Per a 2014 Grape Collective article, three slideshows were created as part of Ridge Vineyards’ 50th anniversary celebration. Two of the presentations feature images of older wine labels.
Vine Hill is the subregion of the Santa Cruz Mountains, once famous for Germanic whites. That’s the same area Ken Burnap’s estate was, with his Santa Cruz Mountains Vineyard. All originally the Jarvis Vineyard, planted 1863. I had a Ridge '73 Sylvaner from there a decade ago. Still alive and enjoyable, but probably lost a lot. There’s a good chance the (probably '60s) Novitiate NV “Reisling” i had was from there.
Only 5 left in CT (and i have 1 more of those 5 in the cellar) so figured I’d post here as well.
1980 Picchetti Zinfandel, Santa Cruz Mountains.
It’s always amazing how well Ridge wines age. This Picchetti zin was really nice. Tart cranberries, some cinnamon, and a sour-apple like note on the finish. Medium bodied with plenty of acidity. Just a really beautiful, well aged zin from one of the masters. As always, an extra point for being a birth-year wine.
I enjoyed revisiting this thread and thought I would add my favorite “rare” Ridge bottling.
In 2002, the Gang and I held a weekend of Ridge tasting events. The big tasting was the Saturday gathering on Spring Mountain. Jim and Barbara Richards graciously agreed to host some eighty or so Ridge fans at Paloma to explore some 60+ bottlings from Fritz Maytag’s York Creek Vineyard.
I expected one of the legendary 1971 Petite Sirah (either the Ridge or the Freemark Abbey) to be the star of the tasting, but that was not the case. As it turned out, the 71 Ridge PS was long gone by the time I got to it and the 71 Freemark Abbey York Creek PS had started to fade a bit.
Ridge also made two (!!) “Napa Gamay” bottlings in 1971 - a lot made using carbonic maceration and a second utilizing more widely used techniques. Fritz contributed a bottle of each from his cellar. It was the first and only time I saw or heard of those wines.
At thirty years of age, the carbonic maceration bottling was (predictably) DOA. The other bottling, using more of the winemaking techniques we might have expected from Ridge, was quite magical and was my wine of the day. It was alive, vibrant and drinking beautifully. While I have no direct evidence, most folks think (as do I), that the variety was actually Valdiguie - often labeled as “Napa Gamay” at that time.
Warm memories on a cold, cold, foggy morning in the Rogue Valley.
There’s a NV Monte Bello on WineBid right now. I don’t know much about these but looks like Ridge made a few bottlings in the late 60s and early 70s. Please correct me if I’m wrong, though.
The back label provides the info on this one, a blend of '66 and '69. I believe Tom Hill has written about some of these multi-vintage blends in the past.
Meant to post this a while ago… absolutely beautiful in terms of appearance, nose and palate. No other vintages recorded in CellarTracker, and 12 bottles left In Cellars. I hope I encounter another one at some point.
