2010 Monte Bello is one of the Year’s Best Cabernets, 96 pts. (Wine & Spirits Magazine)

The Ridge 2010 Monte Bello receives a 96-point score and is one of the Year’s Best Cabernets in the December 2013 issue of Wine & Spirits magazine. The full review follows:

“Eric Baugher and Paul Draper select this wine from 58 acres at Monte Bello, predominately cabernet sauvignon (74 percent in 2010), with merlot (20 percent), petit verdot and cabernet franc. They shape the wine through careful sorting of the grapes, fermenting without added yeast, pressing to new American oak barrels after seven days. The wine then ages two stories down in the 19th-century limestone cellar carved out of the ridge 2,600 feet above the Pacific. The wine, rooted in that same limestone, provide a massive wine, substantial in its structure, generous in its vibrant fruit flavors, gracious in its tannins. While fruit is at the center of the wine, it’s savory and sophisticated rather than overly sweet. The flavors touch on small berries–black currants, wild blue berries–and also hint at herbs (tarragon, tobacco). This is a terrific vintage of Monte Bello: It feels healthy and sound, with tension and drive that will sustain it for decades in the cellar.”