Ridge Vineyards
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Ridge Vineyards is a winery located at an elevation of 2,300 feet on Monte Bello Ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Cupertino, California. Predecessors of the current winery date back to the 1890s.
Winemaker Paul Draper produces not just the signature Monte Bello, but also Zinfandels from all over the state, including York Creek, as well as zinfandel-dominated field blends like Geyserville. He is known for drying his own oak staves for use in barrels, which may be a component of the dusky "Draper perfume" that is characteristic of Ridge wines.
Ridge Vineyards received international recognition when its Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot blend competed very successfully in the historic Paris Wine Tasting of 1976.
In the Wine Spectator Wine Tasting of 1986, blind tasters evaluated how the red wines had aged ten years after the Paris event. White wines were not re-tasted in the belief that they would be past their prime. The 1971 Ridge Monte Bello was ranked number three. In first place was the 1970 Heitz Wine Cellars followed by the 1971 Mayacamas Vineyards. Ridge Vineyards beat all French competion: the 1971 Château Montrose, the 1970 Château Mouton-Rothschild, the 1971 Château Leoville Las Cases, and the 1970 Château Haut-Brion.
The French Culinary Institute Wine Tasting of 1986 was also conducted on the tenth anniversary of the historic Paris Wine Tasting of 1976. Steven Spurrier, who organized the latter event, assisted in the anniversary tasting. Eight judges blind tasted nine of the ten red wines earlier evaluated in Paris. Inexplicably, Freemark Abbey Winery was not included. Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello won second place, after California's Clos Du Val Winery, and beat all French competition: 1970 Château Montrose, 1971 Château Leoville Las Cases, 1970 Château Mouton Rothschild, and 1970 Château Haut-Brion.
The Wine Rematch of the Century was the 30th anniversary retesting of the red wines earlier evaluated in the Paris competition. In this blind tasting, judges ranked Ridge Monte Bello number one. It received a score of 137 points compared to the highest ranking French wine (Chateau Mouton-Rothschild), which received a score of 105 points. All Bordeaux entries fell into the bottom half of the ranking. Thus, the theory that California wines would not age as well as their Bordeaux counterparts was not supported.
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[edit] Source
Taber, George M. Judgment of Paris: California vs France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting that Revolutionized Wine. NY: Scribner, 2005.
