Price increases pretty much match what has been happening throughout Napa area…I have not been told I must buy other wines.
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Been on futures list several years. No allocation this year. Told because of very low yields. Website now has 2019 MB for purchase with “12 bottle limit”.
Seems strange to have that big of a limit when yields were so low. Can’t blame them for wanting to make money, just curious why the smoke and mirrors…
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Low yields refers to the 2021 vintage. Cabernet Sauvignon yield was down a full third.
12 bottle limit purchase is for the 2019 vintage.
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I’ve been getting 4 bottles plus Mag allocation for 4 years but didn’t get a 2021.
I replied to the email and asked if I could get some Monte Bello Chardonnay and they accommodated me with a six pack of the '18. Haven’t popped one yet but really looking forward to it. The Estate Chard is our favorite.
The Chardonnay can be extremely long lived. In 2014, and 2016 we had Chardonnays from the 1970s, and they were incredible.
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Bought a couple of '19s. With the 10% discount and free shipping, it’s not too bad of a deal.
The 2011 vintage was $90 per an e-mail I found. For some reason the older ones aren’t popping up in my search.
Yeah that rubs the wrong way. I got to buy the 19’ release but not 20 or 21. If there’s nothing for 22’ I will drop off the list.
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See my post above (#83). 2019 was a Goldilocks vintage. Plentiful and high quality. 2020 was the Santa Cruz Mountains lightning fires year so yield was also low. Remains to be seen if there are any smoke taint issues with Monte Bello reds for '20.
And the world finally makes sense…
I’ll save my disappointment for 2 years from now.
This is not gonna make anyone happy who isn’t offered MB on pre-arrival. This was just posted by Ridge on FB and Instagram. Probably on their website, too. The emphasis on the tonnage decrease was done by me. 2021 was already a small crop. I don’t know if that is just for the red varieties or if Chardonnay is included, too. I asked.
“Harvest was condensed to 33 days, and 171 total tons were picked off the mountain. Contrary to our estimates throughout the growing season, yields were actually down from 2021 by 9 tons. This was largely due to the extreme, sustained heat that we experienced at the beginning of September. Once there was some reprieve from heat, we were able to take a deep breath and scale the rest of harvest in a normal fashion.”
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I haven’t been offered any MB futures since 2019. Guess that’s going to continue!
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A little tangential PSA but the 2019 Monte Bello chard is available on the Ridge website. I mention it because it can be hard to get if you’re not a member. Mine is on the way. Cheers
Anyone else notice Ridge’s latest price increases for 2021 Z-list? Just saw them today. All of these are with the 10% member discount:
- Geyserville: $49.50 - 10% increase year over year (from $45) and 20% from 2 years ago ($41)
- Paso Robles: $40.50 - 22% increase (from $33.30), although previous year only jumped a little
- East Bench: $40.50 - same 22% increase as Paso Robles
A bit worried about implications for Monte Bello pricing later this spring. For the record, here’s the futures price history that I posted earlier in this thread, with 2021 added:
- 2006: $80
- 2007: $80
- 2008: $80
- 2009: $80
- 2010: $85
- 2011: $90
- 2012: $95
- 2013: $98
- 2014: $105
- 2015: $110
- 2016: $115
- 2017: $124
- 2018: $132
- 2019: $141
- 2020: $145
- 2021: $155
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Love MB, but not sure this is correct. I have recently thought that Mount Eden Cab tastes a good bit like MB (and certainly is a peer) but at a lower prices and without all the new American Oak… It is only a couple of mountains over.
I’ve noticed Monte Bello prices dropping a bit on the secondary market. Most wines over the last decade (except 2013) are in the low 200s now when previously it looked like MB was headed to $300+ in the secondary market
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Been buying for a fair number of years, but dropped off the list this year for several years.
the price has been creeping up to where its not as good of a value as it has been. And I’m getting to an age where I don’t need to buy a wine I won’t touch for 20 years. Still love all that I have in the cellar.
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I had to call in and cancel my membership this week. Thinning out the wineries I buy from.
I am not sure what the price will be this year, and the newer vintages will certainly outlast us, but we are still buyers, as long as we continue to be offered an allocation. One benefit of living in the Bay Area is that we can go to their facilities in Cupertino and Healdsburg and taste the wines with no fees. We factor that into the cost, but also recognize that those who are not in the Bay Area may not be able to do the same.
I still buy my allocation, but I’m now selling it to a friend at my cost. I’m 68, it doesn’t make sense to buy MB anymore. I started doing that with the '21 vintage. This way, I get to keep my Ridge membership. He’s a MB Collector member, but 375s aren’t part of his allocation so he’s happy to take mine.
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