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Dark and refined mountain Cabernet with black olive, tobacco leaf and cocoa aromas, blackberry, dark currant and black cherry on the palate, well-coated tannins and fresh, vibrant acidity, finishing long with licorice and cedar.
Available in store
Close81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot
Food pairings: Rack of lamb or grilled lamb chops with rosemary and garlic, grilled steak, hearty beef stew and aged cheeses.
Winemaking: Hand-harvested grapes were destemmed and sorted and fermented as 100% whole berries on the native yeasts, with full malolactic on the naturally occurring bacteria and minimal effective sulfur, in keeping with Ridge's philosophy of minimal intervention. The wine spent seventeen months in air-dried American oak barrels, 30% new. Heavy winter rains ended a three-year drought, and the consistently cool 2023 season, a throwback to the 1970s, brought a late, prolonged harvest from October 6 to November 10 that preserved beautiful acidity.
Vineyards and terroir: 2023 is the first vintage of this new appellation blend, made from three grower vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA along with some fruit from Ridge's own Monte Bello estate. Fellom Ranch, planted by Roy "Bud" Fellom in the early 1980s, and Vidovich Vineyard both lie on Montebello Road near Ridge's Torre and Perrone parcels, while historic Bates Ranch, near Mount Madonna at the southern end of the appellation, is known for structured, ageworthy wines. Established in 1981, the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA is one of California's first mountain appellations, with steep slopes and a cool maritime climate between the Pacific and San Francisco Bay.
Family and history: The original Ridge founders began farming in the Santa Cruz Mountains in 1959, and Monte Bello became a benchmark for American Cabernet Sauvignon. From 1978 Ridge made a Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet from the more accessible Monte Bello blocks, renaming it Estate Cabernet in 2008. In 2023, with fine fruit available from neighboring growers, Ridge revived the Santa Cruz Mountains name for this broader expression of the appellation. CEO and head winemaker John Olney leads the winemaking.
In the pictures: The Monte Bello estate vineyards high in the Santa Cruz Mountains, seen from the air, and the Monte Bello winery and tasting room (photos courtesy of Ridge Vineyards).
