There is a wonderful interview with our very own Paul Draper in yesterday’s The Huffington Post, and given that there has been a lot of talk in the press quite recently about natural winemaking, I think some of Paul’s answers here are particularly noteworthy, so I wanted to call your attention to them. In the article, Paul is interviewed by Sommelier and Restaurateur Brad Haskel.

As but one fine example, when Paul is asked to speak about his most gratifying achievements, he says the following:

“…finding vineyards that give a distinctive, individual and consistent character and high quality. Equally important the way that a traditional, non-industrial approach allows the wines to be in balance when young yet develop greater and greater complexity with years of age…”

To read the full article, click here, and enjoy!

Gang of Pour, they of the “Nunquam Spuemus” motto, and guardians of perhaps the deepest arsenal of Ridge tasting notes in existence, have recently weighed in on some new Ridge releases (quite favorably, I might add!), courtesy of a visit from our very own Midwest Regional Sales Manager Christina Donley. I won’t spoil the surprise, but I will tell you that you can find the write-ups here. Cheers to Gang of Pour, and cheers to Christina!

Well, I must say, it’s been a rather nice week in the news for Ridge, and I’m very happy to see that our holiday appeal appears to be bi-coastal, in that both the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle recently highlighted Ridge wines for their Thanksgiving Dinner companionability!

The New York times article, written by Eric Asimov, recounts this year’s edition of an annual pre-Thanksgiving tasting:

For six consecutive years, the Dining section’s wine panel has gathered for an early Thanksgiving meal. The mission: to taste potential holiday wines, to determine what works and what does not with a representative feast, and to offer coherent answers to the annual question of what to serve with the bird.

In the red wine category, our 2007 Three Valleys was elected the proverbial Best In Show:

Sam brought our top-rated red, a 2007 Three Valleys zinfandel from Ridge. I always run counter to the Thanksgiving bromide that zinfandel is the perfect American wine for the most American holiday. Zinfandel is often too big and alcoholic. But at 14.3 percent, this zin was well balanced and almost sleek.

On the other coast, Jon Bonné wrote a pair of linked Thanksgiving-theme articles recently; in the first one, from 11.13.09, he gives readers a very helpful general guide to selecting wines for the Thanksgiving table, and in the second, from 11.15.09, he provides tasting notes on some of his personal recommendations. He wrote the following about our 2007 Geyserville:

2007 Ridge Geyserville Sonoma County ($35) A classic Geyserville that shows off why Ridge’s style has endured. Sweet and eloquent, with charred branch, balsam, plump blackberry and a smoky edge. The balance is impeccable. Predominantly Zinfandel, with Carignane, Petite Sirah and Mourvedre.

So, if you’re beginning the process of selecting your wines for Thanksgiving, I am happy to suggest a little something from Ridge!

At the Incubator, even the sweets are artistic. The Pitch Photo Credit Nicole Reinerston

Turn On The Heat

The Pitch: The Arts Incubator’s annual fundraiser turned a chilly evening into an extravaganza of comfort food and the creative arts.  At the Incubator, even the sweets are artistic. The Pitch

See the whole The Pitch slideshow:  slideshow

Arts Incubator Executive Director, Jeff Becker: “Thanks Savor team for the mind blowing deserts at the Turn on the Heat party. You are artists of the highest order”.

 

Savor loved the invitation to work among artists, food lovers and party for a good cause!  The Arts Incubator throws an amazing party and they knocked it out with an amazing guest list and record-breaking attendance, estimated at 800+.  Wow, great event, amazing venue, fantastic people.

If you’re a reader of this blog, you may have noticed my penchant for utilizing chardonnay as a primary example of the “blaming the varietal for the method” syndrome. Basically, this is a situation in which a perfectly fine varietal gets unduly denigrated because of a preponderance of poorly crafted offerings.

Chardonnay was certainly getting the bum’s rush in Laurie Daniel’s article in the San Jose Mercury News yesterday; specifically, Californian chardonnay. Here is her opening stanza:

“SOMETHING NEEDS to be done about the sad state of California chardonnay. I sample several dozen of them every month, and I hardly ever find one that’s truly interesting or distinctive. A lot of the wines are downright undrinkable, with noticeable alcoholic “heat,” too much residual sugar and/or oak that’s way too aggressive.”

Certainly no mincing of words afoot here. “The sad state of California chardonnay.” Strong words, to say the least. My interest here, however, is not to lobby either for or against her opinion per se, rather, I’d like to (surprise, surprise) talk Ridge chardonnay for a moment, hopefully with the goal of showcasing how attention to site, and the methodologies that should accordingly and logically follow, are capable of producing everything Daniel says most Californian chardonnays do not exhibit; Daniel writes “that too many California Chardonnays are simply boring. In some cases, one bottle is virtually indistinguishable from the next.” What I hope to show here is that, if growers and producers adopt different methodologies both in the vineyard and in the winery, with primary emphasis being put on issues of site-specificity and micro-climatic sensitivity, the resulting wines can potentially show tremendous complexity and individuality. I believe this is what Ridge does, and I think the results speak for themselves.

