1991 Ridge Monte Bello
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Tasting notes
A lovely bottle chosen to go with a small leg of lamb during lockdown to celebrate Nick's birthday. 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot. Centenary bottling celebrates 100 years since the first vintage from this distinctive mountain site, and 30 years since the current regime made their first vintage of this wine. Spring rains delayed flowering and a warm October saw the fruit through to full ripeness. 50% selection! Rich with the scent of Cabernet and beautiful structure with some extremely subtle cassis. Very long, fleshy initially with spice and then an appetising dry finish. In 1993 Paul Draper in his note on the back label counsels 15 to 20 years in bottle. But this wine is at its apogee at nearly 30 years old. (JR)
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Saturated ruby-black in hue, the 1991 Monte Bello is still a young wine, only entering its youthful plateau of maturity. Offering up a decadently jammy bouquet of ripe blackberries, crème de cassis, acacia flowers and creamy American oak, the wine is expansive and full-bodied on the palate, simultaneously open-knit but densely concentrated, with a decidedly voluptuous, textural profile. Supple and comparatively low in acidity and tannin (a perception Baugher tells me is confirmed by chemical analysis), this is a Monte Bello characterized more by exuberant generosity and drama than complexity. Interestingly, the 1991 is also more obviously marked by its time in new American oak than either the 1990 or 1992. The product of a warm September and October, the 1991 is a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot that attained 13.1% natural alcohol.
Bright, dark, fresh red with virtually no amber. Musky raspberry, redcurrant and spice aromas are lifted by a floral element. Extraordinarily silky and intense on entry, conveying outstanding spicy lift and definition to its redcurrant, spice, dried herb and underbrushy soil flavors. At once fully mature and distinctly firm in the middle palate, this impressively dense and clearly delineated wine gives no impression of undue weight. Wonderfully concentrated but not outsized or thick, this beauty stands out for its finesse, complexity and uncanny energy. Its endless finish features fully resolved tannins but still plenty of structural support. This has been one of my favorite California Cabernet-based bottlings since it was released and even today it's hard to scrape it off the palate! (13.1% 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.