Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello, Santa Cruz Mountains (2019) 2019
Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello, Santa Cruz Mountains (2019) 2019 is a dry, full-bodied red from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot (Santa Cruz Mountains, United States), in the rich, smooth reds style. Tannins are moderate and acidity fresh; oak influence is noticeable. Good with steak, lamb, roast chicken, roast pork. Cheapest offer £225.00 at Fulham Wine Company.
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Monte Bello is the most famous wine in California, and one of the most celebrated in America. It was Ridge's 1971 Monte Bello that placed in the legendary 1976 Judgment of Paris - the blind tasting where California Cabernet first beat the best of Bordeaux - and it has been compared to the First Growths ever since. It comes from a single high mountain vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, planted on limestone soils that are rare in California and give the wine its unusual freshness and tension. Cabernet Sauvignon leads, with small amounts of Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, all grown on the estate. Ridge makes it with deliberate simplicity - hand-sorted fruit, natural-yeast fermentation, then seventeen months in new American oak. The result is powerful but never heavy, built on structure and freshness rather than weight: dark berry, graphite, cedar and tobacco, with fine tannins and a long, savoury finish. A wine built to age for decades. Open with plenty of air, or cellar for the long haul.