As a quick aside, I would like to reference a post by Steve Heimoff, who was writing in response to the Daniels article, and who very astutely pointed out matters related to issues of location and methodology. He wrote,

“Someone or something has to take the blame, but who or what? Well, first of all, there are places Chardonnay simply shouldn’t be grown because it’s too hot. I’ve seldom encountered a great Chardonnay from Paso Robles or Lodi, although there are other factors in those places that limit the wine’s potential. Large tracts of central and northern Napa Valley also are unsuitable, as is Sonoma Valley as you move north from the Carneros.”

As with Daniels, I am not interested in arguing for or against his stand here, but I did appreciate Heimoff’s comments for two reasons; 1. He very quickly focuses in on the issue of location, and 2. Steve is actually a self-avowed chardonnay fan, and as such, I think his commentary is all the more poignant. (“I’ve said many times that I’m a Chardonnay lover. Never have been an ABC guy, never will be. And when I say Chardonnay, I mean Burgundian Chardonnay: barrel fermentation, new oak, sur lies and battonage, the whole works.” –Steve Heimoff)

And one last thing to note; Ridge was not mentioned in either the Daniels article or the Heimoff post. I am simply hoping to spin off their writings as a mechanism for discussing the singular hows and why of Ridge chardonnay, and why I think these methodologies, properly deployed, can potentially serve to avert in some fashion the downward reputational spiral that Californian chardonnay seems to be on.

Before putting my own two cents in, I’d like to begin with a little outside affirmation that what Ridge is doing with the Chardonnay program seems to be of some value in the wine world at large. Not that reviews from the wine media are necessarily any sort of be-all/end-all proof of quality, but again, I do think they constitute a certain degree of external confirmation, and are accordingly of a reasonable degree of merit. So, that said, I am very happy to note the following as regards recent vintages of our chardonnays:

–2007 Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Chardonnay:
93 points, Wine Spectator
Year’s Best, Wine & Spirits

–2006 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Chardonnay:
90 points, Wine Spectator
90 points, Wine & Spirits

–2005 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Chardonnay
#2 on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 of the year, 2007

–2006 Monte Bello Chardonnay
“Best of the West” Sunset Magazine

–2000 Monte Bello Chardonnay
90 points, Robert Parker

More than ratings and awards, however, I’d like to highlight the sorts of descriptors that are used in the tasting notes for all the above:

“…elegant, delicate mouthfeel, showing deep layers of ripe fig and green pear…”
“…balanced, focused, pure and lingering…”
“…a sleek, high-altitude white…”
“…layers of spice, fig, honeysuckle and honeydew melon. Clean and refreshing, with light oak shadings…”
“…plenty of rich, vibrant, smooth and concentrated pear, fig and melon flavors…”
“…pineapple notes intermixed with hazelnuts … with enough underlying acidity to provide delineation…”

And so on. Mainly, no sign of buttery popcorn and the like …

Anyhow, on to my two cents:

First, site-specificity. Our chardonnays are mountain fruit, grown in an ostensibly cool climate milieu, below a fog line. This singular combination of high heat in the days, but cool weather at night, makes for both substantive ripening AND natural retention of acidity. The result? A full-bodied, viscous mouthfeel that nonetheless manages to be vibrant, crisp, and expresses both lively citricity and weightily playful tropicality.

Next, as a sub-factor to site-specificity, soil type. Per winemaker Eric Baugher’s notes, what we have here is “Decomposing Franciscan green stone mixed with clay/loam over fractured limestone sub-soils.” Meaning, our chardonnays express a complex array of mineral components not normally seen in flatland/warm climate chardonnays.

Next again, yeast. Our chardonnays are wild-yeast fermented, relying entirely on natural yeasts present in the vineyards for both primary and secondary fermentation. The result, rather than the predictable mono-dimensionality that can often afflict inoculated chardonnay, is a veritably potpourri of yeast influences that add again to the overall complexity on offer.

And next again, yields. With a fully hand-harvested/primarily dry-farmed model in place, our vineyard yields are down around the 2.5 ton/acre realm; a model that consistently favors quality over quantity; concentration and character over dissipation and dilution.

And on to harvesting; in order to tap the full spectrum of singularities on offer in the peculiar topography of our vineyards, we sub-divide the property into much smaller parcels, each of which is harvested and fermented separately, allowing for the final assemblage of the wines to be a parcel-assemblage. Again, more complexity is the result.

And how about barrel program? All of our barrels are air-dried, with two goals in mind: elimination of the more aggressive tannins, and the absorption of site-specific microbial content. Add to this the deployment of a diverse selection of barrel ages (for example, the 2007 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Chardonnay aged in the following: 29% new, 43% one and two years, 28% three, four and five years old barrels), and yet again, more opportunities to tap and exploit available complexities.

Lastly, filtration. Or, in the case of our chardonnays, the lack of it. The premise being, if I may be so blunt, is that if you take something OUT of the chardonnay, you’re taking something OUT of the chardonnay!

So there you have it, at least in brief. A short chronicle of site-specific and site-sensitive methodologies designed to naturally tap what is naturally on offer in a property that is a natural for producing complex and singular chardonnay.

Or so I think. One man’s semi-humble opinion, as it were.

And to close, a hearty cheers to chardonnay! I don’t know as I’d go so far as Heimoff does when he writes, “Chardonnay is the world’s greatest white grape …”, but it’s certainly one of the finest!

Oh, and just one last thing to note: as part of our Monte Bello flight, we regularly pour the Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Chardonnay in the Monte Bello Tasting Room, and currently, in honor of its astonishingly culinary companionability with the archetypal autumn table (think Thanksgiving Dinner; root vegetables, starches, poultry, gravy-based dishes, sage, rosemary, etc.) we are pouring the very new and very wonderful 2006 Monte Bello Chardonnay! So come up, come in, and let’s talk chardonnay!

Just a quick nod of thanks to Alder Yarrow and Vinography.com for the very positive assessments of our wines at the Wine & Spirits Top 100 Event. I’m particularly happy to see the 2005 Monte Bello receiving such high praise, as I think it’s just an absolutely remarkable offering.

In addition, I have discovered, but way of an equally appreciative nod to Ridge from said wine event, a blog I’d like to recommend. It’s called The Iron Chevsky Wine Blog, and it’s truly a treat to peruse; great pictures, great writing, great perspectives. And of course, Ridge is in good favor here, so I’m doubly impressed! You can check the blog out here, and for a near-exhaustively excellent visual and literary summary of the Wine & Spirits event, you can click here.

Cheers gentlemen!

“Welcome to the fight.” Do you recognize that quote? Actually, the real line was “Welcome back to the fight.” But I don’t know for sure if Asimov was in the fight to begin with, and if he was, I don’t know that he left. Which is all a little obtuse, I realize. Here’s a hint on the quote:

It’s from “Casablanca.” Unquestionably the best movie ever made.

But what about Carignane? Well, somehow this article slipped under my radar back in October, but Eric Asimov, that highly esteemed member of the wine intelligentsia who writes the wonderful blog The Pour for The New York Times, recently penned an article for his blog about the oft-maligned varietal that is Carignane. And he came out swinging in its defense which, if you’re a reader of this blog, you’ll know is the same side of the fence I plant my big black boots on. The article was titled “Give A Grape A Chance,” and that pretty clearly lays out his mission statement.

In the tasting room, when discussing this varietal, I always concede that Carignane does indeed get a bad rap. But my sense is that this disrespectful summation has long been a case of blaming the grape for the method. A parallel example would be, say, Chardonnay. It too has gotten a bad rap over the years, but again, it’s a case of blaming the grape for the method. Chardonnay didn’t ask to be flabby and over-oaked, and it wasn’t born that way. Flabbiness and over-oakedness get thrust upon it, and when that approach becomes the dominant paradigm, eventually the lines separating the grape and the method blur, and the recriminations begin.

The same can be said of Carignane. Here is the opening salvo fired by Asimov in his article:

To call the carignan grape much maligned doesn’t begin to capture the contempt many people in the wine trade have for this poor grape.

And for what? For centuries of overcropping? For being planted in the wrong places? For making thin, astringent, acidic wines that can vary from inconsequential to brutal? That’s supposed to be the grape’s fault?

Not a dissimilar line of inquiry from a recent post (from June) on this blog, which carried the following title/mission statement:

Carignane Redux -or- Don’t Blame The Varietal For The Method? -or- Finding Time For An Oft-Maligned Vine

So as you can see, Asimov and I are on the same wavelength here. And I believe you should be too. Carignane is capable of producing wines of exquisite complexity, and it structure-forward presentation of vivacious acidity, crisp herbality, and savory fruit makes it an ideal wine for the table; any table, practically. I’ve tried our Carignanes with Indian curries, and come away dazzled. I’ve had them with Thai Green Curry, and loved the pairing. I’ve had our Carignanes with roasted tomatoes and fennel, and nearly fainted from an excess of pleasure. I’ve had our Carignanes with such a wide array of cuisines I’m tempted to go looking for an upscale version of the word “utilitarian” to describe it; upscale because utilitarian, while certainly indicating the wide array of culinary possibility this wine evidences, doesn’t seem to do justice to the grace with which it performs this service. Hmmmm…

Anyhow, the point is that Carignane, when given methodological respect, begets wines worthy of respect. I believe it, and it appears Eric Asimov believes it as well.

Do you? Come taste our 2007 Buchignani Ranch Carignane this weekend, so that I may welcome you to the fight!

Fantastic news! Sunset Magazine has just awarded top honors to our 2006 Monte Bello Chardonnay in their Sunset Wine Awards 2009 issue!

Here is a snippet of what they wrote:

White:  Ridge Monte Bello Chardonnay 2006 (Santa Cruz Mountains; $60) Why we chose it: Lively citrus brightens classic golden apple. Runners up: Lynmar “La Sereinité” Chardonnay 2006 (Russian River Valley; $70) // Schramsberg “J. Schram” Brut Rosé 2000 (North Coast; $130)

And you can read the whole article here.

Thanks Sunset Magazine!

All of us here at Ridge are very proud and excited to learn that we have been included in Wine & Spirits Magazine’s Wineries of the Year edition (Winter 2009)!

We are listed as one of the Top 35 Wineries of the Year, and there is a lovely 2-page spread about Ridge in the issue. You can download a PDF of the Ridge article from the Trade portion of our website by clicking here.

Thank you Wine & Spirits Magazine!

Over at Purple Liquid: A Wine And Food Diary, our 2005 Lytton West Syrah recently came in first place in a blind tasting of international Syrahs. This is a great blog in general, and this particular post is a wondrous read if you’re a Syrah fan, so I highly recommend checking it out. You can find the post here. This wine was also the subject of a recent post on our blog about co-fermenting Syrah and Viognier, which you can find here if you’re interested, and didn’t catch the story the first time around.

Officially, this wine is no longer available, but we have a few bottles squirreled away in the Monte Bello cellars, so if you’re up for a visit to Monte Bello, mention this post, and I’ll see what I can procure!

Very nice mention of our new 2007 Paso Robles zinfandel in a San Francisco Chronicle article by Lynne Char Bennett, focusing on this fine central coast wine-growing region. You can read the full article here; our Paso Robles zinfandel is described as being made in “a more elegant style …” Cheers to Lynne!

Presenting different perspectives

The New Indian Express news service
First Published : 14 Sep 2009 12:02:00 AM IST

KOCHI: A fine blend of photographic technique and aesthetic imagination. The result? Photographs with a pictorial quality. Each photo taken by Unnikrishnan Pulikkal displayed at the exhibition titled ‘Rhapsody in Abstraction’ is a painting in itself. Leaves, flowers and other aspects of nature acquire artistic appeal when captured in microscopic detail. Not surprising, as the photographer, who is incidentally a practising doctor, has a background in fine arts.

“Fine art photography is something which has been experimented with a lot in the West, though not so much in India,” says Dr Unnikrishnan.’The Fern Abstract’ thus has a single fern leaf surrounded by moss and weeds. When captured in black and white, the photograph aquires a surreal quality.Most of the photographs are displayed in sets, which form a sequence. ‘The Ripple Abstract’ for instance, has a set of eight photographs, each of which is a study of ripples in the water shot at close quarters.All the shots were captured in a span of ten minutes, with varying exposure and colour combination. “The art of presenting different perspectives, that is the crux of my work,” says the photographer. ‘Flower in Motion Sequence’ depicts a series of small, bright orange flowers floating in the water, against the green leaves and the black water and has a sensuous quality. ‘Evening Abstract’ and the ‘Birth of a Poem’ are experiments with colour, or rather experiments with light.Most of the frames have been shot during travel or from the photographer’s own garden. “Only very few have been captured on purpose, the Bird Sequence being one,” he says.The sequence has a set of four photographs of birds, one of a real bird, the second of a clay bird, the third of a black and white photo of a glum looking cement vulture, and the fourth a caged macaw against the backdrop of a painting of a family obviously on the way to a picnic. The upbeat mood of the family presents a stark contrast to that of the caged bird, which has an expression of wide-eyed terror.The photos have been printed on 100% cotton archival paper, using pigment- based ink, such that they will last for more than a century, without losing the original colour or saturation.

Where distinct frames form a perfect sequence

One expects a photographic exhibition to be essentially mimetic, or a composition really or an interpretation of a visual element that the photographer has encountered. ‘Rhapsody in Abstraction’, an exhibition of photographs by Dr. Unni Krishnan Pullikal is on Chaitanya Art Gallery. The exhibition concludes on September 30.

But with ‘Rhapsody in Abstraction’, Dr. Unni Krishnan Pulikkal turns painter-photographer. Most of the photographs at the exhibition are in sequences, of course there are individual frames too. But some of the most striking photographs are part of the sequences. These photographs seem to assume another dimension, they become philosophical, meditations really. ‘Sound of the universe’, therefore, a sequence of four photographs is contemplative. A combination of still life and nature photography, there are droplets of water on a tendril, poised to drop and then there is a bell. All those lectures on Keats’ ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ come rushing back. The photographs manage to capture and convey silence and sound, the conflicting dualities of time and timelessness are presented photographically. The images, in that sense are constructed. “I work on an idea, and then consciously make an image. The pictures are based on specific concepts,” says Pulikkal.

The conversation then veers to the very nature of photography, of the photographs on show. This is not photography but fine art photography, “fine art photography is the use of photography as a medium to create a work of art. It is different from photojournalism in that sense,” Pulikkal elaborates. Photography then ceases its documentary role and becomes a painting. Inspiration came in the form of Ansel Adams one of the pioneers of fine art photography in the 40s and 50s.

Composite story
In the photographs time zones, the real and the unreal, geography all merge to form one uniform whole. As is evident in ‘The Bird Sequence’, photographs taken at different times, in different places merge to form a composite story. Pulikkal started out with painting as hobby, and then moved on to fine art photography via nature photography. That exposure to nature photography, Better Photography magazine voted him among the top 10 wildlife photographers in India in 2007, he acknowledges has given him that keen eye or the inner third when it comes to see the potential of a naturally occurring scene.

At times, as any passionate photographer would know, the photographs take enormous amounts of patience and persistence for instance, the sequence ‘Ripple Abstract’ where nine shots have been selected from around 20 shots to tell the story. Each of the photographs or sequences have been thought of and composed like an artist would a painting.

