2007 Ridge Monte Bello- USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (3/24/2013)
From 375 at the winery. Probably the best young Cabernet-based wine I’ve ever had. Fantastic nose of mocha, blackcurrant, and spices. The dark fruit gives it gravitas, but it goes down so easy, without any obtrusive tannin–an outstanding flavor-to-weight ratio. I was very surprised by how forward this was, though the format probably helped. Given the pedigree I imagine this will age gracefully, but I’m not sure it can get much better than this–only different. It’ll be fun to check back in some years down the line. (92 pts.)
Your prose is very enthusiastic; so much so it doesn’t IMHO seem to match the score. Thanks for the post, always interested in Ridge Monte Bello tasting notes.
And it will get much better with time, trust me This particular vintage of MB has been more of a chameleon than any other vintage I can remember, starting out higher pitched, lean, higher acidity on release, building weight and transforming itself through several phases so far, and I expect it to continue developing interestingly for many years. It is still a baby at this point.
I agree with Alan, I’ve never seen a Monte Bello that didn’t improve significantly with 15+ years of age. I’ve never tasted a “dead” MB, and I’ve had them as old as 30 years. I’m about to crack into a half case of 2002, but I plan to be drinking these past 2025.
Everyone has their own scoring system. Mine is basically a 10-point scale as follows:
0-85: Would rather drink nothing
86: Useful to get drunk when required or accompany food
87: Fair
88: Solid, pleasant
89: Good
90: Successful, well-made, worthy of bringing to a dinner with fellow wine geeks
91: Excellent, distinctive, wine-of-the-month or better
92: Terrific/fantastic, WOTY candidate
93: Likely WOTY candidate: not just delicious but unique and an educational/frontier-opening experience
94+: ZOMFG.
I think I’ve scored 5 wines at 94 or higher. Hope that clarifies.
Dan, I wasn’t commenting on the score, more on your suggestion that it might not get any better than it is now (assuming I interpreted you correctly). As good as it might be drinking now, I’m confident it WILL get even better What is really impressive is how good this wine is, given the difficulty of the vintage (Paul Draper told me on release it was one of the most difficult vintages in recent memory).
Cheers
Alan,
Good to see you here too! My automatic renewal to the WA occurred just days before Antonio’s departure went public. I’m no longer interested in the WA without AG, so I asked to cancel my subscription and they did. Since their Bulletin board was restricted to members it has become moribund. It’s puzzling that RMP plans to return to reviewing California wines; after all it is a fact that as one ages taste buds diminish. I’m dealing as best I can with this myself. Good to be here at WINE Beserkers…
I thought 07 was supposed to be a very strong Cali Cab year? Was it just very hot/ripe, and therefore hard to make a more restrained, Ridge-style wine?
I have drunk a lot of the Santa Cruz bottling over the year but have never aged it. I know that the Monte Bello ages well (well duh) and that the Jimsomare ages well. What are your experiences with the Santa Cruz.
Excellent question and I really don’t know the answer. I usually drink these about 4-7 years after the vintage date, at which time it shows well, but still appears to have years ahead.
I do know that Ridge expects the Estate wine to be accessable sooner than Monte Bello. From the Ridge website:
In 1886 the Monte Bello vineyard was first planted and construction on the winery begun. The first vintage was in 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—now sixty years old—produced the first Ridge Monte Bello (1962) and subsequent vintages until the mid-seventies. By then, abandoned blocks replanted during the sixties were maturing, 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 becomes Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, stressing the varietal and the Monte Bello vineyard as its source.
I drank bottles of the 1991 and 1996 estate cabs recently and both were disappointing and well past their primes. Both bought at auction, so provenance unknown, but both bottles were in excellent condition (fills, corks. etc.).
This particular vintage of MB has been more of a chameleon than any other vintage I can remember, starting out higher pitched, lean, higher acidity on release, building weight and transforming itself through several phases so far, and I expect it to continue developing interestingly for many years. It is still a baby at this point.![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}