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Raudonasis sausas
Hand-harvested, estate-grown grapes; destemmed and sorted; fermented on the native yeasts; full malolactic on the naturally occurring bacteria; minimum effective sulfur; four egg whites per barrel for tannin reduction; depth filtration at bottling. In keeping with our philosophy of minimal intervention, this is the sum of our actions.
The wine was aged for 16 months in American oak barrels, 58% of which are new.
The wine has saturated purple color with black cherry, plum, black tea, cedar and sweet toasted oak on the nose. Bramble fruit, vanilla, and mint on the palate with well-coated tannins and a long finish.
Serve at 16-18 °C with Creole sausage balls, pan roasted rack of lamb with truffle-mushroom crust, Mozzarella & red onion pizza, meatloaf.
“True to the vineyard’s mountain site, up to 814m (2,670ft) in altitude, exposed to the cold Pacific, the wine has vivid cassis purity and a touch of green sage. 16 months in 58% new American oak may have rounded the edges of the wine, but none of that oak shows up in the wine’s flavour—exquisite structure and balance. Ridge’s Estate Cabernets come from old blocks in the Monte Bello Vineyard, but blocks that Paul Draper and John Olney feel tend to produce a wine that’s more accessible young than the blocks used for Ridge’s top wine, Monte Bello. Be that as it may, the Estate Cabernet blend comprised of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot and 1% Petite Verdot drinks like a sophisticated ageworthy wine.”
Though born in the early sixties (In 1962, Ridge made its first Monte Bello, two years later - Zinfandel) to the post-Prohibition world of modern California winemaking, Ridge relies on nature and tradition rather than technology. Our pre-industrial approach is straightforward: find intense, flavorful grapes; intrude upon the process only when necessary; draw the fruit’s distinctive character and richness into the wine.Interestingly, Monte Bello has often been called America’s First Growth, as it is the finest domestic example of a classic Bordeaux blend in which cabernet sauvignon predominates.
