[LONG] TN: ZAP Food and Wine tasting

Mark Lipton states in part:

"Ravenswood 1994 Monte Bello color: brick with orange at the rim nose: cedar, smoke, red fruit palate: acidic on entry, medium-full body, berries and tar

Ravenswood 2002 Monte Bello nose: berries and pepper palate: rich, red berry fruit, decent acidity, oak, medium-full body

The treat here was being served the wine by none other than Joel Peterson, founder, winemaker and erstwhile owner of Ravenswood. As I have a number of Ravenswood Monte Rossos in my cellar, I was curious to see how the '94 had evolved. And who says Zin can't age? Both wines were very nice, if a bit lighter than I had expected."

You mention Monte Bello in the description of both wines, but Monte Rosso in your discussion that follows. I have only seen Ridge Monte Bello Zinfandel, but I have not been keeping up with recent Ravenswood wines. Does Ravenswood also now produce a Monte Bello, or is there a typo?

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My comment exactly! Ravenswood Monte Bello?

And, it should be noted that Ridge Monte Bello is a predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon blend (doesn't meet the total CS percentage requirement to be labeled as such in California).

I agree totally with the comment about the '02 Ridge Lytton Spring--much reduced in strength and power from what is usually encountered in a Ridge LS. The other two Ridge Zins released at the same time: Pagani Ranch and Ponzo were more representative of Paul Draper's usual efforts.

Has anyone encountered the '03 "Heritage" coming out from Ridge in the near future?

Ed Rasimus Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret) "When Thunder Rolled"

Yes, my bad! I of course meant Monte Rosso, the old Louis Martini vineyard, but for some reason it came out Monte Bello (no doubt wishful thinking!)

Mark Lipton

Ed Rasimus states in part: "And, it should be noted that Ridge Monte Bello is a predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon blend (doesn't meet the total CS percentage requirement to be labeled as such in California)."

Monte Bello has been used by Ridge for both Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon wines that are so labeled. For example I have a bottle of Ridge 1973 California Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Bello, estate grown, Monte Bello, 2300-2600 feet, bottled Oct 1975, alcohol 12.8% by volume, produced and botted by Ridge Vineyards, 17100 Monte Bello Rd, Cupertino, California.

The Zinfandel is Ridge California Zinfandel Monte Bello 1973, Montebello Ridge,1100 ft and 1500 ft vineyards, bottled Dec 1974, alcohol 12.6% by volume, produced and bottled by Ridge Vineyards, 17100 Monte Bello Rd, Cupertino, California. Notice this wine does not claim to be estate bottled as was the Cabernet.

The back labels of both bottles have this to say: "Near Black Mountain on Monte Bello Ridge, our main vineyard is 10 miles south of Palo Alto,

15 miles inland from the ocean, and over 2000 feet in elevation."

I also have Ridge Monte Bello Cabernet Sauvignon from 1974, 1976, and

1990.

I have not seen a Ridge wine just named Monte Bello, but that would seem to be a reasonable thing to do for a Ridge wine grown in the Montebello Ridge area that is a blend and that does not qualify to be labeled Cabernet Sauvignon.

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Your experience with Ridge goes back a lot further than mine. I was unfamiliar with the fact that in the past Ridge had done a Zin bottling out of Monte Bello.

I went searching for more information and unfortunately couldn't find much in the way of links that displayed the Ridge Monte Bello label except for this one:

Note that all that the label displays is the three large-print line: Ridge California Monte Bello

Check the fine print below and you'll see the blend (at least for '97) of 70% CS, 24% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 1% Cab Franc.

The Ridge web site notes recent Monte Bello bottlings of Chardonnay as well as the flagship CS blend.

Ed Rasimus Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret) "When Thunder Rolled"

Ed, I just put up an image of the Ridge 1973 Monte Bello Zinfandel at:

The glue did not hold very well on some Ridge labels back then, and I had to use rubber bands to keep the label on the bottle for this wine. The CS label glue is holding well, so I did not try to remove it. However Cabernet Sauvignon is displayed on it much as is Zinfandel on the label shown.

I have a domain set up so that it was no trouble to scan the label, crop and convert to a jpg, and automatically upload to my site using CuteFTP. My site is private, so one can not view the contents by going to an index page. You have to have a specific URL to get in.

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I went to Zap "Flights" instead of food and wine tasting.

Peter Granoff of Ferry Plaza Wine Merchants in San Francisco was the moderator for this event. They had four flights of four wines with different "themes" for each flight.

1st Flight: Out of the Barrel The 2004 Zinfandel Vintage Robert Biale Vineyards Aldo's Vineyard" Napa Valley Peachy Canyon Winery Mustang springs ranch, Paso Robles Ridge Vineyards Lytton springs, Dry Creek Tres Sabores, Rutherford, Napa Valley I am a very inexperienced taster and these were all basically barrel samples. The Ridge was the one further along while in my opinion the Tres Sabores still had some residual sugar. The first two were just way too yeasty and I could not see where they were going at all. Robert Biale, Doug Beckett, Paul Draper and Julie Johnson were the panel; they all said 2004 is going to be a great vintage for zin (surprise!). Highlight of the flight was Julie Johnson falling off her chair from the podium. This was only the first flight so the podium was removed as a precaution.

2nd Flight: Zinfandel Style Taste the Range Boeger Winery, 2002 Old Clone Zin, "Estate bottled, El Dorado D-Cubed Cellars, 2002 Howell Mountain Zin, Napa Valley Mara Winery, Dolinsek Ranch, Russian River Valley Rosenblum Cellars, 2002 Annette's reserve Zin, Redwood Valley Mara's wine was the most distinct wine of the flight; much darker than the others but in my opinion with too much pepper flavor on the nose and on the palate. My favorite was the Rosenblum for balance. Justin Boeger, Duane Dappen, Charles Mara and Kent Rosenblum talked about what they do to achieve their style (cold soaks, yields per acre, yeast choice etc.)

Old Vine Zinfandel Myth and Reality Edmeades Winery 2002 Zin, Ciapusci vineyard, Mendocino ridge Rancho Zabaco Winery, 2003 Toreador Zin, Monte Rosso vineyard, Sonoma Valley Saxon Brown, 2001 Cas Santimaria, "Old Vine", Sonoma Valley Storybook Mountain Vineyards, 2001 Estate reserve Zin I thought Storybook's wine could have been the best but it was overoaked; this is my humble opinion and I would like to point out that in general I do not like oak. This could be a very good wine for others. I thought Saxon's wine had the best balance of the flight. Van Williamson, Eric Cinnamon, Jeff Gaffner and Dr. J. Bernard Seps talked about the age of the vines that produced these wines and why the believe older vines produce superior wines.

Vineyard Blends vs. Single Vineyards Personality Profiles Bourassa Vineyards 2003 Odyssey Zin, Napa Valley (blend) Macchia, 2003 Zin "Adventurous", Linsteadt vineyard, Amador county Marr Cellars 2003 Mattern ranch, County old vine Zin, Mendocino Ravenswood 2001 Old Hill Zin, Sonoma Valley The Ravenswood was in my opinion the best wine of the night. Great structure and balance and I think long aging potential. The Bourassa blend was pretty interesting as well while I thought the Macchia was good on the nose but was a bit too sweet for my taste. Vic Bourassa, Tim Holdener, Bob Marr and Joel Peterson discussed the merits of single vineyards. Vic Bourassa is totally into blending and defended his position strongly.

All the panelists are very much into Zin. It was good to hear people who are passionate about this type of wine. Personally I think zin can produce very good wine but I will say I prefer the more subdued balanced understated zins over some of the fruit bombs that might have made the wine famous.

E 01/26/05 Zap "Flights"

Someone asked for a post on ZAP so here it goes. Peter Granoff of Ferry Plaza Wine Merchants in San Francisco was the moderator for this event.

1st Flight: Out of the Barrel The 2004 Zinfandel Vintage Robert Biale Vineyards Aldo's Vineyard" Napa Valley Peachy Canyon Winery Mustang springs ranch, Paso Robles Ridge Vineyards Lytton springs, Dry Creek Tres Sabores, Rutherford, Napa Valley I am a very inexperienced taster and these were all basically barrel samples. The Ridge was the one further along while in my opinion the Tres Sabores still had some residual sugar. The first two were just way too yeasty and I could not see where they were going at all. Robert Biale, Doug Beckett, Paul Draper and Julie Johnson were the panel; they all said 2004 is going to be a great vintage for zin (surprise!). Highlight of the flight was Julie Johnson falling off her chair from the podium. This was only the first flight so the podium was removed as a precaution.

