Winemaker Notes
Blend: 85% Grenache Blanc, 12% Picpoul, 3% Roussanne
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of honeysuckle, nuts, orchard fruit, lemon confit and fresh herbs, with a slight saline edge. The palate is mid-weighted and textural, with bright acidity and a strong core of fruit. It will only get better with time in the bottle.
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Decanter
Aged in stainless steel, neutral oak, concrete, and amphora, this results in a remarkably bright, saline-driven example. This Paso Robles bottling comes from three different vineyards. Taut freshness, the limestone soils definitely play a role, says John Olney. Savoury herbals and plenty of mineral lift. Fresh citrus and smoky, flinty stone notes persist throughout the finish in this Rhône white, focused on the purity of fruit.
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Jeb Dunnuck
With 12% Picpoul and 3% Roussanne, the 2024 Grenache Blanc spends eight months in five-year-old barrels, able to retain crisp acidity on the lengthy, textured palate, the grapes sourced from such great local sites as Adelaida, Fossil Creek, and Halter Ranch. Apricot shines bright amidst a floral jasmine character that's impressively inviting, balanced, and enduringly fresh.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A beautiful nose of green orchard fruits, citrus blossoms and a flinty accent introduces the 2024 Grenache Blanc, which includes 12% Picpoul and 3% Roussanne. The palate is buoyant, focused and padded with a touch more textural breadth and depth than I've observed in recent vintages. It concludes with the snappy, tangy energy and mineral undercurrent that perennially characterizes this bottling.
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Vinous
The 2024 Grenache Blanc Paso Robles also includes dollops of Picpoul and Roussanne. A flicker of gunsmoke reduction leads the charge, opening into a tropical-inflected array of rich, oily fruit. Bright and phenolic, the 2024 is a nicely textured white with a palpable sense of mineral grip. Golden mango, pear, toasted hazelnut, orange oil and chalk build with air.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2024 Ridge Grenache Blanc shows a medium straw-yellow hue and opens with fragrant, pungent aromas of spice and subtle floral notes. On the palate, it reveals a lively interplay of spice and delicate chalky minerality, carried by bright acidity and a clean, textured finish. Vibrant and expressive, this wine pairs beautifully with grilled clams and oysters, where its savory spice and mineral tones echo the briny freshness of the sea. (Tasted: September 19, 2025, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
Pear peel, tart orange and jicama aromas converge with a light waft of smoke on the noe of this bottling, which comes from three vineyards and includes 12% Picpoul and 3% Roussanne. The palate is broadly crafted with baked apple and smoked chicken flavors that are cut by an iron-like minerality.
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.
In 1962, Ridge Vineyards made its first Monte Bello, and two years later its first zinfandel. 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.
In August 2021, Ridge Vineyards joined International Wineries for Climate Action (IWCA), a group of like-minded wineries that are dedicated to decarbonizing the global wine industry. RIDGE is committed to achieving Net Zero by 2050 and completes a biannual greenhouse gas audit utilizing the World Resources Institute Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol methodology and be verified by an internationally accredited, third-party auditor.
Producing full-bodied white wines, Grenache Blanc can be unctuous and soft or floral and fresh. Some of the finest examples are terroir-driven, age-worthy wines. It is a key ingredient in white Châteauneuf-du-Pape and many white blends across southern France and NE Spain. Somm Secret—Grenache Blanc plays a key role in the vins doux naturels of Rivesaltes and a subsidiary role in those of Banyuls and Maury.
Paso Robles has made a name for itself as a source of supple, powerful, fruit-driven Central Coast wines. But with eleven smaller sub-AVAs, there is actually quite a bit of diversity to be found in this inland portion of California’s Central Coast.
Just east over the Santa Lucia Mountains from the chilly Pacific Ocean, lie the coolest in the region: Adelaida, Templeton Gap and (Paso Robles) Willow Creek Districts, as well as York Mountain AVA and Santa Margarita Ranch. These all experience more ocean fog, wind and precipitation compared to the rest of the Paso sub-appellations. The San Miguel, (Paso Robles) Estrella, (Paso Robles) Geneso, (Paso Robles) Highlands, El Pomar and Creston Districts, along with San Juan Creek, are the hotter, more western appellations of the greater Paso Robles AVA.
This is mostly red wine country, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel standing out as the star performers. Other popular varieties include Merlot, Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot, Syrah, Grenache and Rhône blends, both red and white. There is a fairly uniform tendency here towards wines that are unapologetically bold and opulently fruit-driven, albeit with a surprising amount of acidity thanks to the region’s chilly nighttime temperatures.