Ridge’s Cabernet-dominated Monte Bello is far admired, partly as a result of it has all the time stood in marked distinction to California Cabernets from Napa and Sonoma.
The alcohol ranges hardly ever exceed 14%, which appears to be the beginning gate for many Napa Cabernets as of late. And whereas the fruit is all the time ripe, the tannin and acidity ranges are excessive, so Monte Bello solely typically has the opulence and plushness of its neighbours north of San Francisco.
Scroll right down to see Stephen Brook’s tasting notes and scores for all 21 wines from this unbelievable Monte Bello vertical
Monte Bello might usually share the leanness, depth, and construction of Bordeaux clarets, however it’s value remembering that Monte Bello has all the time been aged overwhelmingly in American oak.
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Too excessive to be affected by maritime fog, it was nonetheless simply 15 miles from the ocean. Draper as soon as noticed: ‘Up right here, it’s as cool as Bordeaux however with out the rain.’ That makes over-ripeness virtually unattainable. Nonetheless, full ripeness may be a problem in some vintages, and any tons thought of insufficiently ripe don’t make it into Monte Bello.Excessive acidity is a signature of the wine, however there may be vintages when sure tons might should be calmly de-acidified.The winery is about 55ha, which additionally consists of some Chardonnay vines. Preliminary vintages of Monte Bello had been pure Cabernet, however over time, different Bordelais varieties had been added, and there have been new plantings or replanting at numerous occasions. The farming has been basically natural for over twenty years, however it was solely in 2011 that Monte Bello was licensed as such.
The legacy
The late Steven Spurrier, unsurprisingly, was fast to identify the standard of Monte Bello and included the 1971 classic in his Judgment of Paris tasting of 1976. There it took fifth place out of 10. On the re-run of the blind-tasting in Napa in 2006, wherein I participated, the wine got here first.John Olney, the chief winemaker since 2021, notes that ‘the purpose right here has all the time been to make wines which are approachable of their youth however long-lived’.
The winemaking is actually non-interventionist, fermenting with indigenous yeasts and avoiding filtration. However there isn’t any formulation: the winemaking adapts to the character of every classic, and mixing is a sluggish course of primarily based on blind tasting.
Monte Bello’s fame for inaccessibility in its youth was proven at this London tasting to not be essentially justified. The wines may be drunk younger, however there may be little doubt that they develop into extra expressive and sophisticated after some years within the bottle. And till the wines are at the very least twenty years previous, there isn’t any rush to drink them.
