December 3, 2023 - good deep mixed berry and earth; tannins integrated; a bit of cedar; this has aged well
February 8, 2023 - age didn't help much with tannins
April 6, 2022 - Fantastic long finish
December 23, 2020 - Near black center to a ruby/brick edge. Blueberry cobbler, old leather baseball glove and redwood forest floor. Some touches of smoke and soy. Umami! The tannins here have started to settle and the wine is smooth as glass. Hides the 15.2% well. Didn't seem hot at all. Drinking well now. For me this is likely at peak but could continue to develop the secondary framework
November 3, 2020 - Cork was crumbling when we took it out and had to be pushed into bottle, the wine was strained and decanted for about 45 minutes before tasting. The color is inky purple with a ruby rim. Nose juicy blackberry, licorice, black pepper, little bit of oak. Palate is full, rich and deep, with tannins that have softened but are in evidence. The backbone on this wine is big and strong. The finish is easily two minutes without being drying.
February 3, 2020 - Served to accompany venison casserole. Decanted 2 hours before tasting. No sediment. This is a real treat, an excellent example of a petite sirah. Perfectly mature at the moment. The colour is dark maroon. The nose is sublime, a rich sweetness showing through with dark berry fruit. The palate is dry, full bodied, rich. really smooth. It just slipped down and complemented the venison so well. Wonderful! And, perhaps unusually, just as good as when I tasted it in the winery.
January 8, 2020 - Another Year, Another Napa (aka Winter in Wineland IV); 1/5/2020-1/11/2020 (Napa/Sonoma California): Really nice and peppery. Good red fruits. It's hard to tell that there's really any age on this. Still comes across as quite young. Drinks well with many years to go.
September 29, 2019 - Tasted at the winery. This was served at the end of a great tasting and it was good to be able to taste a Ridge with 10 years since the vintage. Dark plum colour. Heavenly nose and palate, dark woodland, sloes, earthy, all the characteristic one would expect after 10 years. This is definitely my style, so I bought some and look forward to trying them at home.
August 15, 2019 - The 2009 Ridge Lytton Estate Petit Sirah hits you with an impenetrable wall of tannins initially. After an hour of air though, it settled down nicely with dark fruits, licorice, tobacco, and grilled meat flavors. Fine gained sandy tannins that are typical of Petite Sirah. You should be in no rush to pop this.
March 26, 2019 - Needed some time in the glass after PnP. I think this has tons of life left. Deep and dark with notes of chocolate and dark red fruit.