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Wine Description
The Story
In 1886, high in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the first Monte Bello vineyards were planted, and winery construction begun. A first vintage from the young vines followed in 1892. During Prohibition (1920-1933), the vineyard was not fully maintained; some vines survived into the late 30s, but by the 1940s they were effectively abandoned. Eight acres of cabernet sauvignon were replanted in 1949. These were the source of the first Ridge Monte Bello (1962) and subsequent vintages until 1974 when younger blocks replanted in the 1960s were considered for inclusion. Since then, the historic vineyards on the ridge have gradually been replanted.
The Monte Bello (originally Monte Bello Cabernet; until 1975, 100% cabernet) is the wine that introduced Ridge to the world, and the world to Ridge. Today it is a blend of bordeaux varietals in which cabernet sauvignon still predominates. Exhaustive tasting of test blends during assemblage determines how much — if any — merlot, petit verdot, or cabernet franc will be included in the finished wine. Almost every vintage (an unbroken chain from '62 on) has something substantive to recommend it. Each decade has its high points, but year after year Monte Bello proves to be a consistently outstanding wine. There's structure, there's complexity, there's balance. And it develops for a long, long time.
The vineyards are grown organically.
Wine Information
BLEND: 85% Cabernet sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot
VINTAGE 1990 REPORT: The 1990 Monte Bello growing season began late. In the Santa Cruz Mountains, where temperatures are moderated by the region’s proximity to the Pacific Ocean, this meant that set (fruit formation) was not complete until late June. As warm summer days ripened the fruit, cool nights helped maintain firm acidity. Harvest on the south-facing slopes was begun in early October; we moved on block by block as the grapes reached full maturity
53 Tons from 48 Acres. Small, five-ton-capacity fermentors were used to handle these selective pickings; when harvest was over, in late October, there were ten individual Monte Bello wines. In addition, we held out and kept separate the first and second pressings from each lot, to provide further options for improving the final wine. Thirty to forty percent of the grapes were left unbroken as fermentation began. Even during fermentation, it was clear we had a particularly intense vintage on our hands. By January, it seemed possible this might be the finest since 1970. A majority of air-dried american oak was used in aging. Over eighty percent of the barrels were new, and the rest had been used for ten months with the ’89 Monte Bello. With this greater-than-usual amount of new and near-new wood, we monitored carefully to avoid over-oaking; The integration and balance achieved are characteristic of the finest Monte Bellos.