2nd Flight: Zinfandel Style Taste the Range Boeger Winery, 2002 Old Clone Zin, "Estate bottled, El Dorado D-Cubed Cellars, 2002 Howell Mountain Zin, Napa Valley Mara Winery, Dolinsek Ranch, Russian River Valley Rosenblum Cellars, 2002 Annette's reserve Zin, Redwood Valley Mara's wine was the most distinct wine of the flight; much darker than the others but in my opinion with too much pepper flavor on the nose and on the palate. My favorite was the Rosenblum for balance. Justin Boeger, Duane Dappen, Charles Mara and Kent Rosenblum talked about what they do to achieve their style (cold soaks, yields per acre, yeast choice etc.)

Old Vine Zinfandel Myth and Reality Edmeades Winery 2002 Zin, Ciapusci vineyard, Mendocino ridge Rancho Zabaco Winery, 2003 Toreador Zin, Monte Rosso vineyard, Sonoma Valley Saxon Brown, 2001 Cas Santimaria, "Old Vine", Sonoma Valley Storybook Mountain Vineyards, 2001 Estate reserve Zin I thought Storybook's wine could have been the best but it was overoaked; this is my humble opinion and I would like to point out that in general I do not like oak. This could be a very good wine for others. I thought Saxon's wine had the best balance of the flight. Van Williamson, Eric Cinnamon, Jeff Gaffner and Dr. J. Bernard Seps talked about the age of the vines that produced these wines and why the believe older vines produce superior wines.

Vineyard Blends vs. Single Vineyards Personality Profiles Bourassa Vineyards 2003 Odyssey Zin, Napa Valley (blend) Macchia, 2003 Zin "Adventurous", Linsteadt vineyard, Amador county Marr Cellars 2003 Mattern ranch, County old vine Zin, Mendocino Ravenswood 2001 Old Hill Zin, Sonoma Valley The Ravenswood was in my opinion the best wine of the night. Great structure and balance and I think long aging potential. The Bourassa blend was pretty interesting as well while I thought the Macchia was good on the nose but was a bit too sweet for my taste. Vic Bourassa, Tim Holdener, Bob Marr and Joel Peterson discussed the merits of single vineyards. Vic Bourassa is totally into blending and defended his position strongly.

All the panelists are very much into Zin. It was good to hear people who are passionate about this type of wine. Personally I think zin can produce very good wine but I will say I prefer the more subdued balanced understated zins over some of the fruit bombs that might have made the wine famous.

E

Well eat my heart out! We used to do ZAP in Denver, and attended the one ( possibly the only one) in AZ some years back. This was always a wonderful event, and I only hoped to have a trip to CA for this year's event. Las Vegas and business won out.

I've not tasted the Zoom, but will give it a look, provided that it gets into AZ.

Thanks for the notes. Sounds like CA is agreeing with you guys. We expect to hear more, great things.

Hunt

I've got Ridge, Ravenswood, Rosenblum and Steven Ross Monte Rossos. All have been great Zins.

Hunt

Don't feel bad. I read Cwdjrx' reply and saw Monte Rosso! Duh. Hey, what's one Monte v another to a bunch of winos?

Hunt. heading off to remedial reading classes right now!

It's a great vineyard. Robert Biale also makes a Monte Rosso (hey, I got it right this time!) Zin which is quite excellent. I intend before too long to do a head-to-head tasting of the '95 Monte Rosso Zins from Biale and Ravenswood, the results of which ought to find their way here...

Mark Lipton

Rosenblum does a Monte Rosso also that was quite good also.

Sounds like a "plan." I have not tasted Biale's Monte russo, but also have several other producer's Zins from that vineyard. I've nailed some of Biale's single-vineyard Zins, and will definitely be on the lookout for his MR.

Hope you are enjoying CA - sure sounds like it. Now, if I can only get my MB's and MR's correct... nah, that's asking too much from my alcohol addeled brain!

Hunt

Emilio, Thanks for the report on the flights tasting. I did like the sound of that event, too, but with a small baby one must choose one's opportunities carefully. Nice notes, BTW.

Mark Lipton

You guys are KILLING me. Not only did I miss ZAP, but had to decline Peter's invite for the flights!!!!! Dang, if I had not had to be an "attending spouse" in Las Vegas, I would have been there. Oh well, there is always next year - sigh.

Hunt