Ridge Wholesale

Ridge Spring 2012 Releases - now shipping!


Spring 2012 Release Info - Get labels, backgrounders, bottle shots, and more for our new Spring 2012 releases. For a Spring Release sell sheet, click here. To watch the archived video footage from our Spring Releases virtual tasting on 13 April 2012, please click here.

What's New - May 2012 new


 

For label and background information on the current releases, click here. For older vintages, use the Literature Search link on the left.


 


2008 Monte Bello - 97+ points from Wine Advocate

Here's what Antonio Galloni wrote in The Wine Advocate (Issue 196, August 2011):

new Wine Advocate
    "The 2008 Monte Bello is striking. It is a decidedly muscular Monte Bello endowed with layers of dark fruit. Tobacco, mint, asphalt and crushed rocks develop in the glass, adding tons of complexity and finesse. A long, saline finish rounds things out beautifully. In 2008 the cold growing season stretched into October and the wine definitely has the feel of a cool vintage. The spring frost and the second year of drought conditions lowered yields significantly. Yields were just 1.25 tons per acre on average, but some of the older vineyards came in at less than 1 ton per acre. The balance of fruit, tannin and structure is simply extraordinary, but the wine needs time, most likely lots of it. In 2008 the blend is 72% Cabernet Sauvignon and 28% Merlot. Anticipated maturity: 2018-2038.
     
    I tasted a breathtaking array of wines during my recent visit with Paul Draper at Ridge. Draper is a true American icon, so it's great to see him doing well after a bout with illness. I also tasted a number of older wines, including several Monte Bellos going back to the 1970s. Heretical as it may sound, I think the wines Draper is making today will prove to be far superior to the wines of decades past, many of which are rightly considered legendary. For ease of reference I have also included notes on all of the Ridge wines made outside the Santa Cruz Mountains. The Chardonnays are fermented with native yeasts and go into barrel with their gross lees, which are stirred once a week. The malos usually start the following spring. The wines are assembled just before the following harvest and go back into neutral oak. Aging is about 15 months for the Estate and 17 months for the Chardonnay Monte Bello, with a maximum of 25% new barrels. The reds are fermented with ambient yeasts, undergo malolactic fermentation in tank (except for the Monte Bello which is mostly done in barrel) and stay on their gross lees until the following spring." -Antonio Galloni    , (Rated: 97+)

 


Monte Bello Vintage Pack 1995 • 1997 • 1999

A special offering from our reserves. Here's what Karen MacNeil writes about Monte Bello:

Monte Bello Vintage Pack 95-97-99
    "As classic, structured, and concentrated as First Growth Bordeaux, the Ridge Monte Bello cabernet sauvignons are mighty and majestic wines. Opening one from a great vintage when it's young is almost criminal, for the wine will be as firmly closed as a steel trap. But in ten years or so a stunningly rich superstar saturated with black currant fruit will emerge." –The Wine Bible

 

Six bottles, three extraordinary vintages. More info


 


Large Formats & Older Vintages

We have received many requests over the years to offer older vintages and odd size formats. Should you wish to obtain any of these wines for your restaurant or fine wine store, please contact us.