Ridge Monte Bello Tasting
The Wine Summit, Lake Louise, Alberta
Tasted May 30, 2008 by Hank Gillespie with 868 views
Introduction
A tasting of 8 vintages of Ridge’s Monte Bello, conducted by Paul Draper, who made all of the wines. Paul has been making wines at Ridge since 1969.
Ridge is an old wine estate established between 1869 and 1872. It continued to make wines until Prohibition, when it ceased operations. It sits high in the Santa Cruz Mountains – elevation about 2700 ft. - on a ridge of limestone which projects out between 1400 and 2700 ft. elevation. Cool climate.
A group of people from Stanford bought the winery in 1959, producing a single barrel of wine that year. The group reopened the winery for the 1962 vintage.
Monte Bello is a single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon based wine – grapes drawn for 36 individual parcels – natural years and fermentation, etc. – use as little intervention as possible – use all air dried American white oak, although earlier experiments with French oak were tried, and dropped in favour of the American oak. Has used 100% new oak since the early to mid-90’s.
The blend is an individual selection from the different parcels – will use a lightly pressed “first press” wine, but find the second press wine to be unattractive. There are generally two assemblages – in January/February and again in May, where the first cuts are reviewed to either confirm or amend the initial selections. Cabernet Sauvignon vines run to 60 years of age – planted as a selection rather than clones. The finished wine is usually about 13% alcohol.
Production of Monte Bello was up to 800 cases in 1987 – with current production more typically between 3500 and 4000 cases. Production fairly stable during the past 10 years. Could be higher from existing vines running as high as 5500 – 6000 cases, but the selection process usually results in a lower yield.
Distribution mostly in California, but about 20% is sold to markets in Europe, and a small amount is exported to Asia. Canada gets precious little.
Flight 1 (8 notes)
Medium dark, mostly garnet hued, with an amber rim; on the nose black currant – pronounced cedar; elegantly styled, with great depth of flavours; balanced as between the fruit, acidity, with most of the tannins fully integrated; nice show of extract – mouthful of black currant fruit which persists through to a lingering finish. Most attractive wine !
Paul Draper felt they were looking for maturity in the grapes at harvest, and this selection resulted with this blend.
None of the Press Wine was included in the final assemblage.
Just 80% of the harvest was included in the final blend.
A bit darker than the 1984, but similar shades of colour; more powerful nose – full and penetrating – more smoke to go with the black currant fruit; outstanding balance – seamless – supple on the palate – loads of charm; the black currant fruit seems richer than the previous wine, and there is a mocha flavour coming through as well; acids/tannins/fruit expressioin complete harmony; black currant and a slight edge of sweet oak combine in the very long finish.
The back label – dated at bottling in April, 1990, notes that this wine was expected to “continue to develop in complexity over the next fifteen years”. It appears this forecast proved out. This is a lovely wine.
From 22 separate small tanks – 40% held back– isolating the less intense wines from the final blend.
Very dark ruby in colour; cleaner nose than the ’88 – more expression of pure currant fruit – sweet smoke; round and full on the palate; excellent acidity; supple and balanced on a firm structure; sweet black currant berry fruit, slightly tart in a pleasing way; very long finish with the fruit dominating – still a few soft tannins to resolve. At 15 years of age this wine still has some excellent potential for longevity and evolving bouquet and flavour nuances
Extremely dark in colour – black core; soft, penetrating nose, with a wonderful expression of sweet berry fruit – spices – a bit of floral creeping in also; no smoke on the nose with this wine; hugely concentrated and highly structured – big style of wine – acidity and tannins showing well; fresh currant berry fruit – both black and red; in spite of the body of this wine, the finish is soft and lingering – mostly with the fruit shining. This wine hasn’t fully evolved yet – promises well for continued cellaring.
Aged almost entirely in new, air dried American oak barrels.
All 33 parcels fermented separately – long malolactic fermentation extending into late November – extreme colour achieved in 9 days rather than the usual 18 days on the skins.
Initially two “first” blends, which were allowed to rest in barrel . Following Summer the two were stable and better combined as opposed to each of the first blends – full assemblage more than 10 months after harvest.
Deep black ruby – full ruby rim; mix of aromas – deep black fruits – hasn’t separated yet – short sniffs yielded some violets – caramel – fresh berries – a slight hint of ripe olives; good concentration – supple on the palate, with ripe currant and black plum flavours; fruit in abundance – holding onto a solid frame; acids and soft tannins in balance; long, smooth fruit driven finish. The wine hasn’t yet developed its personality, but it offers up astounding potential. The use of all new oak hasn’t blemished this wine at all, and has augmented the extracted fruit within the structure.
We also enjoyed this wine at dinner on Saturday, paired with a roasted filet of Alberta Spring Creek beef tenderloin. It was a terrific match.
Aged in 94% new air dried American oak barrels, and, for comparison, 6% new French oak barrels. There were 36 separate lots – gentle destemming, which left half as unbroken berries - 17 months in barrel – small amount of first press wine included in the blend.
Deep ruby colour; aromas still coming as a young wine – ripe berry fruit and some smoky oak; clean and round on the palate; fine acidity – balances well with the underlying soft tannins; full bodied, with literally a huge dose of fruit and some oak flavours; surprisingly a mellow finish, which is full of sweet berry fruit and a hint of oak in the structure. This wine needs additional time in bottle. I’d suggest another look in 3 years time.
Deep black/purple colour – pink rim; more scented than the 2005 – sweet berries, and a slight hint of cream soda, which disappears quickly; mouthfilling black currant fruit, completely coats the palate – full to the back; Very long rich finish – al black currant fruit. This wine a bit too young to separate its parts and will benefit from several years in bottle to evolve its personality. Components and early tasting suggests another fine Monte Bello.
Black/purple colour, with a deep pink rim; perfumed nose – grapey; short sniffs brings out fresh berries and slight evidence of light sweet smoke; on the palate some astringent fruit and primary oak influence; finish not yet defined but the sensation lingers on the palate for some time – moving to a fruity end. Fun to taste this very young wine from barrel, which is going to spend probably another year in barrel to evolve more than the primary fruit.