Ridge Monte Bello Blogger Tasting--Historical Vineyards Series

The final Ridge Vineyards Blogger Invitational of 2011 was hosted this past Sunday, December 11th, at Ridge Monte Bello in the historic barn that served as the very first tasting room for the original winery. In the barn our host, Christopher Watkins, set the stage for the tasting theme--Historic Family Farmers-- Back in time to the original family farmers that started the vineyards know as Ridge today. 

In keeping with that theme, we tasted 3 never before tried by the public wines from the Torre, Klein and Perrone vineyards. These tiny production wines are a part of the Historical Vineyards Series and were sourced entirely from the original planting locations, each wine named for one of the founding families -- Torre, Klein and Perrone. These small quantity wines are actually "beta releases" in a way, harvested from sub parcels, following a premise of "viticultural gerrymandering" based on original planting areas. 

Also part of the tasting was a vertical of Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Cabernet. 

But there was more to the "Historic" theme-- Christopher brought in four curious machines--ancient hunks of metal, steampunk style communication devices--called typewriters, and each blogger was required to "go back in time" and write a tasting note using one.

We got warmed up with a splash of Monte Bello Chardonnay 08-- always a pleasure.

Klein, Torre & Perrone

Historic Family Vineyards Series--

Today the oldest vines on the property are those planted by William Short in 1949. Prior to Short acquiring the property John Torre planted 100 acres on Monte Bello ridge and the old Torre winery building is now the Monte Bello tasting room.

Klein Cabernet Sauvignon 2009--

Very young and green on the nose with eucalyptus and earth tones on the palate that opened up with more dusty notes and medium-soft tannins.

Torre Ranch Merlot 2009 -- 

This wine is just a baby in terms of it's longevity and has lot's of room to develop over the next several years, but I really liked as is. It was full of flavor with plums and violets and spice. Also a brief whiff of  oregano in there. Beautiful garnet color.  

Perrone Cab Franc 2009--

A tone poem of bright fruit. Very berry, with perfume of violets and a burst of acid. Of course these wines have a lifetime ahead of them, but the Perrone was distinct and fresh and most enjoyable in the present state. The Perrone was my favorite of the Historical Vineyards series.

With these beautiful wines inspiring our palates and our brains, it was time to hit the typewriters-- below are Fred Swan and Jeff Solomon striking out a tasting note. 

I wrote a tasting note channeling the spirit of Mattie Ross from the Charles Portis novel, True Grit-- because in a way that's what Ridge wines have --True Grit. Not in a literal sense, but in a sense of honesty and purity of intent. Unfortunately my first attempt at typing the note was foiled by the fact you must manually advance the paper to the next line...so things go a bit cramped on the page.

Next we tasted a Vertical of Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Cabernet. These wines all 100% estate grown were being featured as a holiday 3 pack in the tasting room. You better have been a very good boy or girl this year if you expect to see these beauties under your tree.

Ridge 2003 Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet -- Smokey, smoldering, and silky--with a toasty, salt water taffy nose and rich dark fruit.

Ridge 2004 Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet  -- Chalky nose with blackberry, current and minty fresh flavors. Tannins were supple but with room to bend--may need a Thai massage to loosen up a bit.

Ridge 2005 Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet  -- I found it dusty on the nose at first, that then developed into light florals with a hint of cocoa and spice. On the palate it was full of dark fruit, very concentrated-- but it's still tightly wound and needs some time to unwind.

The Mystery Guest Wine--

By the graciousness of Mr. Alan Bree, we were treated to a lovey Monte Bello 1985 Zinfandel from his private collection, which after quick calculation, Christopher determined that by drinking the bottle, of which only 33 barrels were produced, we had just enjoyed 5% of the worlds know supply of Monte Rosso Zin. Wow.

Thanks Alan. And thank you Christopher, for another fun, inspiring and enlightening blogger tasting.

The Ridge Master Class: Wine Blogger Tasting Series 2011

On Sunday September 25th  I joined a group of wine writers and bloggers for the 3rd edition of the 2011 Wine Blogger Tasting Series, one of the most sought after wine events hosted by Christopher Watkins of Ridge Vineyards at the Lytton Springs location in Dry Creek Valley.

I attended last year when we sat out on the crush pad and the temperature hovered around 90 degrees. This year the crush pad was in glorious use for harvest and we got to watch as the fruit came in and was hoisted into the de-stemmer. Then after tasting some carignane direct from the tap, we retreated to the barrel room where it was nice and cold.

The wines Christopher selected for the tasting were all small production library wines. Most came from stock with less than nine cases on hand. We tried wines from Monte Bello and Lytton Springs, some from vineyards I've never even heard of before.

