Ridge Vineyards, "Monte Bello" Cabernet Sauvignon Santa Cruz Mountains 2020

Karen MacNeil - The Wine Bible
"As structured, powerful, and impeccably balanced as a First Growth Bordeaux, the Ridge Monte Bello cabernet sauvignons are majestic wines. Opening one from a great vintage when it's young is almost criminal, for while the inky, dense, young version will knock you out with its flavor impact, older ones are mesmerizing. With a decade or more of age, Monte Bello unfurls into a hauntingly complex wine that is quite simply one of the greatest cabernets in the United States. For anyone who has tasted an older Monte Bello, it will come as no surprise that this was the wine that placed first in the thirty-year reenactment of the Judgement of Paris Tasting. Ridge was founded in 1959 by four Stanford Research Institute engineers, who still own it; the winery's famous wine-maker, Paul Draper, is still at the helm after forty years."

Vinous Reverie Notes
84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, 1% Cabernet Franc. Organic. In 1886, high in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the first Monte Bello vineyards were planted and winery construction began. A first vintage from the young vines followed in 1892. During Prohibition (1920-1933), the vineyard was not fully maintained; some vines survived into the late 30’s, but by the 1940’s they were effectively abandoned. Eight acres of cabernet sauvignon were replanted in 1949. These were the source of the first Ridge Monte Bello (1962) and subsequent vintages until 1974 when younger blocks replanted in the 1960’s were considered for inclusion. Since then, the historic vineyards on the ridge have gradually been replanted. Tasting Notes: Opaque ruby color with ripe cassis, plum and red currant fruit, toasty oak, vanilla, fennel, juniper berry and bay laurel. Well-integrated velvety tannins, full mid-palate, firm acid, and a long, sumptuous finish.