TN Ridge and two clarets

Solihull Fine Wine Society March tasting.

Blind as usual. We knew it was based on Ridge, but Mark put in two clarets to fool us.

Ridge Wines Petite Syrah 1999 Huge extract with a youthful rim, vanilla nd oak, chocolate, nose improved over an hour. Soft tannins and good fruit and spice, cinnamon, long. A most pleasant wine, most thought it was a cabernet., but one spotted the petite syrah...impressed!

Ridge Wines Lytton Springs 2000 Bright, extract++ deep, lots of VA that blew off, stewed chaptalised nose which descended to an off portlike nose. Spice and alcohol on palate and finished bitter. My worst wine of the night. Or is it that this was a typical Zin and we do not drink enough of the stuff.

Ch Chasse Spleen 1999 Same colour as the Zin but hint of brown edge, classic claret, cassis and some pencils, rather muted nose. Flabby tannins and lightweight fruit, a pleasant easy drinking claret as most identified.

Ridge Wines Santa Cruz Cabernet 1999 Bright and young,a real noseful of leather, mint, complex spice, beautiful soft entrance, fruit++ with big tannins, ever so long. Drinking now but leave a couple more years.

Ridge Wines Merlot 1997 Palest of night, funny mothball dust cupboard nose, tired. Palate reflected the nose, drying out with some residual fruit. Over. Seconfd worst of night.

Ridge Wines Santa Cruz Cabernet 1997 Big, no sign of age, extract ++, complex organic blackcurrants, restrained. Wonderful soft spice and big tannins, still evolving, try 3 years. Lovely.

Ridge Wines Santa Cruz Cabernet 1994 Portlike, no age, a magical nose of cassis and spice, complex restrained. Huge fruit and tannins, cloves and cinnamon again, Long...excellent, my 2nd WOTN

Ch Leovile Barton 1990 Big and bright like the previous wine. Strange salty nose, cedar and classic claret, soft spice and fruit tannins firm, lightweight between the two Ridges. Did not show well twix the big Colonials. and spotted as claret by all.

Ridge Wines Montebello Cabernet. 1994 Again huge extract no hint of age at all, a magnificent minty cedar spicy complex yet restrained nose. Huge soft fruit and big tannins, long, but some wondered whether it would all come good. A magnificent wine and my WOTN despite some quibbles about longevity.

Reply to
John T
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John, I'd suspect that you had an off bottle(s) of the stuff. Stewed and chaptalized are not terms that I'd associate with Ridge Lytton Springs, and I've got a 20-year perspective on the wine. Is it possible that it was heat-damaged? From your description it almost sounds that way. When I had this wine at their Lytton Springs facility back in '03, I found it to be pretty typical Lytton Springs: berry, pepper, chocolate and caramel. In another taster, I might just chalk it up to a lack of appreciation of the style, but I know that you drink enough CdP to have some sense of the style.

Thanks for this note. I have a single bottle, a gift, and had been considering when would be a good time to open it. FWIW, Ridge's SCM Cab gets my vote for one of the best "value" Cabernets now made in CA.

It sounds like a fantastic event. Kudos to the Solihull Fine Wine Society for putting it on.

Mark Lipton

Reply to
Mark Lipton

a duff bottle was considered and your view supports it. I will mention at our next tasting.

cheers

JT

Reply to
John T

I still have a couple of bottles of this - always a great value compared to the price of the Monte Bello....

Nice tasting, John.

Reply to
Bill S.

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