Anyone heard any info on how this release is looking as a future, anyone barrel sampled ?
I’d be surprised if it’s even done with secondary fermentation at this point.
First tasting of the potential assemblage won’t be until March, and the final assemblage in May. You’ll see reports then, and the futures buying window typically stays open until May - unless one of the big name critics gives manages to sample the wine and give it a huge score before that.
What does MB stand for? 
I keed, I keed
I don’t. Threads like this won’t pop up in future searches for info on Monte Bello 2014. Is it really so difficult to type a few extra characters?
There was ver little support for my idea of an abbreviations page so im not sure why anyone would be bothered
The page made no sense. I’m supposed to leave a thread when I see an acronym/abbrev and run to the glossary page and then come back? And it would do zero to help resurrect threads using the search function
How about we just type the name? Once.
Tots bro . . .
No worries on this specific thread, Neal - so far, nothing has been said about it, really. So far, this is a Seinfeld thread (about nothing).
Let’s check back in 3-6 months and see what we can find out…
There you go. Now this thread will show up on a search for Monte Bello.
Will be fun to taste the '14 at Bassins Cali Barrel Tasting. See all you DC folks there. MB (that’s Mookie Blaylock for all you uninitiated) is always among the best showings at the event.
Nice…Not a bad name for some hipster wine.
You know, as I am learning more about Santa Cruz terroir, it actually came a surprise to me to learn that Montebello is not actually a vineyard, but the name given to four different vineyards (none of which are actually called Montebello.) Much like their Geyserville does not have a vineyard called Geyserville in it, and is instead named after the area, it is the same for Montebello, which is a series of Ridge-owned vineyards on the Montebello Ridge that they have collected over the last several decades. As they added the vineyards over time, they add it to the Montebello flagship. Most of what we know as Montebello was not part of the blend until the 70s and later.
Did everyone else know this? I sure didn’t.
Nope. This is really cool information though!
I didn’t know that either and nice to know.
Yes. But then you know a whole lot about Napa vineyards that most of us don’t ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
More than four, really. The four relates to their Historic Vineyard Series, which is a tribute to the significant growers there in the pre-Prohibition era. (Some of those Cabs were holding their own against the French, making that Spurrier tasting a sequel of sorts.) Anyway, there are smaller vineyards that come and go, and there is also a Monte Bello Chard and has been a Monte Bello Zin. So, think of it as a reserve selection from a series of estate vineyards in their sub-region of the Montebello ridge.
The founding Ridge partners wanted to use the name of the historic Montebello Winery, but weren’t able to attain the name. (That was Oseo Perrone’s winery.) They couldn’t even use the spelling of the road/ridge. (They finally got in in 1993.) That’s why the proprietary name is spelled Monte Bello instead of Montebello.
Like Monte Bello vs Estate, you’ll see they use a similar tiered system with other sources. Lytton Springs is an example. Other bottlings from there tend to say Lytton Estate. 2nd tier Dusi is labeled Paso Robles. They’ll also sometimes designate a specific vineyard out of a larger grouping, when it’s distinct enough to bottle separately. They still use Jimsomare for Chard and Zin, though the Cab from there is now called Klein. Mikulaco Chard is a newer example. Trentadue is an old one (part of Geyserville).
Good info!
some pretty positive notes on E-bob from folks who tried the final blend. You can still sign up for the futures list- $105 per 750. I’m kicking myself that I didn’t sign up for this program years ago but got on board with an allocation for the 14.
cheers
Still thinking about going down for May assemblage weekend.
