I brought the wines to that dinner! 
From the Ridge website, describing the 1993 “Evangelho Vineyard” Mataro:
"We have used the Evangelo Vineyard’s hunded-year-old mataro vines for the 1990 Advance Tasting Program release and all subsequent national ones. In the 1993 vintage, the national release comes from the Bridgehead vineyards, a quarter-mile to the east; all the Evangelo[sic] was set aside for this, our second ATP mataro."
https://www.ridgewine.com/wines/1993-evangelo-mataro/
I dunno…
There were White Rieslings from the late 60’s, too, from Vine Hill and probably other nearby vineyards. I think I have a few empties somewhere … I’ll have to see if I can put my hands on them. Ridge also made White Zinfandel in several vintages in the 70s and 80s.
Once upon a time, the AmericanNuclearSociety was holding their semi-annual convention, November,
in TheCite. About '75. I took a group nuclear types up to MonteBelloRidge and we were hosted by DaveBennion.
Dave had a technical background and worked one/two Summers in LosAlamos, so he was delighted to hang
w/ his LosAlamos bros. We tasted thru all the latest Ridge reds, mostly '73 vintage, to suitable oooze & awezs.
Up on the little knoll, windy and very cold.
As we were finishing up, I made the comment to Dave that Ridge made awesome reds, but the whites were
a little lacking. He took that as a challenge and went down into the library and started pulling whites…Chards/Sylvaners/Rieslings.
As we worked our way into the late '60’s, they started to get really interesting…much like an old Mosel Riesling and an
old Chablis. We finished off w/ a '68 Riesling TBA that was absolute killer. Made a believer out of me on the Ridge whites.
I’m sure the '73 VineHill was in that bunch. I pulled out my laptop and tried to enter TN’s, but Ridge’s WiFi was not working that day. ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
Tom
Awwwww, Scott…how could you forget the White Carignanes??
In the early '70’s, they were making their CoastRange Zins. I brought some 70 cs down from TheBoulderWineMerchant
in a U-Haul trailer of the '73 CoastRange at $3.49/btl. And they even made a CoastRange PinotNoir one year.
Tom
IIRC there was a change in the selection process for the lots to be included in the Monte Bello bottling. Ridge released to purchasers of Monte Bello futures of the 83 and 84 at the same time. Before releasing the 83 to general distribution they decided to declassify the 83 and hence the recall. I kept my MB’s but finished them many years ago.
The 1979 Monte Bello was a very limited bottling comprised mostly of merlot and never released to the public as far as I know. IIRC there were two Santa Cruz Mtns cabs in 79 and you could tell the declassified MB bottles as they had punts where the other bottling had flat bottomed bottles.
Thanks all
Very cool Steve. I remember some of those bottles.
You, Sir, are a Pack Rat!!
I found one old bottle. It’s in pretty lousy shape, but …
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Phenomenal!!!
See, I knew you guys had some tricks hidden up your sleeves!
I have a Ridge that is specifically labelled as 1974 Ridge Monte Bello merlot. I will look for it to take a pick.
It’s my only bottle, not sure if it is a rarity, or not!
Here’s an unusual one that is, as far as I can tell, the first Ridge wine from Geyserville.
Thanks Sean! I’ve been enamored with Ridge since I first got into wine. Loved the history of the people and the vineyards. I was honored to meet Fran Bennion last year. We had a delightful chat about the early days at Ridge. For me, the 1977 Morgan Hill Barbera and the 1967 Congress Springs Cabernet Franc are on my bucket list.
In 1940, William Short (a theologist), purchased 25 acres below the old Perrone winery (now known as the Upper - Ridge’s Monte Bello production facility). In 1949 he planted Cabernet Sauvignon, Ruby Cabernet, a few acres of Chardonnay and a couple of rows of Pinot Noir. It was this property that was originally purchased by the six Ridge partners in 1959. These plantings became known as the Middle vineyards.
The Ridge tasting room (known as the Lower) was the site of the Mikulaco winery (acquired from the Torre family), part of Short’s purchase. Of particular interest regarding Mr. Short’s plantings is the utilization of St. Georges rootstock, which is resistant to phylloxera.
In 1982, the Monte Bello Vineyard set a very large crop of Cabernet. As was customary at that time, very little fruit was dropped, resulting in overcropping and fruit of less than the vineyard’s usual distinction. 4361 cases of Monte Bello were bottled, along with 879 cases labeled as William Short. It was - to say the least - a “light” vintage (in character, not yield). The MB came in at 11.4% alcohol, the William Short at 11.1%.
These circumstances, combined with the declassification of the 1983 MB, led to the overhaul of Ridge’s selection process for the Monte Bello, which is well documented.
I’m traveling right now, but I’m pretty certain I have a bottle of the Morgan Hill Barbera resting in the cellar. If I can put my hands on it, I’ll post a pic next week.
Just curious … why is this a bucket list wine for you ?
Thanks for chiming in, Mr Bree!!
Some pics of the 1977 Morgan Hill Barbera. The back label says the “vines were taken out shortly after the harvest.” I seem to recall hearing that the vineyard was turned into a parking lot.
