2017 Pagani the other night. Drinking really well young. Great balance of ripeness and structure.
2017 Three Valleys and 2018 Geyserville, good (and great!) with smoked pulled pork.
Drank the 2002 Lytton Springs the other night. Maybe my cellar is too cold, but it really wasn’t all that different from a recent 2015 version…same basic profile, just softer fruit and slightly less sweet. (Much better than a 2001 I had about a year ago, which also didn’t taste like an old, mature wine, but which really was completely uninteresting, unexpressive and without the typical Lytton Springs “Zin-iness”).
It was my turn to pour for my weekly Zoom group. I opened 2002, 2004, 2009-11 Mazzoni Home Ranch. It was really fun and interesting. They were poured into 4 oz bottles on Sunday and we tasted on Monday. Standard drill for us. The favorites were 04 and 11. 04 had the highest Petite Sirah component (5%). All the others 1-2%. 04 was a complete wine, balance and silk. 11 was the cold, rainy vintage in the Sonoma region. That one clocked in at only 13.8% alc. Also, the only wine with more Carignane than Zin. It definitely had a different profile than the others. Although still compelling enough and having sweet fruit notes, 02 had some ethyl acetate (nail polish). It was also the only one with 15+ alc (15.3%). The other three wines, 14.6-7%. Except for 02, the others got better as the evening progressed.
Was my grey capsule an anomaly?
Nope, they’ve been using the matte grey caplsules on Three Valleys for some time. They had previously used them for their Sonoma Station and Coast Range wines.
2011 Triangle Block Carignane, Old Vines, Geyserville. This is drinking exceptionally well right now. Spice on the nose, red fruit and herbs on the palate. Medium bodied, good acidity, robust tannins that mellowed after a couple of hours - plenty of life left. A positive surprise. Went great with a roasted tomato garlic risotto, and nice on its own with some air. Hope I can backfill.
03 Del Carlo, Teldeschi Dry Creek fruit. Just delicious 
% Zinfandel.
Everybody loved this wine.
Ho Lee Fuk, this was incredible. Shortest cork I think I ever pulled from any domestic bottle. Poured ruby-lite red and lots of cherries in the nose initially.
Over 2 hours this wine, aborn when I was studying for the MCAT, gained depth, darkness, energy and complexity.
Step-son and I saved a little and sat to watch the Korean film, The Host, when he looked at me and said “this wine is still peaking”; this, two hours after the short cork was pulled.
Ridiculous showing.
Yesterday, it was the last day for an employee who had worked for Ridge for 46 years in the tasting room (with an 8 year break in the middle). Paul Draper showed up after our shift was over to hang out for a bit. The following were opened. Paul said the MB1 designation refers to Picchetti Ranch (even if the bottle says Jimsomare). ??? It was more interesting than really good, but it wasn’t dead. 1978 was surprisingly fine. I’ve never been much of a fan of Ridge’s late harvest Zins, but this was an exception. York Creek Cab Franc was terrific!
A friend and fellow Ridge employee Greg F shared a photo on FB of the line up. I dug up my invoice for the 2 1978 LH I bought in 1980 in the ATP program — $9.00 whole dollars back then. That was quite a bit back then, but LH got a premium.
So primary still but just a joy to drink. Gobs of plum & zinberry fruit, wine spreading its wings 2H after uncorking.
A decade or more from Claret.
Your notes are great Glenn. Please keep ‘em comin’!
I love the drinking window on that label ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
1990 York Creek Petite Sirah
Medium garnet color, clear. Subdued nose, peppery spice and leather. A little bit of heat. Savory, Red and black fruit on the palate. This is just beginning to show more pronounced tertiary characteristics. Lots of life left. Solid structure, crisp acidity and chalky tannins. Double decanted after standing up for an extended period of time. Virtually all of the fine sediment remained at the bottom of the bottle. Very happy that I have one more.
https://www.ridgewine.com/wines/1990-york-creek-petite-sirah/
Great note on what sounds like an excellent bottle (color looks amazing through the glass). Love Ridge PS with age! I have a bottle of 85 (sisters birth-year) and an 80 Devil’s Hill (my birth year) that im in no hurry to open, but very much looking forward to.
I recall being at a pretty wide-ranging Ridge event ten or so years ago where 92 York Creek Zin and 90 York Creek PS stole the show.
Man, how amazing does an actual in-person Ridge event sound right now. Come on vaccines!!
That is a great birth year wine to have. Drank my last one about 15 years ago and it was wonderful. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Awesome - I love hearing that! Bottle is in great shape and the color looks excellent, so fingers crossed it shows well!