2013 ridge, california cabernet sauvignon monte bello, santa cruz mountains
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Why We're Buying
Ridge Monte Bello Cabernet Sauvignon is a Bordeaux-style red blend that has defines the wine industry in California. The fruit is sourced from a vineyard on the southern-facing slopes of red volcanic soils in the Santa Cruz mountains from 60+ years old vines. The result is a wine that critic Wilfred Wong called "one of the greatest achievements in the history of wine." To date, Monte Bello has received seven 100-point ratings from critics.
Critics Scores
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Monte Bello is a very special vintage for this great wine. Amazingly, it has yet to shut down, unfurling in the glass to reveal a bouquet of black raspberries, cassis, rich espresso roast, cigar wrapper, subtle black truffle and burning embers that has already integrated its 100 new oak remarkably completely. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, powerful and multidimensional, with a lavishly textural attack that segues into a stunningly layered, richly structured mid-palate endowed with incredible depth and concentration underpinned by succulent acids. The finish is long, vibrant and beautifully delineated. The 2013 is a blend of 80 Cabernet Sauvignon, 8 Petit Verdot, 7 Cabernet Franc and 5 Merlot, and it attained 13.6 natural alcohol. Analytically, this ranks as one of the most tannic vintages of Monte Bello ever produced, but the tannins are of such high quality and cloaked in such a wealth of fruit that Ridge forwent their habitual egg white fining this year—beginning a trend that has continued since. This profound Monte Bello will begin to blossom as it reaches age ten and should prove practically immortal.