Ridge's Vineyards


        
 

Santa Cruz Mountains

Monte Bello map

Vineyard

First RIDGE Vintage: 1979
Location: Monte Bello Ridge, in northern California's Santa Cruz Mountains, overlooking the San Francisco peninsula.
Elevation: 1300 - 2660'
Age of Vines: Oldest planted in 1949; major replantings in 1968/9, 1972, 1982, 1987/8, 1990, 1995, 1997/8.
Training: Head-trained, cane-pruned (on trellis).
Irrigation: Non-irrigated. (Exception: New vines receive drip irrigation until established.)
Climate: Cool, mountainous — between the Mediterranean and Maritime Zones.
Exposure: Principally south/southeast

History

The Monte Bello vineyard was first planted when the winery was built, in 1886. In the early 1940s, the last of the old vineyard was abandoned; a few blocks were replanted in 1949. Those cabernet vines — now over fifty years old — made up the first Ridge Monte Bello in 1962, and subsequent vintages until the mid-seventies. By then, vines replanted during the sixties were maturing, and their fruit considered for use in the Monte Bello. The softer, more accessible lots were combined as a companion wine which, since 1979, we have designated Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet.

See available wines | Visiting Monte Bello