Bottled barrel sample,
subdued aromatics, lovely black fruit, very youthful, great palate length with balanced acidity and sophisticated tannic structure for such a raw wine, 91-93 for now, but its bound to improve with further elevage and time in the cellar.
Thanks for the note! My daughter’s birth year wine, so I purchased a bunch.
Sounds like it’s off to a good start.
You are a brave soul. I can’t imagine opening that beast right now
Gasp, Marcus…who’d have thunk!! ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
Looks like another MB w/ a large fraction of CabSauv.
Hmmmm…not many of us left who have drunk a MB that was 100% Cabernet.
Tom
Hi Tom,
sorry if thats obvious to you, but that was my first time trying any Ridge wine, and I have no idea of their track record for cellaring, so I was merely providing a note on the wine.
Well, Marcus…that was not intended as a put-down. I just sorta assume that everyone has tried a MB in their life.
It’s aging ability is legendary. So welcome to the world of MonteBello.
Tom
Marcus, you had no way of knowing this, but Tom was joking about the insane ageability of Monte Bello, not your comment.
Your comment was quite appropriate, qualifying your 91-93 score as having an upside. So was Tom’s, joking about the absurd ageability, not making fun of your comment. And it really is absurd, even their lower end wines often show very well after 40 plus years because of the perfect acidity and perfect balance. I love Ridge but I now find many of their wines hatd to drink under ten years of age.
But make fun of people’'s comments? Tom doesn’t do that.
I do. Tom carries a urinal everywhere he goes but I’m not going to mention that right now.
Gasp, Marcus…who’d have thunk!!
Looks like another MB w/ a large fraction of CabSauv.
Hmmmm…not many of us left who have drunk a MB that was 100% Cabernet.
Tom[/quote]
Hi Tom,
sorry if thats obvious to you, but that was my first time trying any Ridge wine, and I have no idea of their track record for cellaring, so I was merely providing a note on the wine.[/quote]
Marcus, you had no way of knowing this, but Tom was joking about the insane ageability of Monte Bello, not your comment.
Your comment was quite appropriate, qualifying your 91-93 score as having an upside. So was Tom’s, joking about the absurd ageability, not making fun of your comment. And it really is absurd, even their lower end wines often show very well after 40 plus years because of the perfect acidity and perfect balance. I love Ridge but I now find many of their wines hatd to drink under ten years of age.
But make fun of people’'s comments? Tom doesn’t do that.
I do. Tom carries a urinal everywhere he goes but I’m not going to mention that right now.[/quote]
No worries,
I completely understand,
TBH I dont get to try too many American wines down here in New Zealand, and I was stoked to get offered the chance to try an MB.
no offense taken and I hope none given
Marcus, for us Ridge fans, it is a unique winery. It’s not in Napa or Sonoma for starters. Almost everything red tastes very dark and almost everything red ages really well. And Geyserville might be the best red wine deal in the US. And the $50 estate cab might be the best cab in the US at that price.
And we Ridge fans make pilgrimages to the winery precisely to do what you did, taste barrel samples, assemblage components, finished product.
What does MB cost in the states?
Ridge was flying a little under the radar for quite a while with the general wine-buying public, partly because neither Parker nor Spectator were giving them a lot of attention. That changed a few years ago, and prices have gone up. A decade ago, you could buy “futures” of MB for about $65. Then it started going up $5-10 a year. That 2016 you tasted sold as futures from the winery at (I think) $115/bottle. When they release it, the retail price will probably be $180.