In 1993 I was living and working in Beaune and after a morning showing some American guests around the vineyards of the Cote d'Or they presented me with a bottle of Ridge Geyserville 1990 as a gift. I had never heard of the winery or tasted any of their wines and seeing "Zinfandel" on the back label didn't fill me with great optimism! However the bottle was duly opened with friends the following weekend and it was without question the best non-French red wine I'd ever tasted at the time - a complete revelation. Ridge Vineyards' wines have remained among my favourites ever since and none more so than their flagship Cabernet Sauvignon - Monte Bello.
In 2000 I had the opportunity to visit the winery and meet winemaker Paul Draper who has been at the helm since 1969. Draper put Ridge on the international map when the Monte Bello 1971 was voted one of the outstanding wines served at the famous "Judgment of Paris" France v California tasting organised by Steven Spurrier in 1976. It was early summer and I'd being staying in Napa, north of San Francisco where the valley is relatively flat and the heat quite oppressive. Driving south of San Fransico I found the turn off for Ridge Vineyards and was astonished to discover that the next bit of the journey involved a nerve racking climb up the mountainside round a series of hair pin bends before finally reaching the winery, originally built in the 1890s, perched at the very top of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Paul Draper
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The top section of the famous Monte Bello vineyard surrounds the historic winery at an altitude of 2600 feet above sea level. Herein lies the key to understanding the wine - this is a mountain top wine! The vines benefit from California's fantastic sunshine but the cool winds from the Pacific Ocean lying 15 miles to the west and the cooler night-time temperatures from the high altitude allow the grapes and wines to retain that all important freshness of acidity. Check out Ridge's own website which has an excellent interactive map which illustrates the location perfectly http://www.ridgewine.com/Vineyards/Our%20Vineyards.
An aerial view of the Monte Bello Vineyard
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It is the unique location and terroir which stands Monte Bello apart from other Californian vineyards giving the wine a more European style without detracting from its unmistakeable Californian exoticism. It means Monte Bello is always a tricky wine to identify blind because its ripe rich fruit, balanced acidity and moderate alcohol persuade the taster that the wine must surely be European, probably from Bordeaux and most likely a Pomerol!! Confusing the wine with a Pomerol isn't that silly even though the blend of grapes for Monte Bello is more Médocain - predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot included to varying degrees according to vintage. Stylistically there is a Californian sweetness, plumpness and flesh more akin to the Merlot-dominated wines of Pomerol than the more cedary Cabernet wines of the Médoc. For a top Californian wine, the alcohol in Monte Bello is surprisingly low (the average is around 13%) and although American oak is always used, the wine is not overtly oaky in the way so many wines from Napa are.
Filling barrels in the historic 19th Century Winery
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In the post prohibition era, over 50 vintages of Monte Bello have now been produced and an idea was hatched with a few fellow minded Ridge fans that with grouped resources, we could assemble an interesting vertical tasting. As Monte Bello is a wine which needs time in bottle to mature we decided to set 2003 as the youngest vintage and work back from there.
The resulting tasting and dinner were held in April at Medlar on the King's Road http://www.medlarrestaurant.co.uk (a highly recommended and "wine friendly" venue).
It was a fascinating tasting. 21 vintages were poured. One bottle - 1988 - was sadly corked. Otherwise the quality level and consistency were extremely high despite there being dramatic and marked contrasts in vintage styles and characteristics.
A summary of my own notes and scores out of 20 are below. I have also added the Robert Parker scores (he doesn't appear to have rated the 1999 which we all liked).
The wine of the night was the 1992 with 1991 coming a close second place. These two wines are drinking to perfection now. 2002 was my own preferred younger vintage but we were all impressed by the mighty 2001 which is a giant Monte Bello and needs 10 years further cellaring before it hits full maturity.
So has Monte Bello changed ? Well if every modern vintage was like the 2001 then you would have to say yes but the 2001 was the odd man out. I can see vintages like the 1996 & 2002 becoming the 1991 & 1992 of tomorrow when fully mature - Monte Bello's distinct terroir runs right through the core of these wines and makes them special.
