TN: 08' Stanford by ridge

Ok, I’m an idiot…
One of the bottle shops that I service had this crappy looking palm tree laden bottle on its disco shelf for $10. On the back it says it was selected by the Stanford alum and a special bottling for their alum fund raising club. I thought ‘gee how fun, $10 I’ll take a flier’… I’m an idiot, they had 5-6 bottles and I only bought 1… The back story is that this shop acted as a clearing house for the wine to be brought into the state and someone after 7 yrs, never picked up their bottles so they threw them up for sale (I’m not too depressed as I purchased several bottles of Kathryn Kennedy cab and lateral for $10 as well).

Let me also say I hate American oak, with that, I’m an idiot…

Crimson with no signs of discoloration, initially the American oak is pretty heavy but as time goes on there is a killer floral, plum, cassis, classic Ridge Cab nose that opens up and absorbs the oak… Deep rich and no signs of the vintage…
The palate is fresh with crushed fruit, great acid, good balance and length. There’s a steady rich pencil lead that comes through leading to a dusty cocoa powder finish.

This is a Bordeaux blend, I would not be surprised if this was declassified montebello it’s that good. Ignoring the crappy label (sorry Stanford alum) the cork was labeled as a normal Ridge wine, date and Ridge name around the top and bottom of the cork, same color glass (green).

Again I’m an idiot for not buying everything and if you see these bottles, buy them, for they are stellar.

Wow, crazy find!

On a more broad note, it is a bummer when buy just one bottle of something on a whim, and by the time you finally get around to drinking it and loving it, there’s no more easily available.

Thanks Glenn for posting it for me.

Definitely an unusual find! Thanks for the note, jbray!!!

Finishing this tonight, it’s really come together with delicious dark fruit, great persistence and the acid has folded into the wine. This is as solid as a California wine that I’ve had this past year and again, I’m an idiot for not loading up. If you see this for cheap, buy it!

Jason…can’t you go back and buy the rest?

No, long gone, I bought this 3-4 months ago, looking at the label I thought even $10 was too much and took a flier because it said ridge, little did I know…

FWIW the 08 Ridge MB is a very fine MB.

LOTS of labels say ‘Ridge’ on them, but have nothing to do with ‘Ridge’

I should have taken a picture of the back the explains that this is a collaboration between Ridge vineyards and the Stanford Alum, I never would have bought it if it wasn’t labeled as such.

http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/wine/ridge

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