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Ridge Spirits

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Ridge 2001 Monte Bello Red (Santa Cruz Mountains)

Cellar Selection

Price $120

Without doubt this is a wine to cellar. It’s massive in flavor, with the purist blackcurrant and cassis fruit you can imagine, and the huge plaster of sweet oak is perfectly balanced. Then there are the tannins. They’re fine and complex, but gritty. There’s an astringency throughout that a great steak will cut through, but it would be infanticide to open this… — S.H. (4/1/2005)

Ridge 2001 Chardonnay (Santa Cruz Mountains)

Price $30

Amazingly intense and concentrated. Swamps the palate with pear and peach fruit, and a rich acidic structure. Oak plays a role in adding smoke, vanilla and sweet tannins. Long and penetrating, lush and vital. Combines power and subtlety in a rare way. — S.H. (12/15/2004)

Ridge 2000 Lytton Springs Zinfandel (California)

Price $30

Balanced, rich and dramatic, this is another successful vintage for a wine that defines Sonoma Zin at its ripe, spicy best. Succulent in the mouth, brimming with black raspberry, cherry and black pepper flavors. Finishes dry and with great length, an extraordinary Zin from a great vineyard and producer. —S.H. — S.H. (9/1/2002)

Ridge 2001 Home Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot (Santa Cruz Mountains)

Cellar Selection

Price $60

Almost evenly divided between Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, this is a big mountain wine, filled with the flavors of ripe blackberries, blueberries and oak. It’s young in tannins and acids. It possesses an extraordinary sense of balance and intensity, but is probably best left to age until 2008. — S.H. (2/1/2005)

Ridge 1997 Lytton Springs Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley)

Price $28

Paul Draper continues to label this bottling without a varietal designation—as he has since 1993—despite this vintage’s 80% Zinfandel. A dark, briary wine, this has plenty of everything you want in a Zin: berry fruit, mild acidity and a decent lashing of oak. Purely delicious, and Ridge’s best Lytton Springs of the past five years. — J.C. (9/1/1999)

Ridge 2002 Home Ranch Chardonnay (Santa Cruz Mountains)

Price $40

Intensity is the name of the game here. Intensity of fruit, of oak, of creamy lees, of spices, of finish. The lush tropical fruit, vanilla and buttered toast flavors explode in the mouth, leading to a long and rich finish. — S.H. (4/1/2005)

Ridge 1997 Chardonnay (California)

Price $17

Anyone fond of power-packed, oaky California will go absolutely gaga over this gem from one of this country’s best wineries. Sweet vanilla, buttercream, bread dough and pronounced wood on the nose and an impressive flavor-to-body ratio make this an unbridled winner. Deft and flawless, this is a treat to drink. Filled with life, it will reward those who buy it by… — M.S. (10/1/1999)

Ridge 1997 Pagani Ranch Zinfandel (California)

Price $28

Dark color. Smells young, jammy and earthy, with a big blast of black-cherry fruit. Tremendous extract and depth. Huge, with lush tannins and firm acidity. Remarkably pure, this is a very fine Zinfandel. — S.H. (2/1/2000)

2009 Venge Bone Ash Vineyard

Venge’s superb 2008 Bone Ash was a tough act to follow, but this 2009…

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