I’m always amazed how well the Ridge wines hold up for years and years and years. I probably should not be surprised really since the age-ability of Ridge is it's common denominator. But I have very little discipline when it comes to cellaring wine and tend to drink things in the now rather then in the future.

Christopher reminds me of this crazy cool professor I knew in college who was obsessed with rare books, German literature and Swing music. His house was filled with shelves of classic and esoteric works of literature and old records.

He’d scan a shelf and pull a book out and say-- Oh have you read this? Do you know this work? Then he would read a passage aloud. Or he’d grab a record and say --You gotta hear this. He would play a piece of music and you would be so wowed by it. This professor was like a spirit guide to the volumes of written works that you just had to read. I'd leave his house with my mind slightly blown and a lengthy list of books I had to get my hands on. 

Ridge events to me are so similar, Christopher is our "spirit guide” scanning the library wines for just the right passage, just the few phrases that will jolt you, change you, make you rethink all other wines. It's a sybaritic journey of wine and poetry and the simple pleasure of letting go and dropping into what's in the glass. I love these events it like a master class for bloggers who want to be challenged and stretched in the most wonderful way. 

At some point in the day I always realize note taking is futile. I just put my pen or in this case phone down. Nothing I say will do it justice. So I just give in to the pleasure in the glass. I find it takes days to process it all. Ridge events are journeys that take you on a wild ride to the far corners of your palate and expectations. 

We also had a special treat courtesy of Richard Jennings @rjonwine who brought a mystery bottle that we tasted blind then were asked to guess the vintage, varietal and vineyard designation. I guessed 92 based on absolutely nothing but the color and was not far off, but struck out, way out, on guessing the varietal and vineyard. It turned out to be a 1990 Barbera from Rancho Pequeno. It was lovely and wonderful of Richard to bring it along to share. 

If you want a full account of the wines and tasting notes I suggest you check out the blogs of Richard Jennings @rjonwine or Fred Swan @norcalwine for full details. 

Thank you Christopher (and Brandy) for a great day at The Ridge Master Class! 

 

UPDATE-- 

Links to other blog posts from the day:

Martin Redmond -- Great re-cap of the wines we had with tasting notes.

Christopher Watkins -- Thoughts from our "spirit guide" Christopher and a groovy video. 

Aboard the Good Ship Yeatman

View of Oporto across the Douro

If you have been following along with my Portugal posts you may recall that on the second day of the Wine Pleasures pre-tour we stayed overnight at the newly opened Yeatman Hotel. The Yeatman is built into the hillside above the Douro on the Vila de Gia side of the river. The grand open spaces, nautical details and juxtaposition to the river give it the feeling of a luxury ocean liner with all the rooms oriented towards the river, each with a private terrace.

Grand staircase leading to Lobby

After the Wine Pleasures tour I returned to the Yeatman to visit the private wine cellar and view the rest of the property. I stayed on for few days and got to unwind after a jam packed schedule.

The Yeatman is designed not only to take full advantage of the glorious views of Porto across the river. But also to highlight the wine producers of the region. Rooms are named after different wineries and showcase their wine. For die-hard oenophiles one of the Barrel rooms may be to your liking. That's right, you get to sleep inside a barrel.

Sweet dreams of fermentation

A tour of the impressive cellars turned up a few surprises, like a bottle of Ridge Monte Bello from my home state of California. The plan is to allow guests to visit the cellar between 4-6pm and select a bottle for dinner, then based on their selection, the Yeatman chefs create a meal to pair with the wine. I love this idea. It would be worth a trip back just to experience this concept alone. But with all those wines to choose from I'd need to stay a month or more! Below is a brief slide show of what the cellars hold.

One special highlight of my was the lunch I had in the dining room. I dined alone with only the view as my companion and the attentive staff. Dining solo in this type of setting allows you to focus entirely on the food and not feel compelled to make idle chit-chat. Not that I don't like to share, it's just a gift to have things to yourself sometimes. Although I did not partake of any of the Yeatman Spa offerings while I was there, my meal in the hands of chef Ricardo Costa was like a full spa treatment for the taste buds.

To start I had a glass of the 2009 Crasto and the first Amuse bouche set in Three Spoons--

Black Spoon: Scallops with apricot, green asparagus and beurre blanc.

Sliver Spoon: Smoked duck with foie gras, portuguese blood sausage and caviar

White Spoon: Sea urchin cream with caviar

Macaron of Serra del Estrela cheese

Foie gras truffle

Amuse bouche 2: Tuna terrine with foie gras and oyster yogurt and mushroom dust.

First Course: National Octopus with Crab cannelloni, sun dried tomato bread, molecular olives and green tomato consomme with olive oil.

