long time club members any stories of Ridge they wanted to share. These are my stories:
Tom wrote:You requested some personal stories for the Ridge 60'th Anniv. Below are a few of my
stories. Some of them may even be true!!
TomHill
LosAlamos
1. Hew Crane: During the Manhattan Project to invent the Atomic Bomb, carried out at Los Alamos, there were no
computers yet invented. Calculations, remarkably accurate, were made using mechanical calculators and punched
card adding machines. The first general purpose computer was the ENIAC, invented by Presper Eckhert and
John Mauchly at the University of Pennsylvania and completed in 1946 after the War's end. It was very difficult
to program and required lots of wires in a programmable plugboards to communicate the instructions to the
computer. It was not really a general-purpose computer, though it used thousands of electronic vacuum tubes.
During the war, the Hungarian Jewish emigre who had fled the Nazis, Johnny von Neumann, was a frequent
consultant to Los Alamos. He was also heavily involved in the ENIAC project whilst on leave from the Princeton
Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS). After the War, he proposed the first general purpose electronic computer in
which the instructions were stored within the memory of the computer and easily modified...the birth certificate
for modern computers.
When Johnny returned to IAS, his goal was to build just such a computer. Being a high-level mathematician, he
realized to do so he would need somebody who was good with a soldering iron to build the thing. From his ENIAC
days, he had met an engineer by the name of Hew Crane who he felt was just the man for the task. So he proposed
that the IAS place Hew on the staff. There was immediately a great hew & cry from the IAS staff, lead by famous
mathematician Kurt Godel and famous physicist Albert Einstein, objecting to having Hew named to the IAS staff.
Hew was lacking a PhD and only...pfffttt...an engineer and they felt it would dilute the prestige of the IAS staff.
Fortunately, they were overuled by the IAS director, J.Robert Oppenheimer, the Father of the Atomic Bomb.
After Hew completed his work at Princeton, he went to the Stanford Research Institute where he made many
contributions to computer technology. Whilst at SRI, he met several co-workers: Dave Bennion, Howard Ziedler, and
Charlie Rosen. They purchased some property atop Monte Bello Ridge, as a weekend retreat, which had vineyards and
the defunct Perrone Winery. In '60 & '61, Dave made some home-made wines in the garage of his home. The four partners
then rebonded the winery in 1962 and, as they say....the rest is history.
During one of those home-made vintages, Dave & Fran were going to be away for a few weeks and Dave would not be
present to do the punch-downs of the cap in the fermenting Cab. So he devised a wooden grid that would hold the
cap below the surface of the fermenting wine in the vat. This was the orgins of the submerged cap
fermentation, which leads to a gentler extraction of color & tannins, which is still used some at Ridge.
2. Meeting Dave Bennion: Shortly after I came to Los Alamos, I discovered the glories of Ridge Zinfandels when I
purchased them at Boulder's famed Liquor Mart. So, in the Summer of 1974, I made my first trek up to 17100
MonteBello Road for an appointment with Dave Bennion. I arrived at this little graveled area with a small house
and a nearby dilapidated barn/winery. There was dark green beat-up pickup truck between the two buildings with the
hood up and some guy in a faded green plaid flannel shirt with a big bushy beard working away on the engine.
I parked nearby and went to this auto mechanic and told him I was there to meet Dave Bennion. He sorta grunted
at me & returned to work on the engine. I wandered up atop the nearby knoll & took in the spectacular view of the
the South Bay to the East. After about 15 minutes, I returned to this bearded auto mechanic and announced "I'm Tom Hill
and I have a 2:00pm appointment with Dave Benion. Would you fetch him for me"!! The mechanic grunted at me again,
wiped his hands off on this greasy red rag, and grunted "Just a minute". He then went into the nearby bathroom, I
could hear him washing off his hands, and then came striding out of the bathroom towards me. He then gave me this
huge smile, extended his hand and replied "Hi....I'm Dave Bennion"!! I felt like such a jerk. We had a good laugh
several times over the years of our first meeting.
3. Another Dave Bennion Encounter: In late October of 1975, the American Nuclear Society had their annual meeting in
San Francisco and I arranged with Dave to bring 5-6 of these nuclear types up to Ridge to taste some wines. We
met at the picnic table up on the knoll on a chilly/blustery day and tasted thru the just released '73 reds,
mostly Zinfandels. After an hour as our tasting was winding down, I made the comment to Dave that I really liked
his reds, but that I thought his whites were "not too thrilling". On release, they had a ton of oak, not a whole
lot of fruit, a bit on the austere/chalky side, and not very rich/textured. Terroir-driven wines.
Dave immediately took that as a challenge. He headed down into the Ridge library in the lower winery and emerged
with a handful of old whites...White Riesling, Sylvaner, Chardonnay... from the mid-late '60's. He made a believer
out of me. They had a very complex, slightly nutty/oxidative character you find in old white Burgundies and the
valve oil of old German Riesling. He also brought up this half btl that he was warming in his crotch as we sat there
on the knoll. It was the legendary '66 or '68 Monte Bello White Riesling TBA/botrytis wine. It was absolutely
magnificant.
4. Meeting Paul Draper: By the mid-'70's, Paul had already established quite a reputation as the winemaker at Ridge.
Sometime in the Summer of '76, I made an appointment with Paul to meet him and walk a bit of the Monte Bello vnyd.
When I arrived, Paul asked me if I minded if a couple of others joined our tour. "Of course not"!! Shortly later
this curly-headed guy arrived with about 2-3 of his friends...none of whom could speak a lick of English. Paul
introduced this guy to me as Jeremiah Tower and spoke to the others in a bit of French to welcome them.
At the time, I had no clue who Jeremiah Tower was. He was, at that time, the primary chef and partner at
Alice Water's Chez Panisse and developing quite a reputation for helping develop California Cusine. He had a couple
of his French chef friends (undoubtedly very famous) in town and wanted to treat them to the Ridge experience.
We walked part of the Monte Bello vnyd near the lower winery and Paul regaled us with the history of MonteBello and
pointed out some of the vines. We then adjourned to the old part of the upper winery (the new part where MB Cabernet
was aged had not yet been built) and tasted a bit from barrel. I had lots of questions I was asking Paul and he
spent most of his time answering those questions. Towards the end of our visit, I began to sense that
Jeremiah Tower was a bit miffed that Paul was paying so much attention to me & my questions.
I, of course, subsequently learned of the famous Jerimiah Tower & his reputation. Years later, when we met again
at his Santa Fe Bar & Grill in Berkeley and his Stars restaurant in San Francisco, we shared recollections of that
visit and had a good laugh over it.
5. Krista Bennion Feeney: Krista is a world-reknowned violinist with the St.Luke's Chamber Ensemble. She was the
founder of the Ridge String Quartet in the Palo Alto area. In the early '90's, she made a guest appearance at the
Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. This was only a few yrs after her Dad was killed in an auto accident on the
Golden Gate Bridge. I attended one of the rehearsals at the St.Francis Auditorium and introduced myself to her at the
conclusion. I then proceeded to relate to Krista my story above of meeting her Dad. When I finished, she commented
"That would be my Dad" as tears were streaming down her face.
6. Ridge Coast Range Zinfandel 1973: Back in the early '70's, Ridge made a number of red wines from purchased/non-
MonteBello, mostly Zinfandel but also a Pinot Noir. In the Fall of '75, upon its release, we tried the Coast Range
Zinfandel '73. Which sold at Liquor Mart for all of $2.99/btl. I was blown away by how good it was for the $$$'s.
At the time, Boulder's Liquor Mart was one of the Nations leading wine stores. Led by legends Phil Reich (later
of Michael's restaurant in Santa Monica) and Rene Rondeau (late of Draper-Esquin's in San Francisco). Joseph Phelps
got his wine education from them when he was running Joseph Phelps Construction in Colorado & afore he started
Joseph Phelps Wnry in St.Helena. Its reputation was such that even some Calif winemakers would buy their wines
from Liquor Mart, mainly because of their low markups on imported wines.
When my group tasted this first btl of the '73, we were all so impressed that I put together a group order from
Liquor Mart. We got enough orders for... almost 75 cases. The CO distributor had to put together a special order
from Ridge to accomodate our needs. In the early Spring of '76, I rented in Los Alamos a U-Haul trailer, hooked
it up to my poor '68 Slant-6 Dodge Dart, and trekked off to Boulder to retrieve our Ridges. Made it back without
any incident, but the poor Dart struggled crossing LaVeta Pass. Lots of CoastRange '73 made it into a lot of
LosAlamos cellars at $2.79/btl and provided a lot of good drinking. Wouldn't be surprised that a few btls still
lurk around in LosAlamos.
At the time, the NewMexico law read that you were allowed to bring into NM a "reasonable" amount of wine for your
own personal use. I considered 75 cases an awfully danged "reasonable" amount. Fortunately, I was not stopped by
some tin-horned County Sheriff out in the wilds of Northern New Mexico.
7. Donn Reisen: Donn started working at Ridge in 1977, working harvest. He eventually became VP of marketing and
eventually Prez of Ridge after Wilma Sturrock's retirement. He became the public face of Ridge even more so than Paul.
He had extremely good people skills & was widely liked throughout the wine community.
Donn often represented Ridge at the SantaFe Wine&Chile Fiesta. We often held the Dave Jones Memorial Potluck during
SFW&CF and would invite winemakers we knew. About '79, Donn was the Ridge rep and attended our Potluck. He knew of my
passion for Syrah & Calif Rhones, so brought a newly bottled first Ridge Syrah from Lytton Springs, the '96. When
he opened it for me & I tasted it, he could tell that I was not all that impressed. To me, it just tasted like another
(very good) Ridge red but didn't shout of Calif Syrah. Donn put his hand on my shoulder and in a very avuncular
manner "Tom, just give it some age". He was, of course, exactly right. With about 10 yrs of age, it evolved into a
spectacular Syrah the stature of an older Geyserville or LyttonSprings, yet still speaking more of great Ridge red
and much different than most Calif Syrahs...but still a great Ridge red.
Around 2005, Donn was again the Ridge rep at SFW&CF. Susan & I helped him pour at the grand tasting, allowing him
to visit with his many fans that were eager to chat. Midway thru the tasting, the Somm from the Blue Star restaurant
up in Colorado Springs, a restaurant with an extraordinary wine list, approached the table to meet Donn and relate
how Ridge was about his favorite wine on the list. After he tasted the wines, he asked Donn if he could have the
Ridge-logo waiter's corkscrew he was using. Alas, it was our only corkscrew and we had many more btls to open.
As the tasting was winding down towards the end, Donn plunged into the (rather rowdy) crowd to search out the
Blue Star Somm and give him the Ridge corkscrew. He got the Somm's card and when he got back to Ridge, made
arrangements to have six of the Ridge corkscrews shipped to Blue Star. When I ate at Blue Star several yrs later,
our waiter was still using a Ridge corkscrew.
Unfortunately, Donn died in 2009. He is greatly missed by all the Ridge fans who knew him. He was one of a kind
and left many fond memories behind of him for us.
8. Aspen F&W Festival: In the early-mid '90's, I would often attend the Aspen Food & Wine Festival. Paul & Maureen
Draper frequently attended because it gave them an opportunity to get in some serious mountain biking. One year,
Paul was serving on a panel talking/tasting Calif Petite Sirahs, of which the Ridge York Creek was one of the
greatest made in Calif. When it came Paul's turn to speak, he stood up and started his delivery. Unfortunately,
the front of his tan shorts was unzipped, revealing his tighty-whiteys underneath for all to see. I was front &
center, about 6' from Paul. I hastily scribbled on a piece of paper in large letters "ZIPPER" and held it up
discretely for him to see. He gave me this sheepish grin, calmly reached down & zipped up without batting an eye,
not missing a single word in his delivery.
I would often rent a condo at Aspen for a group of my Los Alamos friends to stay & make communal meals. Often
we would invite winemakers to join us for dinner, knowing they would bring some good wine (not that we didn't have
any ourselves). This one year, we invited both Paul and Darrell Corti to dinner. After dinner, we all sat around
the table listening to these two wine legends exchange stories & banter on a wide variety of topics. It was well
after midnight when we finally broke up. An absolutely fascinating evening of great conversation.
9. Turley Zins: When the Turley winery was founded in 1993, Larry Turley retained his sister, Helen Turley as their
first winemaker. She had a distinct style of making Zins....high in alcohol, high in extract, high in oak...
Zins well over the top & a huge contrast from the traditional Ridge style. However, they received huge scores
out of Monktown and rapidly developed a cult following.
Ever year, when I would receive my Turley shipment, I would immediately taste them and write up my tasting notes
and post them to the Internet UseGroup alt.food.wine. Because I would often include some Ridges Zins, I would usually
send my TN's to Paul. Apparently, Paul had a file on me that he kept my TN's & other communications (probably still
has it filed away).
Because my TN's were rather wordy, made for very tedious reading, and very (long/boring), I once inserted a
fake TN on a legendary Turley Smoot-Hawley Vnyd White Zin to see if anybody was reading the TN's. Nobody picked
up on it until much later and the Turley Smoot-Hawley White Zin became a true unicorn wine.
When Stephen Brook was researching his "Wines of California" in the late 70's, he visited with Paul up at Ridge
and Paul apparently gave him the TomHill file to read. When his book came out, in the section discussing Zins, he
described the origins of White Zinfandel in Calif. He then made an off-hand reference to a $79 White Zin as the
most expensive one ever made in Calif. It was, of course, the Turley Smoot-Hawley White Zin, that he had picked
up on.
10. Occidental Zin: Starting about '70, Ridge made a Zinfandel from the Robert von Weidlich vineyard up on Occidental
Ridge. The vineyard was originally planted in 1892. This is a very cold area to grow Zin and the high acidity of the
Occidental Zins reflected that fact. One year, Paul & Dave Gates drove up to Morelli Lane to bring back these
von Weidlich grapes. When they arrived, they caught Robert dumping 5-lb bags of sugar on the bins of grapes
in order to boost the sugar level. Eventually, Paul dropped the Occidental Zin because of the difficulty in
ripening the grapes. It is now owned/farmed by Eric Sussman/Radio-Coteau who continues to make a great Zin from
these grapes when he can ripen them. But the Ridge Occidental Zins of the '70's were legendary wines and some of
the greatest Zins ever made at Ridge.