Ridge East Bench Zinfandel 2007
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Robert
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Connoisseurs' Guide
8% Petite Sirah. Here is marvelous proof that high ripeness and fine balance need not be mutually exclusive, for while the wine checks in at 15.4% alcohol, it is as deep in defined fruit and as carefully structured as any Zinfandel in this month's survey. It is simply brimming with berries from the first, and, while fully ripe, it is not in the least bit overdone. It is laced with briary spice and complementary oak, and its long, tannin-firmed finish is as well-focused on outgoing fruit as its intense, deep and handsomely crafted aromas. As impressive as it may be at the moment, it will only get better with time, and the best prescription is for a few years of patience.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This was my first look at a new offering from Ridge, the 2007 Zinfandel East Bench. From a young Dry Creek Valley vineyard, it is a blend of 92% Zinfandel and 8% Petite Sirah (15.4% alcohol). Its big, open-knit bouquet of briery black raspberries and black cherries is followed by a fleshy, medium to full-bodied wine revealing good freshness as well as a savory, up-front style. I would opt for drinking this offering over the next 4-5 years.
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Ridge's history begins in 1885, when Osea Perrone, a doctor and prominent member of San Francisco's Italian community, bought 180 acres near the top of Monte Bello Ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains. He planted vineyards and constructed a winery of redwood and native limestone in time to produce the first vintage of Monte Bello in 1892. The historic building now serves as the Ridge production facility.
Though Ridge began as a Cabernet winery, by the mid-60s, it had produced several Zinfandels including the Geyserville. In 1972, Lytton Springs joined the line-up and the two came to represent an important part of Ridge production. Known primarily for its red wines, Ridge has also made limited amounts of Chardonnay since 1962.
The Ridge approach is straightforward: find the most intense and flavorful grapes, guide the natural process, draw all the fruit's richness into the wine. Decisions on when to pick, when to press, when to rack, what varietals and what parcels to include and when to bottle, are based on taste. To retain the nuances that increase complexity, Ridge winemakers handle the grapes and wine as gently as possible. There are no recipes, only attention and sensitivity.