Ridge Wine Blogger Tasting: Zinfandel, Rhones and Alicante Bouschet Vertical

RIDGE BLOGGERS’ TASTING: ZINS, RHONES AND ALICANTE BOUSCHET VERTICAL – Ridge Private Tasting Room, Monte Bello Vineyard, Cupertino, California (12/10/2010)

assembled wine bloggers

This was the fourth and final Ridge sponsored wine bloggers tasting event for the year. Ridge Monte Bello Tasting Room Manager Christopher Watkins organized an intimate gathering, in the private, upstairs tasting room at the Monte Bello Vineyard. The focus was Ridge Zins, but we tasted pretty much the full array of Ridge wines, from the current release Chard to a maturing Monte Bello to a few Rhone blends. The highlight of this tasting for me was a vertical of wines that fellow blogger Allan Bree (http://www.GangofPour.com) brought to the tasting–a flight that was poured blind, and turned out to be mature bottles of Alicante Bouschet.

How can a wine lover, especially one who lives in Silicon Valley–where Ridge has been the most well known and respected producer for decades now–not be enamored with Ridge? Not only is the Ridge team responsible for one of California’s great, ageworthy meritages–the Ridge Monte Bello–they also produce, in my opinion, California’s best and most interesting Zinfandels, along with an array of small production wines (mainly sold through their ATP program). Some of those are based on very old vine plantings of obscure varietals, like the Alicante Bouschet and Carignane we tasted at this event. For sheer breadth of offerings, seriousness of the wines, ageworthiness and track record, Ridge is arguably in a class by itself as a California producer, and certainly dominates the AVA in which it is based, the Santa Cruz Mountains.

We started the tasting with the latest Monte Bello Chardonnay, which is quite tight yet, but excellent. We then tasted through six Zins and three of Ridge’s Rhone varietal bottlings. The best of the Zins for me was the oldest–the ’93 Lytton Estate–which is one of many older Ridge Zins (with 15 or more years of age) I’ve tasted that never fail to impress. There aren’t many California Zins that have the structure and balance enabling them to age the way Ridge’s Zins do. We then tasted the 2000 Monte Bello, which is coming along nicely, but still quite youthful. Then came the blindtasting of the three wines Allan brought. Only one person, another member of the Ridge staff, correctly guessed what they were–Alicante Bouschet. I thought they might be a mature Cab or Bordeaux blend of some kind. The ’97 Alicante Bouschet Pagani Ranch was particularly stunning, my most memorable wine of the tasting–with its cigar box nose and poised menthol, currant and red berry palate–but all three members of this vertical were impressive examples of this now obscure varietal. For our final wine, we tasted Ridge’s 13th bottling of Geyserville Essence in the past 50 years–the recently released ’07.

A final note about Alicante Bouschet: This grape was bred by Henri Bouschet around 1866 from his father’s crossing of Petit Bouschet (itself a crossing of Teinturier du Cher and Aramon) with Grenache. It is a teinturier, a grape with red flesh. It was widely planted in California during Prohibition, for bulk exporting of the grapes for winemaking to the East Coast. Its thick skin helped it resist rotting during transportation, and its intense red color was helpful for stretching wine during Prohibition, as it could be diluted and still appear acceptably red. It is still a widely planted varietal in southern France, and was recently estimated to be the 12th most planted red varietal in France. In California, 1300 acres remained by 2002, mainly in the Central Valley. I’ve tasted several Alicante Bouschet varietal bottlings from Portugal, which have been decent if not exciting. Prior to this vertical, I’d only tasted one California Alicante Bouschet bottling, a ’93 from Topolos, which was also quite impressive. Maybe it’s time to rescue this varietal from obscurity in this State.

For reports on prior Ridge Wine Blogger tastings see: report on tasting of Ridge Rhone varietals from the Ridge ATP Program: http://www.rjonwine.com/california-wine/ridge-wine-blogger-tasting-atp-rhone/ , and report, including video, of tasting of 10 vintages of Ridge Lytton Springs at the Lytton Springs tasting room: http://www.rjonwine.com/cabernet-sauvignon/ridge-lytton-springs/
For reports on Ridge Monte Bello component tastings, including pictures of winemaker Paul Draper, see: http://www.rjonwine.com/cabernet-sauvignon/2009-ridge-monte-bello-component/ and http://www.rjonwine.com/cabernet-sauvignon/2007-ridge-monte-bello/. For report on a dinner tasting of Ridge Monte Bello back to 1973, see: http://www.rjonwine.com/cabernet-sauvignon/ridge-monte-bello-dinner/
For a report on a tasting devoted to another obscure varietal Ridge used to produce, Ruby Cabernet, see: http://www.rjonwine.com/blindtastings/ridge-ruby-cabernets/

White Starter

our host, Christopher

• 2007 Ridge Chardonnay Monte Bello – USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
  Light lemon yellow color; nice lemon, vanilla, pineapple nose; tasty, medium-bodied, rich, poised, pineapple, green apple, lemon palate; medium-plus finish (92 pts.)

