Winery review-Bonny Doon and Ridge Montebello

Burned too much gasoline today visiting a different wine region-Santa Cruz Mountains. I was really impressed by the tasting experience at Ridge Montebello. Very knowledgeable young lady who was enthusiastic without being "too polished" or too much of a salesperson. I frankly liked or found fine all of the wines except maybe the Petit Sirah, which wasn't hitting me today. I really liked the 2002 Lytton Syrah-the "I" blend with Carriagne and Petit Sirah-classic smokey, earthy wine. I also liked the Pagani? Sonoma Valley Zin (for the nose) and the Paso Robles Zin (for the palate)

After carving through the mountain roads, I also hit Bonny Doon. I am really enamored with their wines=they had a "Rushe" Italian Wine from Piedmont that was delicious, but I liked several others as well. A little more of a sales patter, but they were very friendly and the place just had a fun vibe that just shouts Santa Cruz. I can't afford any more wine clubs, but this is one I would join in a moment. .

Brian:

I believe the Bonny Doon wine you tasted is "Ruche" (also known as Rouchet, or Rocche); this is a rare grape grown in the Monferrato area of Piemonte, and produces an aromatic, purple red which can be outstanding. Casa Vinicola Scarpa makes a nice "Rouchet" as well. It is believed the grape was brought to Italy from Burgundy.

Marco

Thanks, Marco. I will look for these other intriguing wines! This wine was actually made in Italy with Randall Graham, the Bonny Doon guy.

Burned too much gasoline today visiting a different wine region-Santa Cruz Mountains. I was really impressed by the tasting experience at Ridge ... Very knowledgeable young lady who was enthusiastic without being "too polished" or too much of a salesperson.

Thanks for the report, Brian. (A thought: Edit title to add winery names, like "Winery review: Ridge, Bonny Doon." That helps readers, especially if they run a title-only search for either winery.)

Your impressions of Ridge and Bonny Doon's tasting facilities are much like mine over the years. Steadily true at Ridge for as long as I've visited the place (26 yrs). Happen to be nearby these days so I drop in every month or two to check out new releases. Like yesterday. (Did we cross paths?) I always bring spit cups from the car, to aid in non-swallow tasting (without needing Olympic marskmanship skills at a crowded spitoon). But you beat me to the keyboard, about these wines:

New to me were the 02 Lytton Estate Petite Sirah (truffly nose) and 02 Lytton Estate Syrah and Syrah II [sic] (respectively $30, $36, $36). Remarkably, the Syrahs were two very different wines. To look at label data, the blends were only slightly different* and the "II" was bottled (7 months) later. The Syrah gave a more opulent, berryish impression in the tradition of Ridge's rich dark Zinfandels etc., enjoyable even young. The Syrah II (with 2% viognier instead of 3% carignane) showed me a much more old-world, Rhône-ish nose and restrained, mineraled palate balance suggesting serious development with age. A lesson in what numbers don't say.

I also chatted with staff; they too had noted and regretted Gaiter and Brecher's suggestion (Wall St. Journal wine column) of the currently retailed 2003 Ridge Monte Bello (Cabernet) as a Thanksgiving wine for consumption this fall. I'd contacted them with the question of why didn't they mention at all that it is a wine famous for long aging and often consumed that way; they replied that they wanted to recommend wines currently available -- a point I'd taken for granted and that did not address the omission. The San Francisco Chronicle also recommended the same wine for Thanksgiving, staff told me, but at least added something about aging and referred to their latest profile article on the winery and Paul Draper. (I also was told at the winery about the push for semi-regular MB futures purchasers to register explicitly there, which Clint Hall reported here Friday.)

* Syrah: 76% syrah, 21% grenache, 3% carignane. Syrah II: 76% syrah, 22% grenache, 2% viognier. Even the pre-blend components were in multiple parcels, aged separately in small barrels before assemblage, each blend selected from them, and the blends further aged in wood. Similar to procedures with the winery's flagship Cabernet (now called Ridge Monte Bello, until a few years ago Ridge Monte Bello Cabernet, many years ago just Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet).

Thanks, Max. You're making me distrust my palate, as my impressions of the two Syrahs were the opposite re: "Old Worldishness". I enjoyed them both, though.

I was tempted to buy a Montebello Cab, but I'm not young anymore, so....

Thanks, Max. You're making me distrust my palate

Please, don't ever do that. And beware my notes reflected brief casual tasting and one or two back-of-the-blurb words written on each wine. (My own points of referral when tasting Ridge wines are often other Ridge wines, after lots of experience with rich opulent inky varietals especially. It is probably the US winery that I know best.)

Were we to taste the wines at the same time from same bottles and discuss, we might even have a lot of impressions in common. In regular blind tastings I always see different people perceiving the same things, and finding different words for them until they compare notes. ("And there was a familiar strong spice. Couldn't place it." "Ginger?" "Yes, that's it!" followed by a couple of other I-caught-that-toos.)