Funny you mention that, as that is my hang-up as well! I’ve made a lot of comments in threads on Ridge regarding this very point, and even highlighted some of the technical data on their site which confirmed, at least to me, that some of the cuvees where in fact being exposed longer to greater percentages of new American oak. So let me say this, first. I do not like American oak. I drink very little Rioja because of this reason. I think Ridge would be 2-3x better in French oak. I have gotten to the point where the only cuvee I buy, since like 2010 or 2012(?) is Geyserville, and now in 1/2 or less of the quantity that I used to buy. I do not even buy the Cabs anymore, I found Some of the Estate Cab and the Torre Ridge vintages to be way oaky. Of course many here will tell you, you are drinking them too young, the American oak will integrate, yada yada. Well, things may integrate but the imprimatur of American oak - especially if you have any aversion to it - does not go away. The 2010 Ridge LS I drank still had the note, but was damn fine in spite of it.
Now all of that said, you obviously have a much long history with Ridge than I do, I started drinking them with the 1991 vintage. Perhaps going back further you see an even greater range of change as you note. I also think my palate tolerance for American oak has gotten worse. Not #MAGA I guess, lol, I’m gonna get extradited.
From seeing your notes on other wines it just seems like you wouldn’t like that flavor profile, so I was surprised. I had a 1999 Geyser about 3-4 years ago, and it was still oaky to my palate, but I’m very sensitive to those flavors. While I think low levels of oak can integrate with time, I don’t believe excessive oak ever integrates. Try a 20 year old Leonetti and you still get a boatload of wood.
I concur. John Morris and I have had this discussion and we both have a pretty traditional palate, but a few good Zins are a guilty pleasure. They are time and place wines, not something a drink with regularity, but nice when you have pizza, BBQ, grill some burgers, etc. They are very good friendly but a bit much without food.
Had the 11 Lytton Springs tonight and I think it was probably better a few years ago and I think the 11s were never particularly remarkable. Admittedly I seem to prefer my zins younger than others here. Exception is the Ridge Geyserville which seems to need about 7 yrs. I’ve described the Lytton Springs as the Margaux of the zin world, and continue to believe that, fwiw. Ridge’s Lytton Springs, Geyserville and Pagani are a figurative holy trinity of zin; they are super reliable. I think they’ve all gotten better over recent vintages, with a reduction in pencilly-oak correlative, not causal. The 01 and 10 vintages were truly epic. Peace.
A friend opened a 2012 Lytton Springs last Friday and it was in a very good place. No concerns about holding this for longer but a lot of pleasure to be gained now.
I picked up a couple of the 2010 Lytton Springs for $35.99 earlier this week (as well as a couple of 2011 Geyservilles at the same price). Tried one of them tonight with a Flannery New York and it was fantastic. Explosive nose and heavy blue/red fruit for me. I’ll save the other LS for a couple of years, but it’s in a sweet spot right now.
When it comes to Ridge there are no hard and fast rules’ Mostly, people think that the Geezer is more serious but IMO, the 2018 Lytton is finer than it’s counterpart and will be more long lived.
