Iām a diehard Ridge lover and recommend them everywhere I goā¦but this reads as a puff piece very light on anything interesting, insightful, or new. Why does this feel like branding damage control in the wake of the 2020 Monte Bello snafu?
Ridge is pretty well-known for āthe Draper perfume,ā or the heavy use of new oak. Whether you like that or not, or whether it integrates with age, is a discussion for another thread. I just want to know how it accords with the claim that the wine-making is non-interventionist. Itās just one element, I know, but stillā¦
āRecently?ā Theyāve been bottling syrah, grenache, carignane and mataro/mourvedre and other Rhones for as long as I can remember, and the Geyserville has contained significant carignane for more than three decades.
As Ridge looks to the future, some aspects of expansion are already in motion. The winery recently began dabbling in RhĆ“ne Valley varieties, releasing its first Grenache Blanc from Paso Robles in 2018. āThat is a great example of a variety that adapts very well to warm weather,ā says Olney. āPaso Robles is a very hot region, and yet weāre able to comfortably make a wine thatās around 13 to 13.5% alcohol at the most, with great acidity.ā
John,
True, and they have been making labeled Mataro and Grenache for a long time, as well as PS (a Rhone variety to many).
Their recent movement into whites from Paso is a new direction for them - the article should have been clearer about this . . .
Cheers
Impossible to define āminimal interventionā - the definition is very subjective these days.
Cheers
I didnāt think it was particularly a puff piece. Trueā¦I didnāt learn a whole lot new from it. But Iāve been following Ridge for a number of yrs.
And this was an independent article & I didnāt think it had anything to do w/ a 2020 MB damage control.
Tom
I thought for sure this was a ābranded featureā /advertorial piece. They have a whole slew of these sorts of pieces under the āPartnerā tag (ex. An Oregon Winery Thatās Always Looking Ahead | SevenFifty Daily). Not sure why this one isnāt labeled as such. Although the pub seems to be owned by some sort of drinks distribution platform so maybe they only traffic in extremely sunny sorts of pieces.
Wellā¦ the āDraper perfumeā (a term coined by George Hertier) was pretty pervasive back in the '70-'80ās. But as new winemakers have come on board, the use of new Am.oak in the Ridge wines has been being reigned back. Itās still there, but not nearly as pervasive as it once was.
Tom
Not sure Iād quite agree w/ your statement, John. The first real Ridge Rhone was the '96 Syrah. Not sure Iād call Mataro (Paulās first interest in that variety was as an OV Portugese variety from ContraCosta) the way Ridge does it as a Rhone variety. Curious you didnāt include their PetiteSirah as a Rhone variety as well.
But since 2018, Ridge has been showing increasing interest in white Rhone varieties. And they have dabbled w/ LS Viognier for quite a number of yrs.
But they have been expanding their Rhone portfolio slightly over the last few yrs. āDabblingā would be an accurate term for it I think.
Tom
Wellā¦ Ridge/.Draper prefers the āminimal interventionā or āpre-industrial winemakingā terms so they wonāt be tarred & feathered by the ānatural wineā term. Just weasal words I would say.
Tom
I guess depending on your perspective, 1996 may count as recent. 
Iām never sure where to put Petite Syrah, since it isnāt really grown in the Rhone these days. But good point.
Carignane certainly has a long history at Ridge.
Since mourvedre is grown in the Southern Rhone, I consider it a Rhone variety, even if it may have originated in Catalan or someplace elsewhere.
In any event, to suggest that Ridgeās interest in Rhones is recent is just wrong.
Ridgeās interest in Carignane is not driven by it being a Rhone variety but by Draperās interest in old-vine stuff and there being a lot of Carignane in the OV vnyds Ridge has drawn from for many a yr. He was simply interested in seeing if he could make a great OV red from the Carignane, irrelevant of its Rhone connection.
I guess itās just a matter of splitting hairs over the wording. Despite a modest/slow growh in their offering of Rhone varietals, the Rhones have never been an important part of the Ridge portfolio and Ridge will never be an important part of the Calif Rhone movement.
Their interest in Grenache is not because of the Rhone connection, but in the fact that LS has some of the oldest Grenache plantings in Calif. And Draper is very much interested in OV Reds.
Tom
I donāt disagree with any of that. I only disagreed with the article saying that they have only recently shown interest in Rhone grapes.
Fair enough, John. Disagreement sustained!!
Tom
The other thing to note is that David Gates has been invoived with the Rhone Rangers as a member of the Board of Directors for over a decade - dating well before 2018. Though he is not on the board at present, he is actively involved in the organization and personally pours at our events, including our Rhone Ranger Experience taking place in a few weeks in Paso Robles
Cheers
I think Dave has been one of the stronger supporters in the Rhone program for Ridge over the yrs.
Tom
I think Ridge walks the āminimal Interventionā walk very nicely by going un-inoculated. Putting ingredients on the label is transparent, too.
I only had time to read the first bit a couple days ago, so will have to get back to it, butā¦
Oseo Perroneās winery was the Montebello Winery, not Monte Bello Winery. The road up the ridge is Montebello. The Ridge founders wanted to use the original name for their winery, but the Perrone family wasnt willing to sell at that point. (They later did.)
The authorās history (as far as i got) was cut-and-paste from modern era Ridge bullshit. The pre-Draper history is well documented, such as in the Bennion Trust oral history interviews and, presumably, in Sue Craneās new book, which Ridge sells. So, why the fuck dont they credit the women as founder? Four founding couples, not four men. When Fran Bennion spoke at a party several years ago, she said it was Dave and her, with the others coming along and doing their parts. Leaving her, Sue, et al out of the official history is disgusting. There would be no Ridge Vineyards without them.
I love Ridge but I think the sale to Otsuka in 1986 probably should have been mentioned in the article if talking so much about the founders, it kind of makes it seem like they are still involved.
Paul Draper had said that he would rather make Petite Sirah than Syrah, viewing PS as a more American grape with a longer history here.