It's worth noting that the Parker scores for the wines are surprisingly low, especially for the 1980s and 1990s vintages and I think Mr Parker is clearly more at home in Napa. But I can speak for our group and say that we Europeans really love this great individual Californian wine with its unmistakeable kinship to Bordeaux.
My thanks to David O'Connor and his team at Medlar to my colleague Mark Ross for coming up with the idea of the tasting and for his help organising it and to all the members of the group who unearthed bottles from their cellars to make the line-up possible.
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Ridge Monte Bello Tasting - 23rd April 2014
2003 (RP 94+) (TH 16.5)
An exotic and intense nose of cassis and plush new oak. Almost like a dense Rioja or Vega Sicilia. This is the only wine in the whole tasting where I felt the American oak seemed a little heavy handed (but perhaps this is just youth and the wood has not fully integrated yet). Deep, sweet cherry fruit. Fat, juicy and warm in alcohol. Very intense. Opulent and very Californian style. Hot vintage.
2002 (RP 95+) (TH 18.5+)
Classic blackcurrant on the nose. Smoky & complex with some tar and liquorice. A soft and rounded texture with a milk chocolaty richness but with lovely balance of clean fresh acidity. Delicious.
2001 (RP 99) (TH 18.5 - will be 19?)
Dense black saturated colour and viscous texture. 14.2% alcohol on the back label (high for Monte Bello). This also has 36% Merlot in the blend which is also unusually high. Very intense black cherry fruit on the nose. Exotic creamy new wood and oriental spices. Very juicy, fat and flesh. Big and voluptuous in weight and texture. Velvet. Extremely sweet with the generous warmth of a hot vintage. Opulent long and impressive. At 13 years age this is still an absolute youngster. Needs another 10 years at least. Is it just a tad flashy for Monte Bello? Very opulent. This is not a typical Monte Bello style - but very impressive all the same.
2000 (RP 90) (TH 15.5)
A dramatic contrast to the 2001. Mint, eucalyptus & undergrowth on the nose. Rosemary and camphor with some cedary, tobacco notes - quite Bordelais! Fresher acidity and leaner, more cedary style but the tannins are ripe and polished and there is nice balance and poise to this wine. Drinking well now.
1999 (WS 92) (Tanzer 92+) (TH 17+)
An attractive focussed nose of sweet cherries and crème de cassis. Cuban tobacco. Creamy, rounded and soft on the palate with plump supple plummy fruits. Typical Monte Bello freshness in acidity lends elegance. Nice length. Not a blockbuster but lovely now.
1998 (RP 88) (TH 15)
A herbaceous nose of bell pepper and sage combined with sweet ripe blackcurrant and a creamy rich vanilla. Very Claret-like on the nose. Mint and eucalyptus on the palate. Certainly a leaner cooler style. A fresh cut of acidity. Pleasant but does fall a little short on the end palate.
1997 (RP 90-91) (TH 17)
Remarkably deep in colour still. A warm, ripe, "fat" nose. Heady and rich. Lovely silky rounded texture. Polished, sweet and creamy. Soft, succulent and velvety in texture. Long too. Very good.
1996 (RP 95) (TH 18+)
Deep colour. A big intense nose of black fruits and spicy, smoky, cedary wood. A whiff of charcoal. Still youthful and tight. Lots of concentration. This is a brilliant & absolutely classic Monte Bello combining sweet ripe Cabernet fruit with Bordeaux like structure and fine cedary tannins. Very long. Needs more time. Great wine.
1995 (RP 91) (TH 17)
Lots of sweet liquorice on the nose. Wood smoke & mulberry. Intense and fat on the palate with chunky ripe black cherry fruits. A sweet richness and caramel like texture. Fatter, softer and not quite as intense or complex as the 1996. Great to drink now.
