2007 Ridge Geyserville- USA, California, Sonoma County (9/24/2010)
14.4% alcohol. 58% Zinfandel, 22% Carignane, 18% Petite, 2% Mourved. From the Alexander Valley’s Whitten Ranch Vineyard, planted in the 1890s. A great decade for wine lovers and a great decade for urban travel. The first practical subway system begins operation in Boston.
Dark ruby red. Expressive red, black and floral. aromas. Rasberries and cherries along with a touch of pepper and plum overtones. Great balance, wonderful structure, fantastic site expression. Lingering aftertaste. A complete treat! Should continue to iimprove for several years. (93 pts.)
The trouble with Ridge is that I am so busy chasing the latest and newest zin thing that I sometimes forget how much I like their juice, and I don’t turn to it often enough.
Mike - yes it will taste like an elegant version of Zin for the next ten years, but after that these wines will develop some amazing and unique Claret characteristics that make them truly special. After some great experiences with a few older Geezers/Lyttons/Yorks - I look at them more like an old school cab: start drinking @ ten years past vintage date, enjoy though 25 years.
BTW - I had the chance to taste through the 2008s this week (Lytton/Geezer/Pagani/York) with the distributor - while not as ripe as the 2007s, the 08s are very nice - especially the Lytton & York! The Geezer was totally closed - lots of structure…
Me too! For years (early '90s forward) Ridge was one of the very few Cali wines I would buy almost yearly and the only one by the case. Then I started surfing all these boards trying the next “latest and greatest” - some of which like Carlisle have been damn good - but every time I have a Ridge, I remember this is benchmark for me. I bought, and already killed, more than a case of the '07 Lytton Springs. Need more. Need more Geezer, too, but to let them sleep. In the meantime, the '07 Carlisle Dry Creek Zin I had last Saturday and the '08 Carlisle Sonoma I had last night, were both mighty fine in their own right.
John - that comment was based strictly on taste impression - I did not bother to look at alc % on the 2008s - they just seemed to be much more structure driven than the 2007s. The Lytton and York have a very sweet/perfume nose, but all seemed very primary in the mouth - which is what I would expect from an infant Ridge Zin.
We popped a 1979 Ridge York Creek Zin on Friday night - an absolute highlight of the dinner! The bottle was a top shoulder fill and there was some signs of past seepage, but the fruit was still vibrant, and that secondary ‘claret’ stage was in full show. Awesome stuff!
Hope to try Ridge 2008s next month but the 2007 Ridge Geyserville is their best in ages IMHO.
Takes me back to their 90’s Zins when I was an ATP member (guess you can only call Geyserville a Zin in years where that varietal equals or exceeds 75% which is rare).
Matter of personal preference when to drink but I have tended to keep Zins too long. 4-6 years seems the optimum in my experienece otherwise you loose some of the fruit forward flavours and get a more prune experience.
I popped a '79 York Creek Petite Sirah as a brown bag a couple days ago. Also, surprisingly claret-like, and vibrant. Lovely cedar and tobacco. Everyone thought Cab-based wine, and guesses on age were 7 years, not more than 10 years, and 15 years.
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