RIDGE 'Estate' Cabernet Sauvignon (Monte Bello Vineyard) - Santa Cruz Mountains, Central Coast 2021 Bottle

Description

Ridge 'Estate' Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, sourced from the iconic Monte Bello Vineyard, is an impressive expression that exemplifies finesse and depth. This full-bodied wine presents layers of blackcurrant, blackberry, and dark plum, complemented by subtle notes of tobacco, cedar, and violet. Scoring 95 points from Wine Enthusiast, it showcases bold fruit character balanced by refined acidity and velvety tannins. The Wine Advocate rates it 94 points, highlighting its vibrant freshness and concentrated flavours, enhanced by a touch of oak from its 17 months of ageing in American barrels. James Suckling gives it 93 points, noting the wine's polished structure and long, juicy finish. This vintage is perfect for immediate enjoyment or cellaring for future exploration.

*****

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

DECANTER 96 points
Tasted by: Clive Pursehouse (at Seattle, Washington, 15 Sep 2024)
Drinking Window: 2024 - 2040
From the legendary Monte Bello estate vineyard, most of this 2021 Cabernet comes from the Klein Ranch portion of the famed Santa Cruz Mountains estate. An American Cabernet (blended with 16% Merlot) evocative of first-growth Bordeaux nuance and complexity. Freshly turned soils, bay leaf and sweet tobacco aromas segue into notes of pure black fruits. Sweet, ripe black plums open the palate with perfectly tart blackberries, muddled mint leaves, pencil shavings, and soaring acidity brighten this wine into a mineral-driven finish. This is a wine that, in 8-10 years, will surely be at its apex.

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.

JANCIS ROBINSON 17.5+ points
Full bottle 1,308 g. 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot. From the wonderfully detailed label: 'A dry winter, with only fourteen inches of rain, followed by a warm summer, created stress on the vines. Fortunately, this concentrated flavour but also required extra attention during fermentation not to over extract tannin. As a selection of lots primarily from Monte Bello's Klein Ranch, our Estate Cabernet uses parcels that show the distinctive character of our soils and climate, but as a wine tends to mature somewhat earlier ... Ingredients: hand-harvested, estate-grown grapes, indigenous yeast, calcium carbonate, naturally occurring malolactic bacteria, oak from barrel-ageing, minimum effective SO2.'
Deep, inky purple. Bright, fresh blackberries and dried blueberries, thyme, and cedarwood – incredibly appetising. Vibrant acidity, very sticky, grippy tannins, and a lovely fullness to the palate. It's not the Montebello but unless you're opening one right next to the other this won't disappoint. Impeccable balance. (SCJ)

THE WINE ADVOCATE 92+ points
Reviewed by: Matthew Luczy
Drink Date: 2025 - 2035
Blended with 16% Merlot and bottled at 13.3% alcohol, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is immediately layered and expressive on the nose. Aromas of blackcurrant, blackberry, cocoa nibs and charred wood lead to a vibrant, satiny palate that is fresh and light on its feet. The finish combines juicy, muddled berry flavors with tense, chocolaty tannins of good length. This is delicious already but should improve for the next decade.

I had the great pleasure of assessing a seven-vintage vertical of Monte Bello and, as luck would have it, picking up where William Kelley left off with the 2015 vintage. I tracked this set of wines across three days and witnessed continuous development and further delineation between vintages, even in their infancy. Not to be forgotten, the Estate Cabernet, Merlot, Jimsomare Zinfandel and the duo of Chardonnays orbit the central star of Monte Bello with fascinating insights into the multidimensionality of this iconic site.
Published: Apr 18, 2024

VINOUS 92 points
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate, a blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Merlot, is tight and compact, boasting a stern mineral core and a truckload of spiced black fruit. Plum, blackberry, tar, eucalyptus and iodine all live behind a wall of searing tannins, but there’s a nice airy, floral lift and a balancing proportion of creamy oak that implies roundness For now, hands off, but this is a serious wine. - Billy Norris