TN: Ridge 93 Santa Cruz Mtns Cabernet

Label indicates 86% CS, 10% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot from Jimsomare and Monte Bello Vineyards. Wow! I thought this might have been past its prime. I couldn't have been more wrong--seemingly room for growth. I regret that this is the only bottle I had, but I may have hit this just right:

Deep ruby-purple to a red-violet edge. Big, extracted black fruit--blackberry, plum and boysenberry--creamy vanillin oak, dark damp earth and well-oiled leather on the nose. Smooth, easy entry to a soft center of well-resolved red berry, black cherry and black currant fruit, earthy-herbal merlot tones, Monte Bello elegance--dark and finely draped, now kirsch, soft, fine tannins at the edge, cool stone fruit acidity, old leather, smoke, great balance and precision through the long, consistent finish which seems to last minutes.

Thanks for the note. Ridge is so good.

Jason

Label indicates 86% CS, 10% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot from Jimsomare and Monte Bello Vineyards. . . . Monte Bello elegance . . .

If memory serves (iffy proposition), the Santa Cruz Mtns bottling is often considered the "second" wine of Monte Bello. I very much enjoyed a recent bottle myself, but I think it was '94.

Thanks for the note, Charley. Nice to see you here again.
Do you know, does Ridge still offer the Santa Cruz cuvee? And if so, what's the approximate cost today?

Thanks for the note, Charley. Nice to see you here again.
Do you know, does Ridge still offer the Santa Cruz cuvee? And if so, what's the approximate cost today?

Ridge still makes the SCM bottling, which now sells for ~$30 per bottle.

Mark Lipton

If memory serves (iffy proposition), the Santa Cruz Mtns bottling is often considered the "second" wine of Monte Bello. I very much enjoyed a recent bottle myself, but I think it was '94.

When I was there (a very long time ago) I was told that the SCM Cab is similar to a second wine but there's a subtle difference. In Bordeaux, for example, they may make a second wine from fruit/juice not deemed up to the quality for the first wine but the fruit/juice could have gone in the first wine if it were good enough. At Ridge, the fruit that went into the SCM Cabernet was fruit that someday may be good enough to go into Monte Bello but at the time they had no intention of using the fruit in Monte Bello. In other words, the subtle difference is that the fruit used for the SCM Cab could never go into the MB until some future time (several years later).

Tom T.

In other words, the subtle difference is that the fruit used for the SCM Cab could never go into the MB until some future time (several years later).

Interesting, Tom. So presumably the fruit SCM came from younger vines? If that's the case, I think it's how some Bdx estates use fruit from younger vines too.

Looking at the Chateau Latour website (http://www.chateau-latour.com, which is a nifty site, BTW), it seems to be a bit of both.

While the Grand Vin is made entirely from grapes grown within the "Grand Enclos" parcels, here's what the site says about Les Forts de Latour, its "second wine":

"It is produced :
a) with the grapes from the " young vines " of the "Grand Enclos", which are less than 12 years old.
b) from the grapes grown on three plots situated outside the "Grand Enclos",
c) in addition, and depending on the quality of the vintage, certain vats of Grand Vin may not, after numerous tastings, be up to the standards required.
They may then be demoted to " Les Forts de Latour ". Since 1990, it is released "en primeur", like its " big brother ", the Grand Vin.

Ageing : 50 % new barrels, 50 % one vintage barrels, for 18 months.

Grape varieties : 70 % Cabernet, 30 % Merlot. The exact proportion of grape varieties will vary slightly from year to year depending on the quantity of demoted Grand Vin.

Average production : 150,000 bottles, that is to say 37 % of the production. "

And here's what it says about the "third wine," the "Paulliac" bottling:

"Born with the vintage 73, the Pauillac, coming from wine that may not be up to the standard of " Les Forts de Latour ", was made thereafter only in 74 and 87.

Since the vintage 1990, this generic Pauillac is released each year, with the same selection objectives, and as a result often made out of the young vines from the three plots situated outside the Grand Enclos."

As far as I know, they still do.

Any chance we can meet up for some golf and an offline this year?