Dr. Pulikkal is a paediatrician who practises in Kodali (Thrissur). He is member and associate of Royal Photographic Society, United Kingdom and is also the founder director of Butterfly Art Foundation, an organisation that promotes visual arts. He has exhibited his photographs of butterflies at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

SHILPA NAIR ANAND

By the time you read this, I’ll be on my way to Los Angeles. I have the great pleasure of hosting a wine dinner at the very, very, very lovely Balboa Bay Club & Resort in Newport Beach Tuesday evening. So I probably won’t be able to write anything for the next couple of days.

Fortunately, there seems to be alot of other people writing about Ridge wines lately, so you won’t have to starve for content!

For example, from Texas, and Envy Magazine, comes a lovely write-up about an upcoming winemaker dinner at a fine establishment called Victory Tavern. It’s quite worth taking a look at the article, if for no other reason than to see the menu being offered. An excerpt:

3rd Course
Grilled Beef Short Rib with Horseradish Turnip Gratin
2007 Zinfandel “Lytton Springs Vineyard” Dry Creek Valley

Right?

For some recent (and thorough) tasting notes, you can visit a blog called Just Grapes; a site which bears the rather wonderful slogan “Let wine be drunk, though the heavens fall.”  The post details a recent tasting at our Lytton Springs facility. An excerpt:

Ridge provided the perfect final sips to an excellent weekend journey through Napa and Sonoma that showed the sheer diversity of wines being produced in the two valleys.

Nice!

I highly recommend visiting a Sacramento-based blog that goes by the name “How We Roll.”   There is a wonderful “Guest Blog” posting there that tells a beautiful story about how one gentleman came to love our Monte Bello (he has tasted EVERY SINGLE VINTAGE of Monte Bello ever made, including the very first in 1962!), An excerpt:

The vintages at the top of the list for me would be the 1966, 1967, 1985, 1991, and 1999, but don’t make me pick between those. My favorite Monte Bello memory (maybe my favorite wine memory period) is drinking the 1977 on its 15th birthday while sitting in the vineyard leaning against a vine.

Fantastic!

Should anyone out there be interested in a contemporary tasting note on the 2002 Monte Bello, I would encourage you to visit Ambassador of Wine. An excerpt:

“Great wine that few can compare to.”

Agreed!

Have you visited the blog Cuisine Capers? If not, I encourage you to check out their recent series of articles on California Wine Country, the final article of which is a feature on Lytton Springs. An excerpt:

We’ve been big fans of Ridge Zinfandel since the 1989 vintage which was the first exceptional Zin we had had.  Through good fortune, we were able to eventually buy four and a half cases of the 1989 Sonoma County Zinfandel back in the early 90’s before it disappeared from the shelves.  We’ve been drinking various Ridge wines ever since.

Ah, 1989.

And finally, for our Further Afield award, Ridge is in the news in Ukiah! An excerpt from the Ukiah Daily Journal:

Ridge Vineyards, under the tutelage of winemaker Paul Draper since 1969, has had a consistently avid following. When Ridge’s 1971 Cabernet Sauvignon was entered in the famed “Judgment of Paris Tasting” in 1976 (the subject of the recent movie “Bottle Shock”) it came in fifth place among ten French Bordeaux and California Cabernet Sauvignons. Thirty years later at a retasting of the same wines, Ridge came in first.

Hopefully these articles will keep you company while I’m away!

Q:

Did Gary Vaynerchuk just compare Ridge Geyserville to Big League Chew?

A:

Not exactly, but for what I imagine might be the first time ever, Big League Chew and Nerds both came up while discussing the 2006 Ridge Geyserville! The conversationalists in question were one Gary Vaynerchuk and one Jancis Robinson, and the setting was Wine Library TV. To read a lovely article about all the above, please follow this link  to Eric Asimov’s post (from this past Tuesday) on his wonderful New York Times-based blog The Pour. To see the original Wine Library TV episode where this all takes place, please click here.

A little message from California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger:

Governor Schwarzenegger Proclaims September 2009

California Wine Month:  
Vintners and Growers Recognized for Agricultural Tradition and Contributions to the State

Sacramento, Calif. — Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared September 2009 California Wine Month for the fifth consecutive year.  Recognizing the Golden State’s vintners and growers for their more than 200-year-old agricultural tradition, positive impact on the state and national economies, and commitment to sustainable winegrowing practices, the proclamation praises the wine community’s many contributions.

            “Our wineries attract tourism and provide countless jobs for Californians.  Many are also committed to serving their communities and promoting socially and environmentally responsible farming practices,” said Governor Schwarzenegger in the proclamation.   

            California wine generates 820,000 jobs in the U.S., including 330,000 in California.  The state’s vintners and growers, along with California’s 80,000 restaurants, have helped make the Golden State a top destination for culinary travelers from around the world, attracting nearly 21 million visitors each year to its wine regions. 

“It’s a great honor to be recognized by the Governor and to receive his support for the September California Wine Month celebration,” said Robert P. (Bobby) Koch, President and CEO of Wine Institute.  “Our industry is a major economic driver for California, contributor to the important tourism industry and the world’s leader in sustainable winegrowing.”

The Governor is also an advocate for tourism and has given his support to a partnership between Wine Institute and the California Travel & Tourism Commission (CTTC) by appearing with First Lady Maria Shriver in CTTC’s TV spot promoting California as the “Land of Wine and Food.”  The spot will broadcast this September and October across the nation and in Canada.

