Ridge Bloggers Tasting #2 - A Monte Bello Vertical

Last Friday I was lucky enough to attend my second blogger's tasting at Ridge Vineyards, my favorite California winery. The theme is always a surprise, so I was very excited as I ascended the 4 mile hill to Monte Bello in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I arrived and almost walked in on another event in the same location as the last tasting, but I was quickly redirected to the brand-new Black Mountain Room, where our tasting had just begun. Cheeses and bread were ours for the taking, 2009 Chardonnay was poured in our glasses to prime our palates, and then the theme was revealed: an 11-year library vertical of Monte Bello! Recall that Monte Bello is Ridge's famous Bordeaux-style blend, based heavily on Cabernet Sauvignon, followed by Merlot and small/varying amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

I was thrilled by this theme. The oldest Monte Bello I have had was a 1989, and I loved it. And then, a challenge was posed: order the wines from oldest to youngest. The wines were all in brown bags, lettered from A-K. We tasted them blind, 2 at a time, noting the color, sediment, aromas, and structural development. These are the things you should observe to deduce the age of a wine. Is it bright purple, or more brick red? Does the nose give off fresh fruit or more dried, stewed fruit, or none at all? Are the tannins grippy or soft, or is there heavy sediment where tannins once lived? I focused on these attributes. I am not an overly competitive person, but there was a prize for the winner! I love prizes.

So, 2 by 2 we went. Fellow bloggers tweeted while we tasted, and a "Twitterfall" was displayed on a large flatscreen TV behind, showing the tweets as they came in. (I was the only person not tweeting. Am I missing out here?) We were mostly silent except for the occasional comment on a tweet or about the wines' ages or flavors.With each pair, I made comparisons to the previous. A is younger than B, F is older than G, F and G are older than A and B, etc. It was like a puzzle. At the end, everyone recorded their final order and then Christopher unveiled the wines in the correct order. He asked who had the most correct placements. It was me! I won the contest, with 7 out of 11 correct!

And what was my prize? A bottle of the 2010 Monte Bello, a tank sample, not even filtered yet! I might age it for around 20 years, given that I tend to prefer the Monte Bello's from the '80s and '90s.

Not to generalize, but all the wines were amazing. The ones from the '70s were fascinating in their differences, with subtle changes in flavor and structure from 1977 to 1978. The 1981 and 1985 were beautiful, with fruit and softness and a complex earthiness. The '90s were bright and spicy, and 2000 and 2006 were vibrant and fruity, with grippy tannins. The 2010 barrel sample was in a class by itself, bright purple with inky dark fruit and firm structure.

I'm very grateful to be part of the Ridge blogger family. Thanks to Christopher for including me!

Check out Ridge's blog for more:

http://blog.ridgewine.com/2011/06/21/wine-bloggers-tasting-2-6-17-11-the-aftermath/