2013 Monte Bello Historic Vines

Opaque ruby color. Fresh currant, cherry, and cranberry fruits; caramelized sugar, toasted oak, ginger, juniper forest, and violet floral notes. Lively acid entry, full body, chalky tannins, mountain fruit, dried herbs, seductive, and great depth to flavors in a long finish. EB (10/16)

In the mid-1940s, William Short purchased the abandoned Torre Ranch; in replanting, he chose cabernet from the 19th-century Fountain Grove vineyard. Ridge bought the property in 1959 and, from 1962 to 1974, made the Monte Bello from these vines. This is one of California’s oldest surviving cabernet vineyards. In 2013, as drought persisted, these vines produced their best quality of the last fifteen years. We made this wine in celebration. Wonderfully complex, reminiscent of the great 1970, it will continue to develop over the next thirty years.

In the mid-1940s, William Short purchased the abandoned Torre Ranch; in replanting, he chose cabernet from the 19th-century Fountain Grove vineyard. Ridge bought the property in 1959 and, from 1962 to 1974, made the Monte Bello from these vines. This is one of California’s oldest surviving cabernet vineyards. In 2013, as drought persisted, these vines produced their best quality of the last fifteen years. We made this wine in celebration. Wonderfully complex, reminiscent of the great 1970, it will continue to develop over the next thirty years.

Rainfall: 20.5 inches (below average)
Bloom: Mid-June
Weather: Moderate summer and fall, finishing early.

Harvest Dates: 28 September
Grapes: Average brix 23.3˚
Fermentation: Destemmed and whole berry; 100% automated berry sorted; floating cap, daily pump-overs; natural primary and natural secondary (malolactic). Pressed at ten days.
Barrels: 100% new air-dried american oak.
Aging: 21 months in barrel

Hand harvested, estate-grown organic grapes, destemmed whole berry fermented on the native yeasts; full malolactic on the naturally occurring bacteria; oak from barrel aging; minimum effective sulfur for this wine (30 ppm initially at crush, 106 ppm over the course of aging); pad filtered at bottling. In keeping with our philosophy of minimal intervention, this is the sum of our actions.

Vinous Media (July 2016) 97+ Points. The 2013 Monte Bello Historic Vines is much more tannic and forbidding than the Steep Terraces. Beams of tannin and intense, mineral/savory aromatics are the key signatures. A wine of structure and tannin, the Historic Vines is a wine for patient readers. It won’t be ready to drink anytime soon, that much is obvious. Readers who can find a bottle or two should not hesitate, as it is fabulous. Sadly, there are just six barrels (about 150 cases) to go around. A host of blue/purplish fruits, dark spice, lavender and graphite saturate the deep, resonant finish. – Antonio Galloni