TN: Two New Ridges....(short/boring)

We tried these two new Ridges at our tasting at Laura's Pig+Fig this week:
1. Ridge Teroldego HerringerEstates/Clarksburg (13.4%; 100%Teroldego; Bttld: Aug 2024; 20 brls; Drk: 6/24-6/28-6/30: SR) LyttonSprings 2023: Very dark/near black color; beautiful Tero/floral/spicy/bit herbal light plummy/licorice/pungent light Ridge oak quite perfumed/aromatic quite lovely nose; lightly tart very strong Tero/licorice/plummy/bit cherry slight herbal light Ridge oak bit complex flavor w/ light brisk tannins; very long bit tannic/structured finish that mocks flavor; speaks less of Ridge red & more of pure Teroldego; not at the level/structure of a Foradori but best CA Teroldego yet; atypical Ridge red & speaks of pure Teroldego; quite a lovely expression of Tero. $37.80 (ATP)
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2. Ridge Pagani Ranch Norma's Block/SonomaVlly/SonomaCnty (14.0%; 72% Zin/14% AlicanteBouschet/10% PetiteSirah/2% GrandNoir/2% Lenoir; bttld Feb 2025; 64 brls; Plntd: early 1900's; Drk: 1/25-1/35: SR) LyttonSprings 2023: Very dark/near black color; very intense blackberry/Zin/very spicy some violets/Alicante quite dusty/OV ripe boysenberry/plummy huge Zin fruit beautifil/intense Pagani Zin complex nose; bit soft very intense blackberry/boysenberry/Zin quite dusty/OV strong boysenberry/AB/peppery/SonomaVlly Zin complex flavor w/ ample chewy tannins; very long/lingering rather tannic finish hat tracks flavor; the AB really comes thru & gives the wine a bit of a rustic/sauvage character; one of the best Paganis yet; one of the more intense Ridge Zins in yrs; this Pagani is a keeper & will only get better w/ age. $37.80
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More kittlesplot from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. These two reds arrived on Monday & I wanted to try them fresh of the boat so I threw them into my Italian tasting Wednesday.
I have always loved the Teroldego grape since I first tasted those of Elisabetta Foradori. Hers are probably the best in the World.
Jim Clendenen at ABC was one of the first to plant Teroldego in Calif & his first ones were pretty decent, but resembled his Pinots more than anything. He has since (RIP, Jim) turned his Tero effort over to his niece & she has done a pretty good job w/ it. The Mosby Tero has been decent, but just that. Montevina was also an early player in the Tero game, but I was not impressed w/ Jeff Meyers renditions of Tero.
A few yrs ago they planted Tero at Herringer in Clarksburg. Like many Clarksburg wines, I've been pretty underwhelmed by the Herringer. But Shauna was able to buy some of their Tero grapes and this is the first attempt by Ridge at that variety. And it was a terrific first stab w/ Tero. I hope more are to come in the future.

The Ridge Pagani has always been one of my favorite Ridge Zins. The high degree of AB gives it a sort of rustic/sauvage character that makes it a bit more interesting Ridge compared to my other favorite Ridge, the Lytton Springs, that shows such a purity of Zin fruit. This Norma's Block is a new addition to the Ridge portfolio and shows a lot of the same structure & intensity as back when DaveBennion was making their Zins. I'm going back for more.
Tom

Fascinating.


I've loved Ridge's Zins for decades, but we don't get many here. I've seen from their website their now large range of varieties, and I was lucky to get 6 of the few Ridge Carignan Buchignani Ranch 2023 that the Wine Society imported. The capsules have the ATP logo.

I also have 2019 Ridge Zinfandel Pagani Ranch but not Norma's block which is fascinating having those rare teinturer varieties. I've never encountered Grand Noir although it may have been a component in one of the Portuguese multi-variety field blends that I'm fond of.

Lenoir I once knew more about than I now recall as I researched it for my book on Pinotage (which some alleged was a hybrid between Pinot Noir and Lenoir). Lenoir aka Jacquez was successfully used as a rootstock in South Africa.

I have drunk varietal Lenoir under its other name Black Spanish in Texas, at Dry Comal Creek winery where the owner/viticulturist/winemaker said that made as a table wine it fell apart after some years.

I too love Teroldego and never encountered any in the USA, but I visited the Teroldego Rotaliani appellation in Northern Italy where I drank many different examples

[David M. Bueker]

It turns out that there are a few Grand Noir vines here and there in some of the old vine sites in California. IIRC, there are Grand Noir vines in the Bedrock vineyard as well as the Oakville Farmhouse vineyard. Morgan Twain Peterson has been doing vine by vine mapping of sites that Bedrock works with, resulting in finding the occasional surprise.