TN: Ridge- Monte Bello 1975-1991.

It had been almost ten years since I last went to a Monte Bello vertical, so it was time to remedy that. On Monday, March 6th, I got together with an august group of wine lovers, Greg Dal Piaz, Bob Cunningham, Jeff Patten, Josh Cohen and Josh Leader at Beacon restaurant to check in on a a number of vintages, the theme being 1991 and earlier, to see how they were evolving. The answer was, for the most part, they’re doing quite well. There were a couple of surprises, both good and bad and as expected, the '84 and '91 stole the show.

Cheers,

Brad

• 1990 Stony Hill Chardonnay- SHV Stony Hill - USA, California, Napa Valley
  Oy. Not a good way to start the evening. Oxidative and oaky with charred stone fruit, nuts and spice. Perhaps if you like Sherry, you’d like this. I don’t. D.
• 1975 Ridge- Monte Bello - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
  (96% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, 11.9% alc.)
  Corked. NR (flawed)
• 1977 Ridge- Monte Bello - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
  (97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Merlot, 11.7% alc.)
  To be honest, I was expecting more from this wine. It shows some aged fruit sweetness on the nose with lots of dusty earth notes, leather and old wood. On the palate, it’s showing a bit old. The fruit is largely fading, though with some air some muddled red cherry did manage to rise up briefly before flaring out. There’s a hole in the middle initially that starts to fill in, but then the finish starts to fragment. For a brief time it had a pretty, elegant mouthfeel that only comes with age, but the finish dried up all too soon. More earth, dried herb and leather driven at this stage than fruit. Drink up. B+.
• 1975 Ridge- Lytton Springs - USA, California, Sonoma County, Dry Creek Valley
  (94% Zinfandel, 6% Petite Sirah, 11.7% Alc.)
  Bob brought this as a ringer to spice things up a bit, though I knew in advance what he was going to bring. Clearly showing its Zin profile with brambly and raspberry fruit and a good dose of dustiness on the nose and palate. It’s not as complete as the '74 that I had last fall, but the wine was still intact and showed nice freshness with its acid levels and low alcohol. The structure, combined with a dried fruit profile and some austerity on the finish really gave the wine an Italian feel. Best wine of the flight. A-/B+.
• 1984 Ridge- Monte Bello - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
  (93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 12.9% alc.)
  This was a show stopper. Just gorgeous. It’s exuberant and gregarious, but shows depth and a real personality as well. The sweet cherry fruit is concentrated and layered, but also supple and is fully integrated with the herb, cedar and earth components. Despite the richness, the wine has a wonderful elegance thanks to its low alcohol level and acidity. It’s drinking wonderfully now, though as open and seamless as this bottle is showing, there’s still some tannins lingering around and in the overall scheme of things, there’s still not a lot of secondary development yet. Seriously good wine here. A.
• 1985 Ridge- Monte Bello - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
  (93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 13.1% alc.)
  A darker and less ebullient wine than the '84, it shows more of a classic Monte Bello profile of rich black currant and blackberry, with much more obvious oak, black olive and a more prominent herb character. It’s a coarser and more tannic wine that could definitely use more time for the oak to become better integrated, to shed some tannins and to develop a little more complexity, but the fruit is plush and sweet, making it an quite enjoyable drink. A-.
• 1988 Ridge- Monte Bello - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
  (95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot, 12.9% alc.)
  The weakest wine of the night, but still quite nice and certainly a success for the vintage. The nose was the weakest link, which hardly enticed with it’s herbaceous and strong dill/oak aromas. It was better on the palate, where it showed fairly friendly upfront with its black fruit and herb character. A bit chunky and rustic in personality and less weighty than the other wines, it turns a bit dilute in the middle and finishes with drying, slightly astringent tannins. Drink up. B+.
• 1990 Ridge- Monte Bello - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
  (85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, 13.5% alc.)
  Shows some Brett on the nose with a bit of a lactic note and plump red fruit. It’s disappointing on the palate, where it comes off as clumsy and lacks depth and complexity. It’s beefy with obvious oak and shows the vintage’s ripe cherry fruit profile that borders on overripe along with its low acid levels. Too much sweet oak here and not enough wine to absorb it. B+.
• 1991 Ridge- Monte Bello - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
  (85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, 13.1% alc.)
  There’s always a certain amount of excitement when one sees this bottle on the table as it’s one of those wines held up as an example by many as to how good California Cabernet can be. Thankfully, we had a terrific bottle. In fact, I think a number of us were surprised with how youthful this bottle was. I’ve had a number of bottles as far back as ten years ago that showed more integration and age than this one did. It showed its classic profile of cassis, herb, cocoa and hints of licorice, but the fruit was still fairly primary, the structure was still formidable and while expansive across the palate, the wine overall was still pretty tight. A real joy to drink, though while a better wine than the '84, I think the '84 beats it for WOTN honors simply due to how open and integrated that one was in comparison to the '91. This definitely retains its icon status, though and as it develops more, one should expect even greater things. Solid A

The wines.

