003 views) | | | Tasted by SLOFred on 8/16/2015 & rated 91 points: This was a phenomenal wine. Just really opened up after one hour to a really rich, but not at all "jammy" flavor (which I do not like), but elegant wine. It was so balanced and elegant that I would have not thought it to be a Zin. (1429 views) | | | Tasted by tjchapman on 5/15/2015 & rated 89 points: Fruity without being overly jammy. Very deep ruby color and great legs. Light pepper. Very full bodied. Nice wine! (1497 views) | | | Tasted by adamb95 on 4/12/2015 & rated 87 points: Okay, but not as rich and flavorful as I had hoped. Perhaps an off bottle. Below most other Ridge Zins I've enjoyed in the past. (1571 views) | | | Tasted by ogres3 on 3/21/2015 & rated 91 points: Would put in top quartile of ridge zins. Distinct ripe fruits that have room to mellow but great for those who like "real" zins. Would recommend even if it were more expensive. (1628 views) | | | Tasted by PNIELSEN on 1/13/2015 & rated 91 points: Started off pretty closed, but after about 45 minutes of swirling in the glass, the wine started to give up classic aromas of bright zin fruit and spice. (As usual, the last glass was the best.) While not nearly as gregarious as the 2012 at this time, this 2011 seems to have a longer life ahead of it and is, to me, the superior wine. It is rich, with good tannic structure and mouth-watering acidity. An excellent example of a ripe but firm, cool vintage zinfandel from the Dry Creek Valley, one that I think will age beautifully for a good 6-8 years. I only wish I had bought more. (91-92) (1742 views) | | | Tasted by Woodbridge Brad on 11/21/2014 & rated 89 points: Good but not dense color, tons of spice, particularly black pepper. Great with food but a bit hot without. Nice balance with little or no sweetness. (1536 views) | | | Tasted by Twinkles on 11/11/2014 & rated 89 points: A tad hot this time around. Should have read my previous notes. Will decant and drink the next day for next time. (1330 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Antonio Galloni
Vinous, Santa Cruz Mountains: California’s Best Kept Secret (Jul 2013)
(Ridge Zinfandel East Bench Dry Creek Valley) Subscribe to see review text. | By Josh Raynolds
Vinous, May/June 2013, IWC Issue #168
(Ridge Vineyards Zinfandel East Bench Dry Creek Valley) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Vinous. (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.Zinfandel ZAP: Zinfandel Advocates & Producers | Varietal character (Appellation America) | Wikipedia-ZinfandelEast Bench(Ridge Spring 2012 Wine Club notes)
Ridge has made the East Bench as a single-site zinfandel since 2006. ... [T]his zinfandel vineyard sits high on top of the benchland that overlooks Dry Creek Valley from the east. The iron-rich soil is a blend of clay loam with ancient river rock.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 Sonoma CountyMendocino CountyDry Creek Valley Winegrowers of Dry Creek Valley | Dry Creek Valley Association | Appellation America | San Francisco Chronicle Article |
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