2021 Ridge Vineyards, Lytton Springs, Red Wine, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County.
The beautiful, aromatic, opulent and spiced 2021 Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel blend is one of my favorite vintages and is showing fantastically right now, with this slightly cooler year adding a heightened excitement on the palate with black raspberry, tree picked plum, Italian cherry, tangy red currant and puckering blueberry fruits, along with bramble/briar, sandalwood, anise, dusty earthy loam, smoky vanilla and delicate dark floral accents. This wine, while full bodied and densely vinous, is also nicely crafted to keep vibrancy of form, with contrasting savory notes to go with the seamless layering of fruit, this very seductive stuff again from one of California’s greatest wineries of all time. I have been visiting Lytton Springs since before the Ridge take over and seen it grow from a rustic barn with a few feral cats wondering through to its current form as one of the most sustainable and modern tasting facilities in Sonoma County, and even though I adored it back at the beginning, it still is a must visit when in the Healdsburg and Dry Creek area. I have many wonderful memories from Lytton Springs and equally great experiences with the wines from the estate, which are some of California’s best and most pleasing wines, which was again proved here with this 2021 edition. There’s a ton to admire about Ridge past and present and their current collection has an amazing array of diverse wines to chose from, including their famous Monte Bello Bordeaux blend, as well as things like single varietal Carignane, Syrah and even Valdiguié, and there has never been a better time to explore them.
Ridge’s Lytton Springs Zinfandel based bottling typically sees 70% Zinfandel along with a mix of small parts of Carignane, Petite Sirah, Alicante Bouschet and even some Cinsault and Counoise, as seen in this 2021 version, all coming from the old school bush vines around the Lytton estate property. For this wine, Ridge does all hand harvesting and a 100% de-stemmed native yeast fermentation with rigorous daily punch-downs and a full maceration, which goes for a couple weeks before being pressed to barrel. The Ridge Lytton Springs goes through natural secondary fermentation in the wood with an elevage in a selection of air dried American oak barrels, usually seeing close to 20% new oak, but with about 60% seeing 5 plus year old barrels to allow for authentic transparency and a focus on the purity of the fruit and the place. In recent vintages, I am noticing a slight and very welcome drop in natural alcohol, with this one coming in at 14.3%, which also helps deliver a more fresh and vivid profile, that I find more balanced and more appealing, especially with a meal. This 2021, which was aged in barrel for 18 months, ended up with a final blend of 72% Zinfandel, with a good portion coming from vines planted in 1901, 15% Petite Sirah, 9% Carignane, 2% Alicante Bouschet, from ancient vines right next to the tasting room, 1% Cinsault and 1% Counoise, from an 80 year old parcel. Ridge does everything they can to keep to minimum intervention in the winemaking with low sulfur and a light filtration, making these wines brilliant and delicious on release, but with the potential to age decades, as I’m sure this one will be able to do. I must say, as I get older I do like these Ridge Zins, including the classic Geyerville, Pagani and this Lytton Springs with bottle age, but was gracefully impressed with this 2021 from first sip to last drop, I wish I had a few more!
($55 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive