Ridge Monte Bello

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Ridge Monte Bello - 10/7/2005 8:15:43 AM

andrew

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Joined: 2/20/2005
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Ridge Vineyards is one of America's truly great producers and their flagship wine Monte Bello is widely considered one of the US's "First Growths." The wine itself has alway originated from Ridge's Monte Bello vineyards, situated on top a ridge high above Silicon Valley. Originally the wine was simply labelled 'California Cabernet Sauvignon' as there was not the legal AVA structure in place. Later the wine came to be designated as 'Monte Bello Cabernet Sauvignon' with a Santa Cruz Mountains AVA. Still later, the wine came to be called just 'Monte Bello' as the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon, while still dominant, would drop below the legal threshold for varietal labelling. Through these changes, there has been just one flagship wine which is know to wine lovers worldwide as 'Monte Bello.'

This history has led to confusion in Cellartracker and the creation of parallel tracks of this wine, each of which would only be half-accurate. In order to remedy this, we have decided that in line with Ridge's commitment to the sense of place and the history of the wine, the entries would be combined into a single lineage lablled Ridge 'Monte Bello.' When entering a possible new vintage of this wine, please maintain this lineage.

Also of note, there have been other Monte Bello vineyard wines. A Chardonnay is a regular feature and recently (2002) a single varietal Cabernet Franc from the Monte Bello vineyard. These wines are distinct from the 'Grand Vin' and are noted as such in CT.

Thanks,

A.

Post #: 1

RE: Ridge Monte Bello - 8/21/2006 7:55:23 AM

scottj

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Joined: 7/5/2006
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In 1968, as I understand it, Ridge produced magnums from a single barrel of Monte Bello that was picked by the Hollywood Wine and Food Society. The label on the bottle I drank was mostly gone, but I think the Hollywood W&F S was noted on the left, or detailed text, side of the label, and I know it was a different bottling and label from the "regular" 68 Monte Bello.

I tried to add it to CellarTracker, by adding "Hollywood Wine & Food Society" as the designation. It came out looking like this -

Ridge Hollywood Wine & Food Society Monte Bello (USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains)

I would prefer it to look like Ridge Monte Bello Hollywood Wine & Food Society as it is first a Monte Bello;
just a variation of it in this one year, AFAIK

Is there a better way to enter the wine ? and can the entry I made be edited ?

Thanks,
Scott

(in reply to andrew)

Post #: 2

RE: Ridge Monte Bello - 8/21/2006 8:46:12 AM

Eric

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From: Seattle, WA
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Sorry, the designation comes before the vineyard. The system offers a modicum of conrol to let you display or suppress the appellation and varietal, but vineyard and designation ordering are not controllable. Anyway, it looks like you have it coded correctly.

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(in reply to scottj)

Post #: 3

RE: Ridge Monte Bello - 8/9/2009 9:35:20 PM

will

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Joined: 4/7/2005
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Eric, I have in front of me a bottle of the 1982 that says: "Ridge 1982 California Cabernet Sauvignon William Short" and below "William Short Vineyard, Monte Bello Ridge" and the AVA is Santa Cruz Mountains.

Is it the same as the 1982 Monte Bello or is it a different wine?

(in reply to Eric)

Post #: 4

RE: Ridge Monte Bello - 8/10/2009 6:53:29 AM

scottj

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Joined: 7/5/2006
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The 1982 Ridge William Short is a different wine than the 1982 Ridge Monte Bello.

William Short developed a vineyard on Monte Bello ridge in the 1940s and 50s that is now part of Ridge. In 1982, a portion of the wine from this vineyard was bottled separately from the 1982 Monte Bello. I owned this wine at one time, but no longer have any bottles (that I can find). I suspect the detailed notes on the left side of the label might offer some more explanation.

Scott

(in reply to will)

Post #: 5

RE: Ridge Monte Bello - 8/11/2009 12:56:39 AM

yhn

Posts: 40
Joined: 9/22/2005
Status: offline

As Scott said. Monte Bello is more a designation than a vineyard, per se. There's an array of historic and newer plantings over quite a range of elevation going up the ridge. The best and more typical fruit goes into the MB. Sometimes a lot is good and distinct enough for it's own bottling. Jimsomare was a common example, and is part of what is now referred to as the "lower vineyard" on MB bottles.

(in reply to scottj)

Post #: 6