Visitors to California can explore the state’s 2,800 wineries which produce 90 percent of U.S. wine.  Wine Institute’s consumer web site at discovercaliforniawine.com offers a database of California winery tasting rooms and a trip planning tool that provides maps and driving directions to the wineries.  The database allows visitors to search wineries by region, variety produced and by dozens of amenities, including winery gardens, picnic grounds and green winegrowing practices.

 “California is the fourth largest wine producer in the world.  With over 60 percent of the state’s winegrowers participating in the Sustainable Winegrowing Program, it is truly a model for wine regions in other states and abroad.   The program has won Governor Schwarzenegger’s top environmental award,” said Karen Ross, President of the California Association of Winegrape Growers, whose organization is supporting California Wine Month and with Wine Institute established the Sustainable Winegrowing Program in 2002.

            The discovercaliforniawine.com web site also features special events at wineries throughout the state during California Wine Month and includes a California Wine Month poster offer, the official proclamation from the governor and an “Insider’s Guide to California Wine Country.”

Retail and restaurant establishments throughout the nation are celebrating California Wine Month and several publications will feature special coverage of the state’s wines.
Retail/Restaurant Partners Celebrating California Wine Month (CWM)

Safeway, Von’s and Pavilions stores (Newspaper ads and in-store displays in stores nationwide)

Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (Posters and shelf talkers in stores throughout the state)

Kimpton Hotels (Special wine promotions in all restaurants)

Beverages & More! (Posters in stores)

Costco (California stores) 

Roy’s Restaurants (Special wine promotions in all restaurants)

Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (Special wine promotions on board all ships)

The Melting Pot (Special wine promotions in select restaurants)

Vino Volo (Special wine-by-the glass promotions in all airport locations)

California Wine Merchants (In-store tastings with vintners)

Gary’s Wine & Marketplace New Jersey (Three stores doing in-store tastings with vintners)

Grande Harvest Wines New York (In-store tastings with vintners)

Morrell & Company New York (In-store tastings with vintners)

Sherry-Lehman Wine & Spirits New York (In-store tastings with vintners)

Union Square Wines New York (In-store tastings with vintners)

Zachy’s New York (In-store tastings with vintners)

Cork Bar Los Angeles (Special California wine flights throughout September)

Media Partners

            Wall Street Journal — September 12

San Francisco Chronicle — August 28

Los Angeles Magazine — September edition

The Restaurant Standard (California Restaurant Association) — August/September Edition  

California Wine Month is also supported by several association partners including the California Travel and Tourism Commission, the California Olive Oil Council, the National Restaurant Association and the California Restaurant Association which recently conducted its second annual “Best California Wine List Competition.” 

Winners of the 2009 California wine list competition included The Melting Pot in the category of restaurant companies with 10 or more outlets, The Firehouse Restaurant in Sacramento in the category of restaurant companies with fewer than 10 outlets, annual sales revenue $1 million or more per location, and California Café, Los Gatos, in the category of restaurant companies with fewer than 10 outlets, annual sales revenue less than $1 million per location.

            Established in 1934, Wine Institute is the association of more than 1,000 California wineries and wine-related businesses that initiate and advocate state, federal and international public policy to enhance the environment for the responsible production, consumption and enjoyment of wine.  Wine Institute members represent 85 percent of U.S. wine production and 90 percent of U.S. wine exports.

The California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) was founded in 1974 with the mission to provide industry leadership to advocate public policies, research and education programs and trade positions that enhance the business of growing California winegrapes.  CAWG’s membership represents the growers of approximately 60 percent of California’s total annual grape crush.

            Join us in celebrating California Wine Month in September 2009.

Lovely article in the paper the other day about wine producers in the Santa Cruz Mountains; if you’ve not been to our region, this article might just give you that final push! Very nice nod to Ridge as well. An excerpt:

…”Among the 70 wineries, you’re probably familiar with Bonny Doon and its wacky labels. Perhaps you’ve been to a concert at Mountain Winery in Saratoga. And if you’ve heard of the 1976 Judgment of Paris, you know it was Ridge Vineyards, a Cupertino winery, was one of the wineries that beat out the French in a blind tasting of cabernet sauvignons that put California on the global wine map…”

(By Jessica Yadegaran
Contra Costa Times)

You can find the full article right here!

Well, I don’t have the issue in my hands yet, but I’ve just been alerted to the fact that Ridge gets a nice little nod in the September issue of Gourmet Magazine ! (Thanks to Amy Monroe for giving me the heads-up.) If you’re not familiar with itture, Gourmet does a wonderful feature every month in which they use an A-to-Z model for alerting readers to what they describe as ”Twenty-six useful, enduring, or simply fascinating food sites, trends, and other Web phenomena.” So, in the September issue, Z is apparently for Ridge Zinfandel! Most excellent …

And inspired by this alphabeticalizing of our Ridge-ness, I have decided to assemble my own personal lexiconically Ridgeified 26-item catalogue of oenophilically Ridgeish entries … Here goes!

A: Alicante Bouschet, a unique and interplanted varietal regularly appearing on stage at the Pagani Ranch Theater, a local company specializing in delicious plays about old-vine Zinfandel.

