Food & Wine Features Ridge Estate Cabernet in “California Wine’s Best-Kept Secret”

Food & Wine

April, 2020

Food & Wine Executive Wine Director Ray Isle’s recent article declares the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA “California Wine’s Best Kept Secret” and features Ridge Estate Cabernet as one of the best wines from this “hidden gem of a wine region.”

One of the abiding mysteries of California wine is why more people don’t know about—and therefore love—the Santa Cruz Mountains wine region. Part of the explanation may be that it’s small, with only about 1,600 acres of vines (Napa Valley has 46,000); part of it may be its divided nature, since the region lies on both sides of the San Francisco Peninsula ridge of the Pacific Coast Ranges. Yet right now it’s producing some of the state’s best Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, as well as several benchmark Cabernets…

2016 Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

Ridge’s Monte Bello Cabernet is a California benchmark, but don’t overlook the winery’s excellent estate Cabernet. Dark currants and cassis, cola and mint—it’s both complex and delicious.

–Ray Isle, Executive Wine Director, Food & Wine Magazine