Then, if you really want to have fun, do this again with Lytton Springs to compare and contrast. I bet you will find that the two wines taste consistently different. Which is better - well, you can only find this out for yourself if you try this experiment.
Have to disagree a bit here. Last time I had the 07 it was barely into a secondary phase. I understand your point overall but I would have to argue that, vintage dependent of course, that Geyserville is not likely to get into tertiary characters until well passed 15 years in age. Thatās a conservative number.
For the '07 in particular it has a high percentage of Petit Sirah and Carignan which lend it extra structure. I think that one is going to be one of the longer lived versions.
There are a lot of good ideas so far. Personally, I would start with the 2018 and 2017 and I second the advice from Chris regarding purchasing a 2013 directly from Ridge, to try 3 different vintages. You know the wine will be in impeccable condition and you can compare what a few years does for Geyserville. The 2013 and 2015 are special vintages for Geyserville, IMO.
I am not sure where you live and if you can accept shipments from California, but the SF Wine Trading Co. has the 2001 in stock. It is not cheap, but it will give you a good idea of what Geyserville can become with time. We had one a few years ago and it was truly excellent.
Ed
The one in front of you, the 2018, is my favorite.
Ordered a 2013 (couldnāt find a 2011 offhand) and will do a 2018/2013 comparison at some point after delivery. Thanks all for the advice!
Some great advice here. I recommend going back a bit further for 9+ years of age and to see how that grabs you. 2009, 2010 would be good targets.
And agree with some of the initial posts - 1991 was magic. I recall getting some around 1998, 1999 in the early days of the internet and how it revolutionized finding out about and then hunting for wines (for those that followed the internet āfrom the startāā¦), and coveting those bottles in a crazy way over the next couple of years. Mint, acidity, depth, silk - OMG. Even if I remember it for 10 times better than it actually was, all the better.
![[winner.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/07ec25c9fd71159fe15d7f1ba5fad64e91238d0e.gif "winner"){kind=small}
The good old days. This was WineBid June 2010.
I randomly opened a 2011 tonight. Damn! 
oh look, you can get the 91 Lytton Springs on Winebid this weekā¦for $130. 
I laughed the first time I saw thatā¦ several weeks ago.
And to think, about four or five years ago a fellow Berserker offered me up an OWC of 1991 Ridge Geezer in 375s at $25 per. Probably my dumbest pass ever. Ended up buying a bunch of other stuff, but this was the better play.
Not to rub salt in the wound buddy, but i bet these little Geeysers are delicious right about now.
Sigh. #WineRegrets
Itās possible to turn that down?! I hope it was due to provenance! Wonder what you got instead. Better not be 1991 Lanessan or something 
From a vertical we did 10-15 years go. Here are my notes:
An irregular group go together last night to do a vertical of Ridge Geyserville. It was not complete from 1975-2002 but starts and ends at those vintages.
I donāt heave detailed notes but will comment indiviudally when thereās something to say. Others Iām sure will chime in to flesh this out.
There were no bad bottles, and only 1-2 possibly corked and we couldnāt agree on that.
The first 4 wines, 1975, 1978, 1980, 1981 were very similar. They all had an aged funky nose that eventually subsided and noticeable fruit. All got better with a little air and none really went down hill over 5 hours.
1975 - Good finishing acidity, complex, balanced.
Execellent at 5 hours+. Suprassed the 1978. 14.7%Alc.
(Z=Zinfandel, PS-Petite, C=Carignan)
1978 - bit more funk on the nose, big fruit,aged/spicey flavors and some tannins. Best of the first 3.
1980 - Weakest of the first 3. Aquarium nose,spicey up front, definitely on the way down. 100% Zinfandel.
1981 - The second time for many of us tasting this. Another exquisite effort. Nose of brown sugar and aged wine. Medium body, black/red fruits and tannins all finishing up with great balance.
1987 - Corked? Little flavor, some body. IMHO DOA but it was not a terrible wine. It just paled against the first 4.
88%Z, 4%PS, 8%C. 13.7%Alc
Of the bottles I still have, the amount of Carignon in the blend went up to over 10% after 1987 and, I beleive, stayed there in varying amounts.
1990 - Very young nose, full bodied bright spcey fruit, balance great finish. Has many more years. 64%Z, 18%PS, 18%C
1991 - Menthol nose, full body, tannins, great fruit, young tasting. 50%Z, 30%C, 20%PS
1992 - Corked? or just funky? Candied fruit. Simple. 65%Z, 20%C, 15%PS
Around this point most of us noticed a stylistic change in the wines. More cherry flavors, less funk, more up front fuit.
1994 - Older nose, fully mature tasting probably at its peak prior to heading off into secondary flavors.
From here on out they were very similar. A combination of red/black fruits, acidity, spices. All had good fruit and balance none really stood out. All had waxy nose (like Marsanne)
1995 - Closed nose, full body candied fruit. Tannins.
1996 - Good wine.
1997 - spicey fruit
1998 - Doing well.
1999 - Oak and vanilla nose. Tannins, fruit
2000-2002 - Almost identical and opened way to soon.
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I paid $29 (plus all the fees) for a 375 of ā91 Geyserville in 2016. So itās not like it was a crazy deal. Either way, I would have backed up the truck. I bought any and every 1991 Ridge I could for years. Unfortunately almost all of them are gone now.
whats the thought of a decent decant and drinking these early?
What was release price for 91 Geyserville?
Go for it! I had a 2017 recently and it was fantastic. Iāve heard from others more experienced than me that the beauty of this wine is the long drinking window. I have a case of 2018, definitely pulling one of those soon. The trick is to buy āextraā and hide them from yourself, because they are good early.
Exactly. Local benchmark winery for me. Two vintages were too big for me as current releases. Those got much online attention for being anomalies, and still that was a matter of preference. Unknown if decanting wouldāve helped. Other than those, iāve had a couple dozen vintages that were wonderful on release, and plenty at all levels of maturity.
If you have no experience with these, Iād recommend buying the current release (Iām seeing '18 375s and '17 750s in stores here) and pop-n-pour it and follow it over a few days. If you fall in love, you get go buy more easily.