B: Barbera, as in the 1996 Ridge California Dry Creek Barbera, as in what I tasted with two very kind and long-time Ridge-o-philes in our picnic area one very happy weekend.

C: Cabernet Sauvignon, as in the star of our Monte Bello  Feature Presentation, now showing at a table near you.

D: Dry Creek Valley,  as in home to our Lytton Springs  vineyards, winery, and tasting room. Also, as in D is for Delicious, which is the word you use when you taste wines at Lytton Springs with Melissa, Sandy, and all the Lytton Springs staff. Who rock, by the way. The staff. At Lytton Springs.

E: Enology, of course! (See Oenology!)

F: Franc, as in Cabernet Franc, legendary Bordeux varietal, and regular content provider to the Monte Bello On-Line Journal of Wine.

G: Grenache. As in the new 2004 Grenache, the new November ATP shipment.

H: As in Harvest! Not so much about Neil Young’s album though, and more about really, really big trucks driving up Monte Bello Road full of really, really good grapes.

I: Inoculations. As in we don’t. Inoculate that is. (See Uninoculated Secondary Fermentation!)

J: Jimsomare, as in the Jimsomare Ranch, and the new 2007 Jimsomare Zinfandel. Colloquially known as the ZinJim.

K: As in K & L Wine Merchants, one of California’s finest wine retailers, and one of our favorite shops!

L: Lots. As in 80% of 36 lots being selected for the 2006 Monte Bello!

M: Merlot, also a great Bordeaux varietal, and also a regular and invaluable cast member of the Monte Bello Revue.

N: Nitrogen, super-important component in soil quality, regularly enhanced via beneficial crop cover.

O: Oenology, of course! (See Enology!)

P: Petite Sirah! As in Dynamite Hill. As in Particularly Potable on the Palate.

Q: Quinoa! As in,  the quinoa-and-grilled-vegetables-with-a-creamy-tarragon-and-dijon-marinade that I recently paired with the 2007 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Chardonnay.

R: Racking, as in transferring wine from one vessel to another, accordingly separating it from lees and sediment. Not to be confused with Rocking. Which is what our wines do.

S: As in Secondary Fermentation. See Below …

T: Tanks, as in Tank Fermentation. See above and below …

U: As in Uninoculated Secondary Fermentation. See above …

V: As in Vertical Flight, as in tasting a lot of different vintages of Monte Bello  side by side!

W: Wine. Duh.

X: Xylem! As in the xylem of post-veraison berries. Duh.

Y: Yeast, as in Natural Wild-Yeast Fermentation. As in yummy.

Z: Zinfandel!

For those of you interested in Petite Sirah, there is a wonderful article that was just written by Laurie Daniels for the Bay Area News Group (it ran in, among other publications, the San Jose Mercury News and The Contra Costa Times). In her article, Daniels covers a lot of historical ground about this unjustifiably oft-overlooked varietal; tracing its roots from hybridized Syrah and Peloursin (to become Durif), to its slow rise to prominence in North America via a small but ever-expanding cadre of California loyalists. She notes the formation of P.S. I Love You, a Petite Sirah advocacy group of which we are a proud member (check out the new social network portion of their website here!), and documents the 7th Annual Petite Sirah Symposium tasting that was hosted by P.S. I Love You recently at Concannon Vineyards.

I am particularly happy to see Laurie Daniel’s recounting of her experiences with the Symposium tasting, because it appears she is quite a fan of one of our Petite Sirah offerings; our Dynamite Hill Petite Sirah. She writes that it was a “standout in the tasting.”

Personally, I couldn’t agree more when it comes to praising the 2004 Ridge Vineyards Dynamite Hill Petite Sirah; much has been said and written over the years about the somewhat perplexing inapproachability of a great many solo-varietal Petite Sirahs, and while the very characteristics that often pose challenges to the uninitiated (deep, dark, inky hues; rich, dense, concentrated lo-tone dark fruit notes; chalky, near-granular, lip-to-tooth adhesive tannins) are the very same traits that drive its devotees wild, approachability remains a key factor in the potential success and embracing of this singular varietal. Which is why I find the Dynamite Hill both a delicious, and important, contribution to the Petite Sirah canon. Without sacrificing any of the key architectural components of varietally-appropriate Petite Sirah, the Dynamite Hill manages to be that much more supple, that much less muscular, that much more aromatically complex, that much less mouth-coating, making for, in the end, both a wonderful point-of-entry into the world of Petite Sirah, and a sophisticated, delicious end-destination as well.

