Tried these three over the last few days:
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Ridge PinotNoir Corralitos GaliVnyd/SCCnty (13.9%; 54 brls; bttld 4/22; 5% new oak; Drk: 2/22-2/29: JO) 2020: Med.dark color; strong earthy/PN/black cherry/SCMtn some toasty/Fr.oak bit rustic interesting nose; rather tart/tangy light bodied fairly toasty/Fr.oak fairly strong PN/black cherry/earthy bit dusty/OV rather earthy/rustic pleasant/interesting flavor w/ modest rough tannins; very long very much the same finish; lacks a lot of high-toned PN fruit & shows a lot of earthy SCMtn character; reminds a bit of early Burnap SCMtn Vnyds PN w/o the strong oak, a bit of the old CongressSprings PN; not a blantently Ridge red. $45.00/$40.50 (ATP)
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Ridge Mazzoni Home Ranch/AlexVlly/SonomaCnty (72% Zin//26% Carignane/2% PS; 14.2%; 67 brls; bttld 4/22; Drk: 2/22-2/29-2/30: JO) 2020:Med.dark color; strong vanilla/Ridge oak strong Zin/spicy/raspberry/slight blackberry fairly classic AlexVlly/soupy slight dusty/OV pleasant enough nose; bit soft/lush classic AlexVlly/soupy strong vanilla/Am.oak slight dusty/OV some raspberry/Zin/spicy no structure rather dull/soft/unthrilling flavor w/ light soft tannins; med.long same finish w/ little tannins; quite soft/soupy, lacking in structure or extract; another dull-as-dishwater Mazzoni not even to the 3Vllys level of quality; may put on weight but I wouldn’t bet on it. $40.00/$36.00 (ATP)
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Ridge 79% Syrah/14% Grenache/7% Mataro LyttonEstateVnyd/DryCreekVlly (14.1%; 53 brls; bttld May 2022; First LS Syrah: 1996; tataric acid; Drk: 4/22-4/30: JO) 2020: Slightly dark color; fairly strong blackberry/Syrah/strawberry/Grenache bit dusty/OV modest Ridge/vanilla/toasty oak pleasant nose; bit soft some blackberry/Syrah/spicy light juicy/strawberry some vanilla/Ridge oak slight dusty/OV pleasant enough lightish flavor w/ light gentle tannins; med. light Syrah/blackberry/Grenache/strawberry slight dusty/OV some vanilla/Ridge oak finish w/ liht tannins; a pleasant enough Syrah but speaks little of the LS/spicy character; totally lacking in depth & interest and borders on vapid; of the level of the 3Vllys Zin but just that; rather disappointing; a pleasant enough if simple nose but delivers little on the palate. $42.00/$37.80 (ATP)
More girtleslack from TheBloodyPulpit:
- Yet another underperforming Mazzoni. It seldom performs up to the level it should.
The Syrah was also pretty underwhelming. Pretty light on the palate. Overnight in the open btl, it put on a bit of weight & the tannins started to show, but I doubt if this will ever be a really good Syrah.
Tom
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I almost always like the Mazzoni…enough to buy extra over my ATP allocation most years. Your hating on it inspires me to open a bracket of vintages to see if I can pinpoint where you are wrong and draw you a diagram. I drank up one of the 2019 Pinots a few weeks back. Bistro-grade…happy to glug it down but don’t see it developing positively for my tastes with a lot of cellar time. I continue to subscribe as the nerdiness of a Ridge pinot intrigues me.
Cheers,
fred
6 Likes
Fred, I’m with you on Mazzoni and agree that Tom is wrong. He already posted on another thread about his dislike of that wine, tasted an older one or two, and realized that his assessment of that wine when young wasn’t on the mark.
As I mentioned on that thread (maybe elsewhere?), I did a Mazzoni vertical for my offline group during Covid when all we could was Zoom tastings. 2002, 2004, 2008-11. Only one that wasn’t great was 2002, but I attribute that to it being 15.3% alcohol. At the recent Spring Event earlier this month, I brought 2004. It was firing on all cylinders. It got a lot of positive comments from the other attendees in our group.
Your description of the Pinot as a bistro wine is spot-on. There are so many good SCM Pinots and this one falls into the mediocre category.
2 Likes
They wouldn’t really allow me to alter my ATP offering the way I have been able to in the past. They did say I can cancel my ATP order and then place another order while using my club discount. Silly semantics but I did place an order the way I wanted later. I, even recently, was able to just email changes I wanted to my club order. I ended up ordering some '19 Demostene and the new '20 Bedrock along with the Mazzoni.
I skipped the Pinot. I wasn’t really interested given what I know and the last vintage did not seem to raise any interest among those that tried it. I’ve also found the SGM blend mediocre in most vintages. I do generally like the Mazzoni. It’s one of the better usual ATP wines. But I am also drawn to any Zin blend that uses Carignan in any major way. It always great natural acidity, especially from older sources. Looking forward to trying them as soon as I’m able to get to my cellar and pick up the delivery.
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I will have to withdraw my finger wagging, as I went to the rack and found that the only Mazzoni I have on hand is the 2019. The bottle mysteriously got stuck to my hand, so I pried it off with a corkscrew. I stand by my favorable opinion of it. The 2020 just arrived. I’ll give it a few weeks before I have a look.
Cheers,
fred
1 Like
We could use more diagrammatic arguments around here.
I feel that Tom would appreciate a schematic view of where he went wrong. I was going to include particle acceleration references too. Gluons, quarks or some other lepton. Onto the project pile it goes.
fred
Interesting, I personally find Mazzoni one of the standouts of the ATP shipments for me. A while back I picked up some 2008 Mazzoni from WineBid, and it was one of the standouts over the holidays for us. However, all 2020s from Ridge have been different (hard to describe, but all of them have felt different). Probably should plan on opening up one this weekend to make a decision on if I am ordering any more.
The SGM blend has never felt like it reached the price point they sell it at - I always open one early and think, “Why isn’t this priced the same as Three Valleys?” Meanwhile, I buy up all of the Lytton Estate Syrah they will sell me 
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I’m with you on this. I’ve never understood the hate on Mazzoni. Maybe I’m a sucker for Carignane, but I’ve greatly enjoyed the Mazzoni bottlings, especially with bottle age.
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