Last Friday, Marilyn Reisen and Rob Savoie, who were repping Ridge at the SantaFe W&C Fiesta, came up to WhiteRock to attend a Ridge dinner. Laura put together a wonderful menu at Pig+Fig Cafe to go with a bunch of Ridge wines that were donated (by Ridge, myself, Larry, Laura, and Amy&Scott) from our respective archives.
It was just a small group of 16 folks, all Ridge aficionados, sitting down and knocking back some Ridges. Life doesn't get any better than that.
I didn't take any detailed notes, mostly just enjoying the wines, the food, and particularly the company. But my impressions are:
1. Ridge Estate MonteBello Chard 2010: Much less oak than the '16; more of a vanilla/Am.oak and not so much toasted coconut; a slight earthiness is showing and a bit of complexity; my easy favorite of the Chards but would like a bit more restraint and acid.
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2. Ridge Estate MonteBello Chard 2012: Much like the '16, but with a bit less oak; still on the ripe side.
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3. Ridge Estate MonteBello Chard 2016: Dominated by the toasted coconut/oak; bit on the soft/porky side; probably will shed some of the oak with age; my least favorte because of the dominating oak.
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4. Ridge Zin PaganiRanch 2001: Pretty classic fully mature Pagani; some pencilly/cedary spicy/earthy fairly complex nose; rather smooth/soft pencilly/cedary spicy/earthy flavor w/ light smooth tannins; still plenty of Pagani fruit but starting to fade a bit.
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5. Ridge Zin PaganiRanch 2015: A beast of a Pagani; huge Zin fruit w/ lots of that Pagani sauvage character because of the 17% Alicante; soft/rich/lush somewhat earthy/mushroomy Pagani rustic/sauvage character.
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6. Ridge LyttonSprings 2015: Quite spicy classic Lytton raspberry/blackberry/Zin some vanilla/Am.oak; rather tart very spicy/blackberry Zin w/ fair amount of Am.oak; still pretty youthful and needs more age but that classic Lytton spiciness.
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7. Ridge Geyserville 2009: Pretty classic Geyserville blackberry/boysenberry light pencilly/vanilla/Am.oak bit complex nose; light cedary/vanilla/oak fairly strong blackberry/peppery/spicy rather smooth bit complex flavor w/ modest smooth tannins; showing very nice evolution but not still quite youthful.
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8. Ridge Geyserville 2013: Strong blackberry/raspberry/Zin/bit spicy some Am.oak/vanilla nose; delicious Geyserville but seems at a bit ackward stage.
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9. Ridge Geyserville 2015: Very youthful blackberry/raspberry bit earthy strong vanilla/Am.oak nose; delicious now but will only get better.
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10. Ridge Montebello 1996: Some cedary/pencilly strong blackcurranty/Cab light smokey/pungent/oak some complex nose; strong pungent/smokey/oak strong blackcurranty slight cedary/pencilly some complex flavor w/ modest smooth tannins; starting to show some evolution but still pretty youthful and not going round the bend yet; lovely getting-mature MB.
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11. Ridge MonteBello 2002: Strong blackcurranty/Cab somewhat herbal nose; strong herbal/blackcurranty bit smokey/toasty/oak flavor w/ modest ripe tannins; not showing a lot of evolution yet.
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12. Ridge MonteBello 2013: Very strong smokey/coffee bean/oak strong blackcurranty Cab flavor w/ ample ripe tannins; still a pretty youthful bit tight MB.
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13. Ridge Zin YorkCreek 1986: Totally dead & gone; brownish and pretty tired.
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14. Ridge Jimsomare 1992: Also totally dead & gone; brown & murky w/ no redeeming features.
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15. Ridge MonteBello 2015: Typical very young MB; lots of toasty/oak/coffee bean very strong blackcurranty Cab nose; very strong oak/toasty/coffee bean intense blackcurranty Cab flavor w/ ample soft/ripe tannins; a pretty youthful MB but still very tasty.
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16. Ridge Zin LyttonSprings LateHrvst 1992: Very strong ripe/Zin bit late hrvsty rather spicy/YC nose; slightly sweet (2.6%) somewhat alcoholic (16%)/overripe/late hrvsty rather spicy/raspberry Zin some vanilla/oak flavor w/ light very ripe tannins; a bit on the overripe side & a bit alcoholic but still plenty of Zin fruit; in pretty good shape for a LateHrvst.
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17. Ridge PetiteSirah DynamiteHill 2002: Strong vanilla/Am.oak slight blackberry/peppery PS flavor; bit rich/rough slight blackberry/PS/peppery earthy flavor w/ some hard/coarse tannins; not showing much evolution and more the oafish side of PS.
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18. Ridge Geyserville Essence Zin/PS 2014: Black color; very intense boysenberry/blackberry/Zin/grapey nose but not overripe/raisened/pruney; quite sweet very intense boysenberry/blackberry/Zin/spicy slightly tart bit earthy flavor but not overripe/syrupy/pruney flavor w/ modest very ripe/soft tannins; one of the better Essences Ridge as made.
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And more nercksnottle from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. Chard: Ridge makes two different Chards. The MonteBello Chard is their top Chard and not made every year. The Estate is made most every year. And occasionally there will be a Mikulaco. All (I believe) of their Chards come from down on the lower Jimsomare vnyd. The Chards, I find, to be quite on the oaky side and a bit overripe, dominated by a toasted coconut character from all the oak. I actually like the Mikulaco the best because it closer to the old-timey style that DaveBennion used to make, but not nearly as austere as those were.
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2. Geyserville: The 2009 was brought by Scott & Amy. It was the year they got married and had their first daughter, their first Ridge purchase, and a very special wine for them.
Tom