pilgrimage
Visiting Ridge's property near Cupertino/San José really felt like a pilgrimage. The winery is at the top of a steep mountain, reached by a long, narrow road full of hairpin bends that takes twenty minutes to drive up. Wild, isolated, and nearly 900m high, rattlesnakes slide through the grass, vines work the hard, rocky soil, and the views of Silicon Valley reveal a different side of California's culture.
history
The Monte Bello property dates back to 1882, but its modern history started in 1959 when three Stanford graduates made wine from Cabernet Sauvignon vines planted in the 1940s - still the basis of the Monte Bello Cabernet. They were joined by another Stanford graduate, Paul Draper, as winemaker in 1968, whose winemaking philosophy involved as little interference as possible. As well as Cabernet Sauvignon, since the 1960s Ridge have made Zinfandel planted on the property in the 1890s as well as more old-vine Zinfandel from Geyserville and Lytton Springs north in Sonoma County.
The 1971 Monte Bello Cabernet was one of the California wines featured in the 1976 Judgment of Paris, the American wine that organiser Steven Spurrier thought most likely to win. Although it did not do so, the more professional 2006 reenactment of the tasting featuring the same wines saw the wine unanimously come top.
zinfandel
I love Ridge's range of Zinfandels - probably the best in California - most of them single-vineyard wines from old vines. They represent an older side of California far removed from the modern style of winemaking that has emerged, particularly in Napa. Ridge call their winemaking "pre-industrial," making wines that have as little chemical or technological influence as possible, as they would have been made in the nineteenth century. This is certainly reflected in the Zinfandels; there is a raw, rustic quality to the wines, with fruits ripe but wild, tasting like they have just been picked off the ground. The tannins are dry and gripping, rather than overripe, giving the wines a structure not always found in other juicy, alcoholic Zins. And each Ridge Zinfandel is quite different, representative of the climate and soils of the vineyard. To add further to the individual character, the Zinfandels are most often a blend, changing each year, using other historic grapes such as Carignan, Petite Sirah, and Mataro (an old California and Australian name for Mourvèdre) to structure the fruity tendencies of Zinfandel.
wines tasted
2013 Estate Chardonnay ($50)
Although Ridge are known for their red wines, they also make a small amount of Chardonnay. For the estate wine, the grapes are grown lower down the hillside. The wine goes through full malolactic fermentation and is aged in oak (most of it used and American) and is aged on its lees, giving the wine rich, full flavours of butter, yoghurt, and dill, but there's a pleasing floral elegance to the wine as well as integrated ripe apple, lemon, and pineapple fruits. ✪✪✪✪2007 Monte Bello Chardonnay ($85)
In exceptional years, Chardonnay is made from the Monte Bello vineyard (otherwise the grapes go into the Estate Chardonnay). This was a magnificent, mature wine, its slightly oxidised sherry aromas gradually subsiding as the wine opened up. The wine still had a rich, full creaminess to it, but with a nutty maturity added to the floral aromas. ✪✪✪✪✪✪2013 Geyserville ($38)
As Zinfandel should be, this wine is aged in American oak (20% new) and is a blend of several different grapes just like the wines of the nineteenth century would have been: 73% Zinfandel, 17% Carignan, 9% Petite Sirah, and that all-important 1% Mataro. All the grapes come from old vines on the same three vineyards planted on a 30ha site. Dusty, dry, chewy tannins give a defining structure to the fruity black plums, cherries, and berries. ✪✪✪✪✪2012 Merlot ($50)
Serious Merlot is becoming all too rare in California, so it was pleasing to taste this wine. The cool vineyards on the mountain lend the wine firm, gripping tannins, rather than the ripe, lush tannins often associated with Merlot. Beyond the tannins, there are ripe blackberries and blackcurrants, and subtle floral, herbal aromas. ✪✪✪✪✪2012 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon ($50)
This is one of my favourite, good-value Cabernets (good value by California standards). Equivalent to a Bordeaux second wine, the grapes still come from the hillside vineyards, not quite good enough for the Monte Bello - which still means pretty damn good. The 2012 is still young, with the tannins a little too aggressive and drying. It needs at least another five years, when the tannins will have softened and integrated with the intense black fruits and floral aromas. ✪✪✪✪✪2011 Monte Bello ($165)
The cooler 2011 vintage makes this more approachable than young Monte Bello often is. The tannins are a little softer, allowing a more immediate appreciation of the floral, herbal aromas on the nose and the balanced black fruits on the palate. The Monte Bello (the 2011 is 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc) is one of California's most distinctive high-end wines. Aged in American oak, with a tender alcohol level of 12.8%, nothing quite compares to the delicate yet substantial, complex layers of flavours that the high-elevation vineyard produces. ✪✪✪✪✪✪✪All this may seem like unthinking, gushing praise for the winery. After all, that's why one embarks on a pilgrimage: to give worship. Not all of Ridge's wines are without fault (while I was visiting, I had to explain why I didn't like the Buchignani Carignane that much) and I think they make a few too many Zinfandels (16). However, the overall standard of Ridge's wines are exceptional and the commitment to land and quality beyond reproach. Their best Zinfandels (particularly the Lytton Springs) are the finest California has to offer and the Monte Bello is one of the three greatest American Cabernets I have tasted. On top of a mountain overlooking the madding modernity of Silicon Valley and far, far from Napa, there is nowhere quite like Ridge.
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