Alicante Bouchet is a wonderful grape variety, with actual red juice. Too bad it has fallen out of favor as a single varietal. This wine despite being 23 years old was still big with pronounced dark fruits. The tannins and buttery remenants of the malolactic fermentation has softened.
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Bottle had very small ullage volume. Tasted a small sample (presenting very tight), then decanted and exposed for three hours. Very dark garnet color, clear and translucent, especially at the meniscus, with some sparkle through the center. Nose opened gradually with time revealing nice berry fruit, vanilla, wood, leather, earth, pepper, and a little mint. Tastes of dark berry fruit and plum with a nice acidity, and earthy with a touch of gravel. Finished slightly peppery and slightly bitter. For a neglected Ridge ATP bottle that I thought would be toast, this was a delightful surprise. Turned out to be a balanced and still nicely fruity wine that, while not highly complex, was quite pleasant. It still had some tannins left. Even more of a surprise for an Alicante and a testament to Paul Draper and crew's ability to create a good ATP wine with aging potential from a challenging varietal.
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This '95 vintage still had plenty of tannin and fruit. It was a lovely dark ruby red color with a small amount of sediment. Even we were late in drinking this, it was very good and not over-the-hill.
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9/29/2018 - Jscalia Likes this wine: 90 Points
Alicante Bouchet is a wonderful grape variety, with actual red juice. Too bad it has fallen out of favor as a single varietal. This wine despite being 23 years old was still big with pronounced dark fruits. The tannins and buttery remenants of the malolactic fermentation has softened.
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8/16/2012 - beerenauslese wrote: 90 Points
Bottle had very small ullage volume. Tasted a small sample (presenting very tight), then decanted and exposed for three hours.
Very dark garnet color, clear and translucent, especially at the meniscus, with some sparkle through the center. Nose opened gradually with time revealing nice berry fruit, vanilla, wood, leather, earth, pepper, and a little mint. Tastes of dark berry fruit and plum with a nice acidity, and earthy with a touch of gravel. Finished slightly peppery and slightly bitter. For a neglected Ridge ATP bottle that I thought would be toast, this was a delightful surprise. Turned out to be a balanced and still nicely fruity wine that, while not highly complex, was quite pleasant. It still had some tannins left. Even more of a surprise for an Alicante and a testament to Paul Draper and crew's ability to create a good ATP wine with aging potential from a challenging varietal.
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9/17/2010 - sgilbrech wrote:
This '95 vintage still had plenty of tannin and fruit. It was a lovely dark ruby red color with a small amount of sediment. Even we were late in drinking this, it was very good and not over-the-hill.
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