Winemaker Notes
Golden straw in color with aromas of pear, honeysuckle, pineapple, candied lime, tangerine, and wet stone. A bright and lively entry with a medium body layered with minerality and fresh natural acidity. The finish is long and satisfying.
Blend: 84% Grenache Blanc, 14% Picpoul, 2% Roussanne
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The Ridge team started making 2023 Grenache Blanc with the 2018 vintage, winemaker John Olney impressed by the fruit he could find in Paso Robles. Able to source from three sites, Fossil Creek, Adelaida, and Halter Ranch, all on the appellation's west side, it includes 14% Picpoul Blanc and 2% Roussanne. Before this, the only white wine Ridge ever made was Chardonnay from Monte Bello Estate. Fermented in barrel, both American and French, and aged partly in concrete and clay amphorae, it is elegant yet concentrated, with lasting acidity.
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James Suckling
Brilliant acidity backs up subtle, savory and fresh citrus flavors in this full-bodied and well-balanced Rhone-style white. Aromas like a hay field, lanolin and dry earth meet tangy apricot, lime zest, mineral and almond flavors on a broad but lively texture. Includes 14% picpoul and 2% roussanne grapes.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2023 Ridge Grenache Blanc is distinctive and charming. This wine shows aromas and flavors of aromatic spices, attractive peach skin, and chalk. This wine immediately encourages me to create a worthy dish. Perhaps I could transport myself to the Rhône Valley for roast chicken. (Tasted: September 22, 2024, San Francisco, CA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Blended with 14% Picpoul and 2% Roussanne, the 2023 Grenache Blanc leads with aromas of tangerine, kumquat, lime cordial and orange rinds that radiate from the glass, supported by an exotic tinge of marzipan. The palate is spry, pure and precise, concluding with a tangy, succulent finish that lingers with pleasant stoniness.
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Wine Enthusiast
Bright citrusy energy kicks off the nose on this bottling, which includes 14% Picpoul and 2% Roussanne, and then features hints of pear and apple flesh. The palate is tense in texture while bold in those pome fruit flavors.
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Vinous
The 2023 Grenache Blanc Paso Robles is bright and fresh, especially for a rich variety grown in a hot climate. Dollops of Picpoul and Roussanne round out the blend. Marzipan, white peach and mint introduce a wine with an enticing texture. Lithe and energetic, it fills out the mid-palate with joyful fruit.
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.
