Ridge


Ridge is one of the defining names in American wine. High in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Monte Bello Ridge was first terraced for winemaking in the nineteenth century. It was later abandoned, recovered in the 1940s by a group of amateurs, then famously developed from 1969 by Paul Draper. Draper unlocked the real potential of this extraordinary site, and under his tenure, Ridge Monte Bello was one of the wines on the winning team at the 1976 Judgement of Paris.

Up on its eponymous ridge, Monte Bello is a breath-taking site. It looks down onto Silicon Valley (one way) and (in the other way) out into the bay, where the fog was just breaking when I visited. I was also busy watching my feet, as there is a sign that warns of the presence of rattlesnakes. The vineyard is perched on a rare combination of limestone and Franciscan rock. The altitude and the bay air bring cool night air, supplying the diurnal temperature variation that probably underpins all great wines, setting freshness against ripeness.

Ridge is in fact two wineries, not one. Draper also realised that California possessed an unexploited treasure trove of old-vine Zinfandel vineyards. That realisation was the impetus behind the second winery which Ridge maintains at Lytton Springs, in Sonoma County. Ridge have been making wine from the Lytton Springs vineyard since 1972, and acquired it in the 1990s. And their East Bench vineyard, on the border between Dry Creek and Alexander valleys, is planted to Zinfandel clones propagated from pre-Prohibition parcels. (NT 30/08/23)

Vintagesort descending Description Cs Sz Bt Sz Cs Bts Cs ib Cs inc Bt inc
2003 ready Ridge Monte Bello
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6x 75cl 1 0 £1,300.00 - - Buy
2009 drink or keep Ridge Monte Bello
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6x 75cl 1 0 £1,200.00 - - Buy
2010 drink or keep Ridge Monte Bello
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6x 75cl 1 0 £1,150.00 - - Buy
2010 ready Ridge Lytton Springs
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12x 75cl 1 0 £650.00 - - Buy
2013 ready Ridge Geyserville
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12x 75cl 0 10 - £743.40 £61.95 Buy
2013 ready Ridge Lytton Springs
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12x 75cl 0 9 - £743.40 £61.95 Buy
2014 drink or keep Ridge Monte Bello
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6x 75cl 2 0 £880.00 £1,075.24 £195.00 Buy
2019 drink or keep Ridge Lytton Springs
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12x 37.5cl 0 9 - £271.24 £24.95 Buy
2019 drink or keep Ridge Lytton Springs
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6x 150cl 0 4 - £506.47 £99.00 Buy
2019 drink or keep Ridge Cabernet Estate
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12x 75cl 1 0 £564.00 £715.27 £69.95 Buy
2019 drink or keep Ridge Lytton Estate Petite Sirah
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12x 75cl 1 7 £336.00 £441.67 £43.95 Buy
2020 drink or keep Ridge East Bench Zinfandel
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12x 75cl 0 7 £315.00 £416.47 £39.95 Buy
2020 drink or keep Ridge Geyserville
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12x 75cl 0 6 £390.00 £506.47 £49.95 Buy
2020 drink or keep Ridge Lytton Springs
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12x 75cl 1 0 £390.00 £506.47 £49.95 Buy
2020 drink or keep Ridge Lytton Estate Petite Sirah
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12x 75cl 1 0 £390.00 - - Buy
2021 drink or keep Ridge Geyserville
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12x 37.5cl 1 0 £249.00 £318.04 £31.95 Buy
2021 drink or keep Ridge Three Valleys (Sonoma County)
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12x 75cl 1 8 £345.00 £452.47 £46.95 Buy
2021 drink or keep Ridge Lytton Estate Petite Syrah
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12x 75cl ep ep £411.00 - - Buy
2022 drink or keep Ridge Three Valleys (Sonoma County)
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12x 75cl ep ep £351.00 - - Buy