Ominous Note From Galloni - 2020 Ridge Monte Bello "Approach With Caution""

In reviewing the 2020 Monte Bello, Antonio said the following and declined to score the wine. “I do have concerns about some of the 2020’s, including Monte Bello, which has been problematic in two separate tastings from barrel. I would approach the 2020’s with caution.”

Very ominous…anyone here had a chance to taste?

Does Galloni offer any details about what he tasted in the MB, or just some vague unspecified “concerns”?

Not sure how i got this to load since I am not a subscriber, but current Vinous report on Santa Cruz Mtns says this,

“ 2020: A Question Mark

Readers will recall that the 2020 wildfires were especially damaging in the Santa Cruz Mountains. “Everything was so smoked in, you couldn’t even tell what was good and what was bad,” Tommy Fogarty explained. Fogarty will not release any of his 2020 red wines, but had not decided the fate of the 2020 whites as we went to press. It’s a similar story at Rhys, which will release only appellation-level wines from the Santa Cruz Mountains, although there will be single-vineyard bottlings from Anderson Valley and the new Mt. Pajaro property. Even before the fires, though, 2020 was an exceptionally dry and warm year. Aside from obvious smoke taint, intense smoke also blocks light, which is a critical ingredient in the final phase of ripening. The first 2020s I have tasted point to an extremely challenging vintage, but we will see.
”

They would normally have poured it at the Monte Bello futures tastings in 2021, but those didn’t happen due to covid. The next normal chance for MB Collectors will be next March after it would be bottled. I think he’d had said smoke taint if that was what he picked up (for sure). The quote points to ripening issues, so maybe it’s “problematic” is being unusually green and awkward when he’s tried it. That wouldn’t necessarily be a problem, as it could resolve well, perhaps showing more “old school”, but definitely an “approach with caution”.

Us Collectors already paid for ours. Some may recall they declassified the '83 after collectors had received their shipments, then most accepted a generous offer and sent them back. Then there was the big mistake of “falling in love with their hand” after putting so much effort in trying to get quality in '98 that they didn’t declassify it. They know that was a huge mistake. That was an awkward hollow wine that took about 15 years to fill out. Both of those would be fairly priced about $40 right now. Anyway, there’s still time for them to declassify, if the wine doesn’t come around. Us futures customers wouldn’t be getting our til next April (or maybe late March) and should have one chance to taste in March. General release would be fall of next year.

Loaded for me, too: Santa Cruz Mountains: The Compelling 2018s & 2019s (May 2022) | Vinous - Explore All Things Wine

Ah! This overview is free. If you want to see the actual wines reviewed, that’s not (but, you can see what they are).

My understanding is the 2020 MB is 13.5% ABV

That’s right in the normal range. Of course what they select for the Monte Bello blend is a relatively small portion of the estate fruit, so this doesn’t speak much to the entirety of the vineyards. They did nix some lots entirely due to smoke taint (possibly never harvesting). That’s stuff up high in the direct path of smoke coming across from Rhys.

I don’t know what type of light the smoke blocked and what’s responsible for what ripening processes. So, just because photosynthesis progressed doesn’t mean everything else was adequate. The “green” I was referring to includes flavor progression and lack of pyrazine dissipation. Only speculating based on an inference of someone else’s vaguely communicated perception…

Interesting details I’d never heard about the ‘83! Thank you. I remember halves of that wine on sale at the winery in the ‘90s for maybe $8. Alcohol on the label was [corrected: 11.8%]. Just a rough El Niño year.

This is 4pm August 19th 2020 in Los Gatos, looking south. I don’t think it was much better looking up at Montebello.

Thanks Wes Barton

Super helpful insights, especially on the history. I’m in the bucket of those already sitting on futures, so I guess we’ll see what happens

The '83 is 11.8%. The recall offer was 2 bottles labeled Santa Cruz Mtns in exchange for 1 labeled MB. I had purchased a case of the '83 (plus a couple of mags) on futures as it was my daughter’s birthyear. I kept a bottle labeled MB but ended up with close to 2 cases plus mags. I still have a few bottles, including a 5 liter I was able to purchase later. Bottles we’ve tried in the past few years drank nicely, but not anywhere near the '84 and '85 that followed it.

Here’s the back label of the '83 SCM …

Edited to reflect that I don’t know how to read, apparently: I’m curious what the generous offer was - Ridge seems to be pretty responsive to quality issues. How might declassifying the wines affect the 2020 futures?

I just posted it … The recall offer was 2 bottles labeled Santa Cruz Mtns in exchange for 1 labeled MB

I’m guessing he’s trying carefully to thread the needle between trying to provide value to subscribers and not accuse a wine or producer of a specific flaw (especially one like smoke taint which would impugn the reputation of the producer if they knowingly release a tainted wine) when the definition of smoke taint isn’t even widely agreed upon.

Oof, I need to keep tabs on this. I have my full allocation paid for, of course, and am ticked I didn’t consider smoke taint on it.

I’m guessing Tom Hill (sorry, tom/hill) will be among the first to taste it, with his allocation of 10! Subscribing to this thread.

Monte Bello is maybe 1.5 miles as the smoke flies across a canyon from the Rhys winery and Skyline vineyard. No Skyline designate Pinot in 2020 from Rhys.

-Al

Not sure you had enough information to skip it in May 2021 when futures are paid for… In any case, though the title of this thread may initially create some anxiety, my suspicion (hope) is that Ridge isn’t going to release MB with smoke taint, so they’ll have to accommodate customers somehow if it isn’t released. It is of course a bummer for everyone to miss a vintage.

Smoke taint aside, if it’s simply just a poor vintage due to lack of sun near harvest, well that’s just the risk you take buying futures. They make the best wine they can every year. And again, if it’s undrinkable, can’t imagine Ridge will release it.

I’m starting to wonder if the many ‘sorry, no MB for you’ emails on the 2021 vintage are because they are considering swapping out in some way? '21’s for '20’s?

That sounds rather far-fetched to me. Ridge has been cautioning about the low production of the '21 MB since early this year. The low yields were mentioned more generally in last December’s harvest report:

“While yields were down for all the Bordeaux varieties, cabernet was a full third below average. Also notable and another effect of the drought, was the very small size of the berries. This resulted in wines with tremendous concentration but posed a challenge in managing the level of tannin of each fermentation. As the year comes to an end, forty-five lots are slowly completing malolactic fermentation and we expect all to finish in January.”

If there’s a serious issue with the '20 MB I’m confident Ridge will do the right thing for those of us who did purchase it on futures. I don’t see them exacerbating the problem of an already short '21 MB release by diverting some of that limited production though.