TN: 2005 Ridge Lytton Springs

2005 Ridge Dry Creek Valley Lytton Springs, 77% Zinfandel, 17% Petite Sirah, 6% Carignane, 14.4% alc., $31.99: I’d been looking forward to my first taste of the newest vintage of this old favorite, and I’m sorry to report that I’m not happy with my initial impressions. Dark garnet in color, with toffee, chocolate and some briar on the nose, and plenty more of the same on the rich palate, but where is the signature Lytton Springs “zinberry” character and the Draper perfume? I keep waiting for it to emerge, and it never does; it has the kind of depth and structure that you’d expect from a Mr. Ridge, but this toffee-chocolate thing is not to my liking. With air, some Amador-like (?!) briar-bramble comes out more and more, but no real fruit character ever shows itself. The 2004 Lytton Springs seemed to show some of the same characteristics when we first tried it a little over a year ago, but that one was also anchored with a solid core of fruit. Hopefully, this is not an example of things to come from Ridge; if that were to be the case, it would signal a fundamental change in style, one not at all to my liking.

Jury's still out on this one; further investigations will be noted. Many thanks to Tim Thomas for bringing this one and a few alternates for us to ponder.

- from Bastille Day in Day-Twah

Reporting from Day-twah,

geo t.

Hmm...sorry to hear the poor report. This is one of my regulars year in and year out. I found the 2004 to be good, but not up to past favorite vintages.

Thanks, geo. I usually count on Lytton to deliver the goods. This isnt a good sign.

You opened it sooner than I would have. I can't say for sure that it will improve (if the fruit seems lacking now) but I like to give them at least five years from harvest. In the past, Lytton Springs has been one of my favorite Zins (not really a benchmark because it is quite unique and other Zins are in different styles).

You opened it sooner than I would have. I can't say for sure that it will improve (if the fruit seems lacking now) but I like to give them at least five years from harvest. In the past, Lytton Springs has been one of my favorite Zins (not really a benchmark because it is quite unique and other Zins are in different styles).

JC, we always open a bottle of the latest vintage of LS and Geyserville as soon as we can get our hands on them to see what they're showing; then we usually put some down if we like them. So we're doing just what we've been doing going back to the '90 vintage.

Cheers,

geo

Here's my TN on this one:

Bright cherry, smooth with a lot of espresso and some baking spices. Long finish is a bit acidic and candied. This is an atypical Ridge Lytton, with thinner, sweeter, brighter fruit than I'm used to, and it lacks the suave, magical Ridge touch. Hopefully this does not indicate a style change for this wine, it is not for the better.
B-