1994 (RP 90-92) (TH 17.5)
Very ripe - a good whiff of warm summer. Exotic, all spice nose. Creamy. Roasted meats and cigar-box. Very sweet on the palate, smooth and velvety. Really Pomerol in style - fleshy. But with a silkiness and a purity of red fruit. Nice length and balance.
1993 (RP 93) (TH 15.5)
Beautiful pure blackcurrant nose. Lead pencil and graphite. Soft & luscious on the initial palate but little light on the end palate with some strange vegetal notes and bit of earthiness and menthol. Drink now.
1992 (RP 94-97) (TH 19+)
A wonderful intense, sweet and opulent nose. Truffles, incense and pure sweet "Ribena like" cassis. Complex, smoky burnt aromas combine with mellow plummy red fruits and a creamy, opulent voluptuousness. Super sexy and perfectly balanced. Fully mature and drinking to perfection now. Not a blockbuster but has the precision, complexity and length of a truly world class wine!
1991 (RP 92) (TH 18.5+)
A more muscular and intense nose than the 1992. Dark berry fruits, saddle leather, wood smoke and exotic spices. Lead pencil too and black olives. Highly perfumed and profound. On the palate, a concentrated ripeness with a hint of sweet minty eucalyptus. Beautifully ripe, sweet and intense. Generously rounded in texture. Amazingly intense. Exotic and lovely. Hedonistic. Very long. Very close in quality to the 1992 but comes in 2nd place by a whisker.
1990 (RP 93) (TH 17.5-18)
Lots of mint and camphor on the nose here - medicinal/menthol but in a positive sense. Sweet cassis and a very Bordeaux-style cedary character. Tobacco. Tar. Super silky on the palate with classic Monte Bello freshness and balance. Lovely symmetry, elegance and length. Fully mature - delicious now.
1989 (RP 75) (TH 15.5)
A nose spookily reminiscent of a mature claret. Blackcurrant, undergrowth, leather and Havana cigars. A little bit earthy on the palate and lacking the flesh and body of many of the other vintages tasted but it's a wine painted in water colour rather than oil and 75 points is way too harsh for this charming mature Monte Bello which is all elegance and finesse. Drink soon though.
1988 (RP 77) - corked
1987 (RP 90) (TH 14)
Very menthol on the initial nose with earth and undergrowth too. A little bit of "farmyard" rusticity but then there is also chocolate and caramel behind. A beguiling combination. Sadly the palate did not match up to the nose. A little bit lean and starting to dry out now. Drink up.
1986 (RP 86) (TH 15)
Liquorice and mint on the nose with forest floor and plummy mature red fruits. Smooth and rounded on the centre palate with a nice sweetness and easy going balance. Fully mature. Drink soon.
1985 (RP 94) (TH 18+)
Fabulous nose of sweet, opulent fruit. Lots of warmth and generous ripeness. Clearly a hot, intense and very ripe, concentrated vintage. Sweet luscious and gorgeous on the palate. Tannins now completely smooth and fine. Super silky, super sexy. Layered, complex, succulent and delicious with a super lingering sweetness on the finish. Fully mature. Perfectly lovely.
1984 (RP 95) (TH 16 ? - not a perfect bottle)
Very burnt nose. Lots of tobacco. Roasted almond. Wood smoke. Mature black fruits. Quite firm structured on the palate still but there was a volatility here too and an angular finish. A couple of tasters in the group confirmed that this was not a perfect bottle of what is usually a venerable old vintage of Monte Bello. But it was still drinkable all the same - but perhaps not 100% clean. Some nice sweetness on the end palate and there is weight and body too. I imagine a perfect bottle of this would still be brilliant.
1977 (RP 92) (TH 17)
Almost like a mature Syrah from the Northern Rhone on the nose - black pepper and all spice with plenty of mint, camphor & garrigue. Complex. Just a hint of mild volatility but not in a negative way. Fully mature, refined and fine on the palate. The tannins now faded leaving a lovely silky texture and a smooth ripe clarety style fruit. Gentle but refined. A mature old gent of a wine.
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