1991 Ridge, California Monte Bello, Santa Cruz Mountains, Bottle (750ml)

AG97 "The 1991 Monte Bello is utterly captivating. Sweet tobacco, cedar, mint, dried flowers and herbs are some of the many notes the open up in the wine's striking bouquet. Aromatic, mid-weight and gracious, the 1991 is wonderfully complex, with more than enough balance to drink well for another two decades. The aromatics in particular are super-expressive, open-knit and incredibly finessed, all qualities Paul Draper says the wine showed right out of the fermentation tanks. What a gorgeous wine this is." AG for VM July 2015 JD97 "Absolutely spectacular, the 1991 Monte Bello comes from a low tannin year where the estate was wondering how well the wine would age. I'm happy to report it has aged brilliantly! Fully mature, yet still youthful and lively, it offers tons of cassis, underbrush, spice and dried herbs to go with a full-bodied, utterly seamless, sexy feel on the palate that just keeps you coming back to the glass. Given the balance, it will hold nicely going forward, but there's no upside to further cellaring. This was a terrific set of wines from Ridge. The 2012 Bordeaux releases all have brilliant purity of fruit, with surprising freshness and focus. They’ll need short term cellaring to be approachable, especially the Monte Bello. The 2013s are similar in style to the 2012s, with tight, fresh profiles and solid tannic grip. I think the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Bello has slightly more depth than the 2012 (the blends are quite different as well), but both are lively, structured wines that will need bottle age. I don’t think either hits the heights of the ’91 or ’05, but time will tell. The 2013 releases from the North Coast all showed beautifully and had solid concentration and fresh, lively profiles." JD for TWA Oct 2015