2023 Ridge Vineyards, Cabernet Sauvignon, Santa Cruz Mountains.
The beautiful, dark fruited and youthfully firm Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon from Ridge Vineyards is a blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot that comes from multiple sites, including a good dose of the famous Monte Bello Vineyard, shows off a Bordeaux like elegant medium/full palate and respectable low natural alcohol (13.2%). The nose is cool climate or outer Medoc like with dark berries, loamy gravel, black olive and kissed with toasty oak, leading to an outstanding mouthful of blackberry, dark currant, plum and cherry fruits, along with briar spice, sandalwood, vanilla, acacia flower, sage and licorice notes. Not obviously American oak, but warmly framed by the barrels and a touch of coconut and sweet smoke, helping smooth the tannins structure and bright acidity. I’ve had a good share of Ridge Cabernet over the years, so I’m thrilled to report this wine is a gem and should age well, drink from 2027 to 2040, though if go early be sure to decant and give it time. I am a huge fan of Ridge, so I was expecting a lot and this wine more than delivered, and I would count on all of their 2023 vintage wines to be hugely rewarding.
This Cabernet bottling, a first time offering, comes from mature vines and various terroirs, sourced at Bates Ranch, Fellom Ranch, the mentioned Monte Bello, and the neighboring Vidovich Vineyards, all of which adds to the complexity found here and while the Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and the Monte Bello are the top wines, this stuff is not far off, making it an excellent value. Ridge says they hand harvested and carefully sorted the grapes, which were 100% de-stemmed and fermented with natural yeasts in cool vats. Once the lengthy maceration and primary fermentation is complete the wine was racked over to barrels, with Ridge, as always, selecting their long air dried American oak, where it matured for 17 months. With this new release, Ridge said they chose about 30% new wood and a range of two and three times filled barrels, which perfectively suited the vintage. The Bates Ranch is really coming into its own in recent vintages with some fabulous Cab and Cab Franc coming from that site that was planted in the late 1970s, with the other sources proving to be equally as exciting and there’s a lot to admire in this 2023 Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon and I highly recommend getting some.
($65 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive