Tried last night w/ Susan:
1. Ridge LyttonEstate Viognier (LyttonWestVnyd; DryCreekVlly; 14.9%; Bttld: Aug'10; "opulent & slightly sweet";
Drk: 6/10-6/20: EB) 2009: Light gold color; rather toasty/pencilly/nutmeg/tobaccoy/oaked slight nutty/toasted hazelnuts some pear/Viog/floral/herbal rather unusual very un-Viog-like nose; soft/fat off-dry rather nutmeg/spicy/toasty/oak slight toasted hazelnuts/nutty some opulent/pear/Viog flavor; long soft/fat fairly off-dry herbal/very ripe/pear/Viog classic Ridge Chard/toasty/oak rather overripe finish; more like an overripe Chard than Viog; rather strange wine and a bit on the cloying side; needs acid. $19.00/hlf
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2. Ridge Calif Zin Carmichael (8% PS; 14.7%; SonomaCnty; 41 brls; Bttld: 11/09; Drk" 8/09-8/15-8/16: EB) 2008: Med.dark color; strong raspberry/blackberry/Zin/spicy slight plummy/earthy some vanilla/oak/DraperPerfume straightforward Ridge Zin nose; tart bit lean/tannic/angular pleasant blackberry/raspberry/Zin/spicy/plummy some vanilla/oak attractive flavor; med.long pleasant blackberry/raspberry/Zin/spicy some vanilla/oak bit angular/hard/tannic finish; a pleasant Ridge Zin just one step above the 3Vllys. $28.00
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A wee BP:
1. Ridge has a small planting of Viog on LyttonWest that they typically blend into their LyttonWest Syrah. In '09, the Syrah crop was way down and all the Viog would have seriously perturbed the character of the Syrah, so they put up 63 cs of hlf btls of pure Viog. They said it was Ridge's first Viog. They are wrong. They made another Viog back in the late '90's as I recall.
The one TN I saw on this wine labeled it as an "oaky/goopy mess". I guess I can see why somebody would call it that. It had the typical toasty oak you find, sometimes at a pretty high level, in their SCM and MB Chards. It certainly had a noticible RS level, though not any more than some of the Gaillard/Villard LateHrvst Condrieus. The RS will make it difficult to pair w/ most foods. But the biggest problem w/ the wine is the rather low acidity, so it lack brightness. The oak treatment gave it a toasted hazelnutty character that suggested it is showing more old-Rhone oxidative character than you'd expect of an '09. More than anything, it reminded me of some of MatGarretson's over-the-top/overripe Viogniers he made that clocked in at 15%-16%+ alcohol (sorry, Mat). EricBaugher's suggestion that it'll go out to year 2020 seems a bit suspect to me.
So...did I like the "first" Ridge Viognier?? Hmmmmm...can't say that I really did like it...but I didn't dislike it, either. Like the Ridge Syrahs and Grenaches; their Rhone program features wines that are Ridge's unique vision of the Rhone world....unlike anybody else's rendition of Rhone varietials in Calif. Guess I'll have to try it in a few yrs to see where it's at. But it's definitely not a Viognier that's going to appeal to many afficianados of Calif Viognier.
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2. Carmichael: Another ATP Zin that didn't particularly jazz me right out of the gate. Much like the Buchnagnani, Ponzo, Mazzoni, Caboose, EastBench... they seldom show the stature you'd expect from LyttonSprings/Geyserville/Dusi. It's definitely a step above the 3Vllys basic restaurant Zin...but not a big step up. However, sometimes these ATP Zins have an uncanny knack of really developing into something nice w/ 2-5 yrs of btl age. This Carmichael may.....or may not. We'll see.
Tom