RIDGE Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 'Monte Bello Vineyard' - Santa Cruz Mountains 2021 CASE x 12 Bottles

Description

In 1886 the first blocks of the Monte Bello vineyard were planted and construction on the winery begun. The first vintage was the 1892. In the early 1940s, the last of the old vineyard was abandoned; in the late forties a few blocks were replanted. Those Cabernet vines produced the first Ridge Monte Bello (1962) and subsequent vintages until 1974. By then other abandoned blocks had been replanted and their fruit considered for use in the Monte Bello. A number of those consistently produced a more accessible wine that developed its full complexity earlier and these were combined as the “Santa Cruz Mountains”. With the 2008 vintage the name of this stylistically distinct wine became the Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, stressing the principal variety and the Monte Bello estate vineyard as its source.

A dry winter and spring with limited rainfall stressed the vines, limiting yields and concentrating flavours. Harvest was early, accelerated by a heat wave in early September. The fruit was hand-picked between 1st and 24th September. For the first time in their history, the winemaking team finished the Monte Bello harvest before Lytton Springs. The grapes were destemmed, and wholeberry fermentation proceeded with natural yeast. The wine was aged for 19 months in air-dried American oak barrels, with 50% new wood and 50% one-year-old barrels. This pure, mountain-grown Cabernet is best cellared for two to three years and will improve over the following ten to fifteen.

Winemaker note
Dark purple hues with black cherry, dark plum, black olive, soy, dried jerky, lilac, dried rose petals, cedar, juniper berry, and wintergreen mint. Fresh entry with building tannins that coat the entire palate. Gravelly, dusty, and mineral notes give way to layers of red and black fruits. Integrated oak with youthful tannins and acidity. Will prove to be very age-worthy.

84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot
13%abv

JAMES SUCKLING **** 94 Points
8 May, 2024 – Graphite, tobacco, grilled plums, black olives and black cherries are held firmly by velvety tannins on a medium body at 13.3% alcohol. Tense, concentrated, linear and acid-driven while deep in black fruit and subtle oak accents. Grapes grown on Ridge’s Monte Bello property at lower elevations on the slopes. Best after 2029.

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