To my mind, the secret of its success in no small part lies in the methodogical attention to detail deployed by our winemakers in crafting this wine. Take a look at Paul Draper and Eric Baugher’s descriptions of how this wine was brought to bottle, and I believe you’ll see just how carefully and meticulously this wine is crafted:

2004 Petite Sirah Dynamite Hill
bottled August 2006
100% Petite Sirah

An early start to the growing season ripened the petite sirah at York Creek several weeks early. Dynamite Hill was harvested within two days, and the grapes destemmed, but not crushed. When berries remain whole in the fermentor, the seeds-which provide roughly ninety percent of tannins-are encased in skin and pulp, so extract more slowly. Limiting circulation of juice over the cap also helped moderate (to a degree) the structure of this classic petite sirah. After a natural (uninoculated) primary and secondary fermentation, a small amount of the first press was added, and the wine racked to air-dried american oak barrels for twenty-two months of aging. A third of the barrels were new, and two-thirds four years old. (The sheer size of the wine demanded a higher percentage of new wood.) Deep, dark, and complex, the exceptional 2004 Dynamite Hill will benefit from five to ten years of bottle age. EB/PD (4/06)

I apologize if I appear to be on the stump here, but I really believe in this wine, and in this varietal, and I’m happy to see it getting its due, inch by inch, row by row. Thanks to Laurie Daniels for highlighting this unique varietal, thanks to P.S. I Love You for its tireless support of, and advocacy for, this unique varietal, thanks to all the producers out there crafting wonderful wines from this unique varietal, and thanks to my own hometown heroes Ridge for making the Dynamite Hill Petite Sirah!

Should you be interested to find out more about the 2004 Ridge Vineyards Dynamite Hill Petite Sirah, please click here.

Quite recently, in the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, there ran an article entitled “Alcohol Content Is A Spirited Topic.” I mention this because our very own Paul Draper is featured in said article (with photo!), sharing his views on the subject. It’s a great read, particularly if you’re interested in hearing Paul’s thoughts on the matter of contemporary alcohol levels in wine.

I have to confess though, that I felt the article to be somewhat underwritten, in that it seems to me the author missed a clear opportunity which they themselves laid the groundwork for; the other individual the article focuses on is Clark Smith, who is rather well-known for his evangelical efforts on behalf of reverse osmosis; an essentially retroactive method utilized to artificially “correct” wine flaws; namely, high alcohol levels. In the article, Clark Smith is quoted as saying, “Wine is not made in the vineyards anymore than pizza is made in the wheat fields.” Loosely translated (and somewhat expanded upon), what Mr. Smith appears to be expressing is his feeling that “natural” processes do not make the wine, technology does.

This is of course something I feel that Ridge rather vehemently stands in opposition to, and I can’t help but wish the author had made more of the juxtaposition of Mr. Draper and Mr. Smith co-existing in the same article.

Mr. Smith has also written the following: “All wines require fine-tuning just as all other cooking requires the chef, just at the end, to “adjust seasoning.” There are hundreds of ways to do this. Even in a single vineyard, single varietal situation, a good winemaker will divide the harvest into sub-lots which are treated differently — different maturities, different yeasts, different oak — just to provide blending options later on. Alcohol adjustment is just another example.”

I personally find this to be an inappropriate comparison; there is a world of difference between combining naturally produced lots in different combinations to achieve different final flavors, and putting juice through an artificial filter to forcibly extract unwanted flaws that exist because the processes in the vineyard provided less than desirable results. From the standpoint of a producer (Ridge) whose “approach is straightforward: find intense, flavorful grapes; intrude upon the process only when necessary; draw the fruit’s distinctive character and richness into the wine,” reverse osmosis rather seems like cheating to me. To use a musical example, the process reminds me of the current world of digital recording technology, in which a “singer” with little ability to hold a tune at all can be digitally “auto-tuned” to the point of sounding listenable, despite having little to no talent for singing; sure, the final result might be auditorily satisfactory, but it’s both artificial, dishonest, and perhaps worst of all, generic.

In the end though, I don’t mean to go too far down the road of analyzing pros and cons as regards the process of reverse osmosis; what I really wanted to point out was a) this was quite an interesting article, and b) it was doubly interesting to find Paul Draper and Clark Smith co-existing in the same article.

Should you wish to read it, the article can be found here.

Amy Monroe is a serious and well-educated wine drinker. And in addition to being an esteemed member of the Ridge Monte Bello staff, she also writes a column on wine for the San Francisco Bay Guardian. AND, without any provocation from me (just a pure and true case of oeno-synchronicity) she very recently happened to write an article about a particular carignane! Not ours, mind you, but a very interesting one, in that, despite Amy Monroe’s previous and professed dislike of this particular varietal, she found it highly appealing! Accordingly, I thought it would be appropriate to make note of Amy’s journey towards the light. You can read the full article here, but just to whet the whistle of your interest, a sampling of rather colorful quotes:

“Carignane is the viticultural equivalent of Jon & Kate, the Duggars, and Octo Mom. Left to its own devices, it bears prodigious amounts of fruit.”

“Carignane lived up to its infamous reputation: I hated every one I tried. They all tasted like burnt rubber, and a single sip was often so acidic that I worried about the state of my tooth enamel.”

“…my formerly least favorite grape variety is quirkily appealing. Drinking it is a lot like eating a steak dinner and following it with strawberry shortcake for dessert. It’s an adept coupling of sanguine and sweet that’s deliciously familiar.”

And my personal favorite, “it doesn’t always suck.”

I encourage you to read her column; it’s a delightful, insightful, downright inviting combination of high-brow and low-down, just like we like it.

All of us here at RIDGE are very proud that our Monte Bello Vineyard has been awarded Vineyard of the Year by The California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition, which is recognized as North America’s oldest wine competition. Paul Draper and Eric Baugher were on hand to receive the award, which is now proudly displayed in the Monte Bello Tasting Room.

For a full list of all the award recipients, click here.