Second: Megrim (a type of white fish) with vitelote potato flakes, vegetable gratin and fennel sauce.

Third: Algrave Almond cheesecake, spearmint sorbet, with hailed orange juice sorbet and vanilla with Taylors 2004 LBV Port.

Coffee and Mignardises ( Pasteis de Belem shown above)

The only thing that pulled me out of my reverie with the meal was the odd background soundtrack playing muzak versions of I Could Have Danced All Night from My Fair Lady, Frank Sinatra's The Lady is a Tramp, U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, and most strange of all the Theme from MASH--Suicide Is Painless ...um what SiriusXM Channel is that?

The Yeatman is an experience with a capital E. It's luxurious, but not in an oppressive old-guard way--it's light and modern and accommodating in a most gracious way. It's worth a visit for the views alone. Stop in for a port cocktail in the laid-back bar overlooking the Douro and see if you don't feel like you are about to float away on the Good Ship Yeatman.

Ridge Lytton Springs Wine Blogger Tasting III

This past Sunday Christopher Watkins, the Tasting Room Manager for Ridge Monte Bello, held a vertical tasting of Zinfandels from the Ridge Lytton Springs Library as well some select Cabernets from the vault at Ridge Monte Bello. This was an exceptional line up of wines and one might expect a formal setting and a hushed silence of reverence for the tasting. Instead it was serious amount of fun, a relaxed and casual day of tasting out on the crush pad at Ridge Lytton Springs. It was a scorcher the day we sat down to try the wines, but the crush pad stayed a cool 80 degrees in the shade. Hard to know if this temperature affected the wines on the palate, but I felt the heat made it slightly more difficult to capture the nose.

Chris assembled a terrific slate of writers and bloggers for the event and you can a find a full roster and links to the participant’s blogs here:

It’s great to sit with a group of enthusiasts to talk and tweet about wine on a high intellectual level. Okay, so that’s not exactly what happened at my end of the table. One thing about tweeting is that it makes initial interaction rather stunted. I was actually talking to Liza on twitter @BrixChix_Liza via tweets, even though she was sitting right next to me. Oh what a weird world we live in. Eventually we lifted our eyes off our phones and met our tablemates.

I had the pleasure of meeting David Tong and Richard Jennings among many others. Also in attendance was the notorious Ron Washam who pens The Hosemaster of Wine blog. Ron is an expert blogger baiter calling out the ridiculousness of bloggers and their antics in carefully crafted and parody filled prose, so I was expecting more of a general drubbing from him that day. But instead he merely threw out a few stale zingers and behaved himself for the most part. I think maybe it’s because the people at the table were serious about wine and serious about writing about it and sharing it with others, but for the most part don’t take themselves very seriously. So it’s hard to get your hooks into someone who agrees that what they do is not brain surgery for rocket scientists. Or some other fractured metaphor of false aggrandizement.

Maybe he was just caught up in the moment of sending his first tweet.

Oh dear, Ron tweeted, the world as we know it has ended. Anyway, enough about Ron, on to the wines.

The vintages we tasted included the Lytton Spring Zinfandels from 1987, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, & 2007.

The standouts for me included:

1992– Lavender notes and on the nose and good tannins

1993—A yeasty almost lemon cupcake-y scent with long finish. I was quoted as saying this made me want to have a cigarette and I don't even smoke.

2003—Interesting salty soy like quality. Umami as Chris says. Perhaps would make for a good sushi Zin.

2005—Hints of green pepper and fruit forward with a touch of grapefruit. Me likey very muchy.

2007—Full lush and worthy of an animal sacrifice on the BBQ.

We also tasted Cabernets from Ridge Monte Bello 1991, 1992 & 1994.

I thought all the Monte Bello Cabernets were complex and multi-faceted, but the 1994 had the perfect aligning of the planets for my palate.

We discussed foods that would pair well with the wines and came up with everything from tempura to guinea pig. We also theorized that if wine had been aboard the Apollo 11 moon launch they might never have left the capsule for the first moonwalk. Imagine what might have resulted. —

“That’s one small sip for Man and the rest of this Zinfandel from Monte Bello for Me. Huston, I’m staying here in the capsule and drinking this Monte Bello. It’s literally out of this world.”

How we got on to the subject of space travel is probably my fault, but that’s the fun of tasting. Everyone has a unique frame of reference to call upon in describing wine.

Here are a few screen shots of what others had to say:

You can search twitter for the hashtag #Ridgewines and read more of the tweets that where unleashed during the tasting.

Thanks to Christopher and also to Brandy Alexander (yes, her real name) for organizing and hosting the event.