The 2009 Monte Bello ,72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot is simply magnificent. Layers of dark red fruit, flowers, spices and graphite are all woven together in this utterly impeccable wine. The 2009 is an especially huge, intense Monte Bello, yet a sexy, silky core of fruit lies within its imposing frame. Everything comes together in this glorious, radiant wine. Last year the 2009 had some pretty stiff competition from the 2010, but today it is simply firing on all cylinders. Eric Baugher describes 2009 as a year with cold weather early on, followed by heat in early June and July. The fruit was brought in on October 12, just before an intense downpour swept through the region. There is a purity and silkiness supported by structure in the 2009 that is impossible not to admire. Simply put, this is another utterly magnificent, towering masterpiece from Ridge. Anticipated maturity: 2019-2049. Indiana Jones and I have one thing in common – a fear of snakes. That is why every time I see the sign in the Ridge parking lot that reads “Beware of rattlesnakes,” I get a little uneasy. So it’s quickly into the tasting room for me. Winemaker Eric Baugher and his team have prepared a great tasting covering all of the Ridge classics, plus a few smaller-production bottlings I am tasting for the first time. This is a sublime set of new releases from one of this country’s greatest heritage wineries. It’s hard to know where to start, but the highlights are the 2009 Monte Bello, followed by the 2010, which will be released this year, plus some of the Zinfandels and Zinfandel-based wines. The 2010 harvest was not an easy one. The summer was very cold, as it was throughout California. Ridge was severely affected by August heat spikes that were crippling for Zinfandel. The wines that were bottled are the result of a severe selection of the best fruit that survived the heat. Tel. (408) 867-3233

72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot. A long, cold winter and cool spring led to a late start, but warm summer weather brought the vines back on schedule. The last grapes were picked on October 12, one day before torrential rains. Harvest 23 September to 12 October. Grapes were destemmed, and left uncrushed as whole berries. Automated berry sorting followed by hand-sorting. Natural primary and secondary fermentations. Pressed at six days. 19 months in barrel (97% new air-dried American oak, 2% new French oak, 1% one-year-old air-dried American oak). Very deep crimson. This smells like bordeaux! But less ripe and blowsy than many red bordeaux 2009s. Medium body again with a rich panoply of flavours: balsam, dried leaves, well-mannered cassis, quite marked fine tannins in the background – for future use? Just the sort of restrained build that bordeaux used to be. Still quite dry on the end. (JR)