Rhone Varietals

• 2008 Ridge Carignane Buchignani Ranch – USA, California, Sonoma County
  Medium magenta color; redolent plum, red berry, herbal nose; tight, red berry, red currant, red plum, oak palate, needs 3-4 years; medium-plus finish (89 pts.)
• 2002 Ridge Grenache Lytton Estate – USA, California, Sonoma County, Dry Creek Valley
  Medium dark magenta color; dried cherry, oak, caramel, maturing nose; rich, plush berry, black fruit, black raspberry, blackberry palate with sweet, firm tannins, reminiscent of a Chateauneuf du Pape from a ripe year; medium-plus finish (78% Grenache, 13% Petite Sirah, 9% Zinfandel) (93 pts.)
• 2003 Ridge Syrah Lytton West Vineyard – USA, California, Sonoma County, Dry Creek Valley
  Opaque purple red violet color; ripe plum, baked berry, black fruit, floral nose; rich, baked berry, black fruit, oak, caramel palate; medium-plus finish (91% Syrah, 9% co-fermented Viognier; more integrated than last time I tasted it) (90 pts.)

Zins

• 2008 Ridge Zinfandel East Bench – USA, California, Sonoma County, Dry Creek Valley
  Medium dark magenta color; nice berry, red berry, raspberry, berry compote, baking spice nose; tasty, red berry, raspberry, charcoal palate with balance and green herbs on finish; medium finish 90+ pts. (90 pts.)
• 2007 Ridge Zinfandel Lytton Estate – USA, California, Sonoma County, Dry Creek Valley
  Medium dark garnet red color; lovely red berry, charcoal, caramel, oak nose; tasty, intense, structured, tart black fruit, berry, herbal, black raspberry, charcoal palate with firm, sweet tannins; medium-plus finish (92 pts.)
• 2003 Ridge Geyserville – USA, California, Sonoma County
  Slightly bricking medium dark red violet color; big baked berry, black plum, currants nose; oak, baked berry, allspice palate, needs to integrate, needs another 3-plus years; medium-plus finish 90+ pts. (76% Zinfandel, 18% Carignane, 6% Petite Sirah) (90 pts.)
• 2002 Ridge Zinfandel Nervo – USA, California, Sonoma County
  Light medium plum red color; intriguing herbal, charcoal, red plum, red currant nose; big, tart red fruit, tart red berry, red plum palate with balance and good acidity; medium-plus finish 91+ pts. (92% Zinfandel, 8% Petite Sirah) (91 pts.)
• 2007 Ridge Zinfandel Old School – USA, California, Sonoma County, Alexander Valley
  Medium magenta color; nice red plum, red bean, green herbs nose; big, dense, berry, sweet green herb palate, needs 3-plus years; medium-plus finish (new name for Independence School bottling) (89 pts.)
• 2003 Ridge Zinfandel Independence School – USA, California, Sonoma County
  Medium dark magenta color; sweet green herb, berry, fresh hay, green tobacco nose; big, youthful, sweet green herb, berry palate, needs 3-plus years; medium-plus finish 91+ pts. (88% Zinfandel, 9% Carignane, 3% Petite Sirah) (91 pts.)

Monte Bello

• 2000 Ridge Monte Bello – USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
  Nearly opaque red violet color; green tobacco, cassis, currant nose; tasty, plush, youthful, cassis, currant, tobacco palate with depth and body; medium-plus finish (75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc) (93 pts.)

Alicante Bouschet Vertical

• 1993 Ridge Alicante Bouschet Pagani Ranch – USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley
  Opaque purple red violet color; green herb, green peppercorn, currant nose; tasty, green herb, peppercorn, red currant, cherry palate with a touch of menthol; medium-plus finish (75% Alicante Bouschet, 25% Zinfandel) (92 pts.)
• 1994 Ridge Alicante Bouschet Pagani Ranch – USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley
  Opaque purple red violet color; mature, tobacco, cigar box nose; tasty, tobacco, cigar box, tart cassis, herbaceous palate; medium-plus finish 91+ pts. (77% Alicante Bouschet, 23% Zinfandel) (91 pts.)
• 1997 Ridge Alicante Bouschet Pagani Ranch – USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley
  Opaque purple red violet color; lovely cigar box, menthol, charcoal, green peppercorn nose; tasty, lovely, poised, red currant, red berry, menthol palate; medium-plus finish (75% Alicante Bouschet, 25% Zinfandel) (93 pts.)

Sweet Finish

• 2007 Ridge Essence Geyserville – USA, California, Sonoma County
  From 375 ml – opaque purple red violet color; grapey, red plum, currant, golden raisin nose; rich, golden raisin, ripe currant, red berry, baked red berry palate; long finish 91+ pts. (77% Zinfandel, 23% Petite Sirah; 16.95% residual sugar, 13.5% alcohol; 13th Essence in 50 years) (91 pts.)