1996 Monte Bello
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Tasting notes
80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 9% Petit Verdot. 89 tons from 92 acres. An extremely short crop, largely attributable to a disruptive storm in mid May and the two weeks of blustery weather that followed. Each of the 33 parcels was fermented separately, using small stainless-steel tanks. Indigenous-yeast fermentations began within 48 hours. Aged almost entirely in new, air-dried American oak. Reduced at first apparently. Dense, brooding, deep garnet. Pungent, cordite nose, and then mellow and mellifluous and just gorgeous! Such perfect balance – sweet and salty and transparent. Perfection! Long and beautiful in every respect. Still so lively and perfect! (JR)
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
A stunning wine that delivers juice, balance, precision, grip, power and grace, with bilberry, loganberry and blackberry puree fruits laced with bay, cedar, truffle and smoked vanilla bean, generous but in control at all times. A very low yield in this vintage. You can see the shape of its future ageing, as it slides towards tertiary, but you can fully relax about how long it has ahead of it. Almost entirely new American oak, rest new French oak. Paul Draper winemaker.
As always at visits to Ridge, they like to show older vintages, and I’m always amazed at how well these wines age. The 1996 Cabernet Sauvignon Mont Bello checks in as 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot, and comes from a low-yielding vintage due to poor weather at set, which was followed by a warm growing season and early harvest. Aged all in new oak, it’s classic Monte Bello all the way with its Bordeaux-like bouquet of tobacco leaf, Christmas spice, cured meats, and sweet currants and plum fruits. Full-bodied, classic, and elegant on the palate, it’s drinking brilliantly today yet will certainly keep for another 10-15 years.
The most aromatically exotic vintage of the decade, the 1996 Monte Bello is superb, bursting from the glass with an extravagant bouquet of cassis, cigar box, rich soil, roasted meats and decadent oriental spices. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, richly tannic and very intense, with a deep and tight-knit core and a bright line of acidity, concluding with a long, youthful finish. The 1996 vintage saw rain during flowering—which reduced yields at this address to less than one ton per acre—followed by a warm summer. The result is a super concentrated Monte Bello that hasn't even reached its plateau of maturity yet. Choosing between this and the formidable 1995 will always be a challenge, but I suspect the 1996 has the greater upside. The blend consists of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot and 9% Petit Verdot, attaining 13.2% alcohol.
About the producer
Best known for its iconic Monte Bello, Ridge Vineyards makes some of California’s finest wines – particularly Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. Long a pioneer of sustainable farming and minimal-intervention winemaking, Ridge makes an extensive range from Sonoma County and the Santa Cruz Mountains.