The first Ridge Zin that I ever tasted was the '92 Lytton Springs. That led me to the Ridge ATP program and then the Ridge Zin List. (ATP or Advance Tasting Program, offers a couple of bottles about every six weeks, usually of small batch wines from Ridge. Several zins, but also alicante bouchet, grenache, petite sirah and other reds. The Zin List gives three zins twice a year from the major Ridge bottlings. Three in the spring--most recently '02 Geyserville, Paso Robles and Ponzo--and three in the fall.)
I never tasted the '93, dunno why. Most rankings I've seen list the '92, '94, '96 and '97 as the wines of note in the decade. Just recently finished the last '96 and have about three of '97 still left.
And, I concur regarding the placing in the meal. They are usually too powerful to really work well with the entree, but do quite nicely with the cheese or even alone with a book before the fireplace.
Ed Rasimus Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret) "When Thunder Rolled" Smithsonian Institution Press ISBN #1-58834-103-8
Around here managing to be _alone_ with a book in front of the fire without SWMBO sitting beside me, arm out, empty glass at the ready would be the exception....;-)
Ditto....Isn't life grand!
And, it goes without saying, that at least once, the book should be mine! ;-)
Ed Rasimus Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret) "When Thunder Rolled" Smithsonian Institution Press ISBN #1-58834-103-8
I'm OK on that front - I read several books a week, while SWMBO reads at a ....measured pace (no doubt the better to savour the content, though I occasionaly tell her that she stops reading when her lips get tired or she gets a blister on the end of her reading finger from following the text ;- ).
My tastes are (small 'c') catholic while hers are more circumscribed, and while we do share some books with enjoyment (I get them first in recognition of my less glacial reading pace), we also have our own libraries. Much better that way, IMHO.
I am a bit confused and my memory is of no help. Somewhere along the about 1990, Ridge purchased Lytton Springs. They kept on making Lytton Springs wine through 1993 or there abouts and they also made a Ridge Lytton Springs Vineyards that was bottled down at their Monte Bello Road facility. My memory is there was the world of difference in the two wines in that the Lytton Springs was a field blend with a lot of fruit and the Ridge Lytton Springs Vineyard was almost pure Zin in the first couple of years and then Ridge did the field blend also.
You two guys should have the answers to these questions. Bill
What questions, Bill? Everything you said is correct AFAIK. Keep in mind that the grapes from the former Lytton Springs winery's vineyards do not end up in the Ridge Lytton Springs bottling to any significant extent. At first, they went in to the "Sonoma Station" wine, but now they also sometimes make a "Lytton Estate" that may be sourced from those vineyards. And, of course, Ridge's Sonoma tasting room is the site of the former Lytton Springs winery. I have some fond memories of their Zins from the mid-to-late '80s. In fact, their '88 was one of the best Zins of that vintage IIRC.
Mark Lipton
From the label:
40% Estate vineyard 40% Maple " 20% Norton RanchIn the 15th year of producing Lytton Springs, they decided that they would drop Zinfandel from the label - it is a blend of 85% Zin, 8% Petite Sirah, 3% Carignan, and 2% each Alicante and Grenache.
Blended from 23 small separate fermentations. 14.5% alcohol
I had the misfortune to buy a case of something that Draper called Heart's Desire which came from some vineyard in the Healdsburg area that they had just purchased. He said on the label that it was so unique that he did not want to blend it with any other Zins. To my knowledge they only did one year.
circumscribed,
These days, even some Catholics (big 'c') get circumscribed.
The restraint which I exercised in avoiding that response has proven futile.
Ed Rasimus Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret) "When Thunder Rolled" Smithsonian Institution Press ISBN #1-58834-103-8
As I was reading over these posts (since I'm a big Zin/Ridge fan) I noticed your mention of the '88 Lytton Springs (not Ridge) as being a great Zin for that vintage. I knew I had an older Lytton Springs in the cellar so I went down to check it out. It is indeed an '88. I'm not sure of when I will open it, but your comments have given me a little hope for the time that I do.
Thanks!
Sean
Ooh - nipped in the bud!
Not a big fan of such truncation!
Barbarous act!
proven
LOL! I tried hard to restrain myself, but failed.
LOL!
"Bill" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@verizon.net...
It's how you sell muck. Claim that it is unique and thus warrants a high price... Anders
"Tom S" skrev i melding news:e7Dwc.80565$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr25.news.prodigy.com...
Hi Tom Don't know whether I was right - but I'm always apprehensive when someone claims his thing is "unique", "once-in-a-lifetime" "very-special-offer-for-you-sir" and so on and that the price asked actually is cheap for that special ... whatever.
:-) Anders
Given Ridge's reputation, I'd bet that it didn't have any technical defects. Can you describe what you didn't like about it?
FWIW, my tasting experience goes back to their 1971 bottlings. A couple of those were real blockbusters, too! The 1971 "Occidental, Late Harvest" was stupendously rich and intense, but very well balanced. I wonder what ever became of that Vineyard? I never saw another Ridge wine from there - or from any other winery for that matter. To put that in perspective, it was better than any "Geyserville" bottling I've tasted - and that says a LOT!
Tom S
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