I was gifted this btl on Fri by a friend, so shared it w/ some friends last night:
- Ridge Calif MonteBello (100% Chard/Jimsomare/MonteBelloVnyd/SantaCruzMtns; 14.5%; Bttld: Feb 2001) 1999: Med.dark gold color w/ no browning; strong ozone/WWII beacon/used fireworks/pungent rather nutty/toasted hazelnuts/tobaccoy/slight oxidized slight oldBurg/oatmealy bit melony/Chard quite complex beautiful nose; soft/fat strong nutty/toasted hazelnuts/slight oxidized ripe/pineapply/melony/Chard light earthy/SCM/chalky some caramel/creme brulee/tobaccoy/oak/toasty bit pungent/ozone flavor; very long/lingering nutty/toasted hazelnuts ripe/pineapply/melony/Chard finish; lots of complexity and some oldBurg character w/o the minerality; still in wonderful condition. $nc (BS)
And a wee BloodyPulpit:
- I have followed the Ridge Chards from the very start, from back in the mid-'60’s. They originally had a small planting of Chard up in the upper MB vnyd, but those have since been removed. All the MB Chard is all down on the lower Jimsomare vnyd now days.
Those original Chards of DaveBennion were not much pleasure to drink. They had modest alcohols (around 12%), a very strong chalky/earthy/mineral/austere/acidic streak to them. So did those early Ridge WhiteRieslings and Sylvaners from VineHill vnyd. It was definitely a terroir thing.
One time I had taken a group of nuclear-types up to TheRidge for a visit & tasting of the recently-released '73 Zins. In November, a cold/shivery day out on the knoll w/ DaveBennion hosting us. As we finished our tasting of reds and people were eager to return to their cars & warm up, I made a parting comment to Dave how much I liked his Zins, but thought his whites sucked…though in much more diplomatic terms. He arched his eyebrows a bit and snorted…“You all wait here a bit”. He went down into the library and started hauling out btls of Ridge Chards/Sylvaners/WhiteRieslings from the '70 vintage back to about the '66 or '65 vintage. The older ones had developed this beautiful old-wine character not too unlike old WhiteBurg and German Riesling. Made a real believer out of me. And Dave had this big $hiit-eating/self-satisfied grin on his face as we headed out.
When Ridge resumed production of Chards from Jimsomare in the early '80’s (?), I was not so thrilled by them. They were made in a much riper style w/ a ton of new oak/higher alcohol; a bit on the soft/fat/porky side. Dave would be ashamed of them. They seldom showed much of that austere/chalky/earthy character that Dave’s usually showed. Maybe JonBonne is right, harvesting very ripe grapes obliterates terroir.
This '99 MB was one of the modern style Ridge Chards that I did not care much for. I was expecting it to be on its last legs. It was not. It showed wonderful complexity and the nutty character that old Calif Chards (sometimes) take on. Hmmmm…maybe that Draper guy knows more about making wine than I was giving him credit for???
I have noted that the more recent Ridge Chards seem to be a bit more restrained and not as over-the-top and are starting to show some of that SCM/chalky/mineral character. Dave’s up there somewhere, nodding his head…saying “I told you so”.
Tom