Ridge 2013 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Cabernet Sauvignon - Wine & Spirits Magazine

Wine Reviews

Ridge 2013 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

review by Joshua Greene • October 6, 2016

Leading up to our Top 100 in San Francisco, our critics are sharing some favorite wines that will be poured at the event. We’re posting a new note each day through October 10th.

Ridge’s Estate cabernet is usually a bit chunkier and broader than the Monte Bello blend, rarely as pure and elegant. If that’s the case in 2013, the Monte Bello is going to be a wine for the ages, because the Estate cabernet is stellar. It catches the savory nuances of fruit grown at cool altitude in aromas of cassis and cedar bark, holding that fruit in a matrix of fine limestone-grown tannins and vibrant acidity. That acidity drives a compressed, unstoppable arrow of flavor that’s tense and a bit backward, as a great young cabernet should be. Treat this like Monte Bello proper—don’t think about touching it until its tenth birthday. (3,250 cases)

Joshua Greene

Joshua Greene is the editor and publisher of Wine & Spirits magazine.

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TAGS Cabernet Sauvignon California Central Coast Top 100 Countdown

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