Yes, for your sake, I recommend talking a buddy into opening their bottle of ‘14 so you can try it.
1 Like
When I tasted the wines at Lytton Springs last May, I thought that the Monte Bello was a big step up from the Estate. We also tried the Klein from the property, and I felt that it was much closer to the Monte Bello than the Estate. The Monte Bello is out of reach for me from a price standpoint, but I ended up buying several bottles of the Klein. For the price of the Estate, I’d rather buy the Domaine Eden Cab.
When I tasted the release Klein, Estate, and 2010 MB at the Ridge Monte Bello tasting room, my personal favorite was the Klein, but it came up to my limit for pyrazines. The Monte Bello is definitely in another class from the Estate, but the Klein is positioned very favorably in the middle.
Which podcast?
There is a profound difference of fruit between Monte Bello and Estate Cab and the oak regimen on the Cab is much more toasty oak. We have both but much prefer the MB.
I looked in my history and it appears to be the GuildSomm interview with Eric Baugher from June 2019. I found it on Google Podcast app, but it likely is available on others.
1 Like
What the Estate/SCM is has evolved over the years. Way back, it wasn’t always all estate. Iirc, one version of the '83 is 100% Bates Ranch (followed by a release of declassified Monte Bello, which was a late decision after the futures purchases were sent out. Most accepted a generous offer and shipped those back, but some exists with the MB label.) Then there was a large amount of planting onto more of the former vineyard land (it’s still a small portion of what was once there). There was long a third tier “Coast Range”, both Cab and Merlot releases, which were 100% estate young vines which mostly went to restaurants and Japan (with the occasional TJ’s sighting). When those vines matured, they tried Home Ranch as a middle tier ('01-'02), but stupidly tried selling it to Monte Bello futures customers for just a tic under the futures price (when the SCM was still dirt cheap and very close in quality - an insider secret.) They then rebranded SCM to Estate (the first 2-3 vintages they blended the Cab and Merlot, so it was one wine instead of two, with massive complaining from all the long-time customers). Later, they successfully appealed to their geeky customers with the Historic Vineyard Series as the new middle tier. (Though Klein is a rebranded Jimsomare Cab).
I don’t know that oak treatment is all that different. They break down everything into lots, of which there are many, from the various blocks of the vineyards. I’m sure some (young vine, historically never made the MB cut, whatever) gets allocated to the Estate from the start, but a huge portion is in play. Blending is done in stages over time, as some decisions are clear early, and others best deferred. I suppose they rack the growing blend into the barrels that seem to be best suiting the vintage. (Much barrel choice is done ahead, and well ahead of time, starting with the ordering of new ones.) So, there’s barrel impact before assemblage starts. It’s rare for a block to always make the cut. They sort for typicity, longevity and so forth. Excellent, but ill-fitting lots can now be spun off into their own bottlings. What’s left (that they keep) still seems to have its own typicity. The freak show that was the '14 Estate was an anomaly. Maybe starting with a bad oak ordering choice. It’s got that caramel vomit-inducing character I may not be fond of. The '14 Monte Bello has none of it. It’s otherwise a good wine, and preferences vary. I’m sure it wasn’t what they wanted to do, and they haven’t repeated it. Maybe it will resolve to my liking, but I didn’t bet any dollars on that.
7 Likes
I was watching this today and found this part amusing/relevant to this thread:
Rewind a little further back for more details on how the lots are selected.
Wes’ post above pretty much says it all. For my tastes and QPR, Estate Cab is the best red Ridge makes. I drank a bottle of 2006 a couple of years ago that was singing. I still have a bottle of that and bottles of 2008, ’10, and ’12-18. No 2014 as I agree it’s too heavily new oaked.
Estate vs MB isn’t a fair comparison.
Todd, is 2011 a weak vintage in the Santa Cruz mountains. I had the 2011 MB a couple of times when it was young and it certainly did not taste like it came from a weaker vintage, no matter what the wines taste like in Napa/Sonoma.
1 Like
In the east side SCM it was particularly cool, as well as a light crop. Pick dates were a lot later. Some stuff that’s usually late didn’t ripen. The weather here tapers off in temperature, but doesn’t drop off til mid-November. In 2011, I picked some stuff up on summit Nov. 13th, a day ahead of a cold storm front. The fruit was in great shape. Hardy grape varieties with the luxury of extending hangtime maybe 6 weeks longer than your usual pick date, if needed, without the sugars or acids moving much, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In this case, it’s a lighter vintage in some ways, but with great depth.
Here is a tasting note I wrote in 2014 on the '11 MB. Time to check on a bottle.
Much different than when tasted at the Bassin’s Barrel Tasting 2 years ago. It was light and weak then which was consistent with many of the '11’s, but it was not the final assemblage. Today’s bottle much bigger, more like a '10 Bordeaux with big tannins, but also big acidity. It was a tad hot on the back-end. I can see this evolving into a classic MB down the road, but I felt the '10 I had recently was showing more now.
Working part-time at Ridge, I’ve had plenty of chances to taste '11 MB, even taking partial bottles home. What I’ve found is real bottle variation. The good bottles are great and some bottles seem hollow on the mid-palate.
I drank plenty of '10 over the course of a year and that’s a much better wine than '11, IMO. It’s in a real nice adolescent phase, but obviously, by no means ready.
1 Like
Larry - Thanks for the first-hand experience! I have both '10 and '11 in the cellar and sounds like a side-by-side comparison would be fun.
I usually enjoy the estate cabs at 7-8 years from vintage date which puts them in the early prime window - youthful fruit but other elements mostly integrated. But consuming the 2013 in 2020 was too early. Tried again a few weeks ago and it was nearing that early prime window. Haven’t cracked a ‘14 yet but may need to soon since it’s taking up valuable cellar space as fall shipments start to roll in.
My experience with Monte Bellos says they need 20+ years for prime drinking with better vintages needing closer to 30.
We had family visiting from out of town this weekend, so with 6 adults in the house we decided to only open magnums. One of those was '11 Monte Bello and it was drinking great. I was a bit disappointed with '94 Monday Reserve, though, just fine not great.