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The group.

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Posted from CellarTracker

Yeah, the '91 is special. Great line-up of older MBs!!

'91 is stunning!

I have but one bottle of the 1991 Brad, 30th anniversary sound about right to you?

Jealous as hell of you guys. Still crushed that my 1991 was an off bottle. Would love to take a crack at that wine when its “on”.

I think the 91 may be the best California wine I have ever had.

It’s certainly in the running for me. I’ve only had it twice, but both were very memorable, for all of the same, right reasons.

Thanks for the notes; really sorry I missed it.

Last week, I brought the 1985 to a lunch, and it showed beautifully. When it was young, the wine was dominated by an unbelievable amount of oyster shell minerality; with this bottle, still there, but the fruit seemed to have emerged. Lovely wine.

It all depends on storage. I’ve had bottles that have shown pretty primary like this one and I’ve had others that have been more advanced, but, well-stored, I bet it’s in a wonderful place at age thirty.

Thx Brad. I am pointing towards a spring 2021 uncorking, the bottle’s 30th.

Glenn, it’s the wine’s 21st birthday. Doesn’t that mean it’s ready to drink?

I had the 1991 last year. The cork was a bit fragile, and while good, the wine certainly wasn’t mind blowing, and not nearly as good as the very young 1994 we had from Ridge’s library a week earlier. I’m thining the 1991 wasn’t a great bottle, although it was a Zachy’s purchase, so possibly of decent provenance and storage.

All that aside, I’m not convinced any of the 1991s I’ve had, Dominus included, are going to get all that much better with another 9 years of age. I think you start fighting the battle of numbers. Most 1991s will be worse off in 9 years than they are now. You’re playing a bet if you wait.

I brought the 91, last of 4 bottles purchased probably a decade ago. With the exception of one crap showing these bottles have shown positive development for the past few years though the wine remains exceptionally youthful. With the right provenance I would buy another 4-6 bottles of this and enjoy it over the coming decade or more. It’s a benchmark Cabernet and one that will have no problem greeting its 30th birthday in style.

I had my first taste of 1984 Monte Bello a couple of years ago and it was one of the best bottles of California Cab that I have tasted. Also, Ridge had a tasting of the 1990, 1991 and 1992 Monte Bello’s in October, 2010. All were from .375 and were from the winery. The 1991 was very, very good, with no signs of decline, even from .375.

Thanks,
Ed

I certainly don’t disagree that most '91’s will be worse off in nine years from now, but you really need to look at the wines case by case and all the evidence is there that the '91 Monte Bello will be in fine shape at age 30 and, depending in what you like in your wine, may even be better than it is today. Monte Bello has a fifty year history at Ridge and '91 may well be the best one they’ve made, depending on personal tastes, so the track record and ingredients are there.

I have had Monte bellos from the 1960s, which were not only still in great shape, but had evolved over time to show incredible complexity. This takes time, and twenty years will not begin to allow the wine to show that kind of aromatic profile.

I have a ton of 1975s (birth year) and the 75 Monte Bello has been one of my favorites (not that that’s saying much when you’re talking about 1975)

Can add a note on the 1976. It had lost its label, and I decided to open it, and was happy to see the 1976 on the cork. Color was deep, very complex nose, beautiful sweet rich wine, slightly lacking in acidity, but delicious and very easy to drink. Using the Kane scale solid A-

Drank the 1984 MB last night and it was every bit the superstar you described from your tasting. Dark in color with primary fruit and enough tannins to suggest there is plenty of time for this wine to evolve.

Bummer you couldn’t make the dinner!

Peter, I think Ridge did a great job across the board in '84, from Cabs to Zins. I had an '84 Ridge Jimsomare Cab last year that was also stellar and I’ve liked the Santa Cruz Cab, York Creek Cab and Geyserville.

Good to hear. I have 2 1984 York Creek Cabs to try!