Ridge Vineyards- Lytton Springs
Healdsburg, CA (Sonoma County)
Probably everyone is somewhat familiar with Ridge
Vineyards. Ridge Vineyards has roots
back to 1885 when the original vineyards were planted near the top of the Monte
Bello ridgeline of the Santa Cruz Mountains above Cupertino. Ridge is known for its Monte Bello Cabernet,
produced in the original Santa Cruz Mountain vineyards, and for its Zinfandel, mainly
produced in the Alexander and Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma Country.
The Ridge Monte Bello Cabernet was a participant in the
Judgment of Paris, the famous 1976 Tasting in Paris that pitted six top
California Cabernets and Chardonnays against four Bordeaux and four white
Burgundies. The original tasting had the
1991 Ridge Monte Bello Cabernet finishing as the second best California red
wine (Stag’s Leap was the overall first) and ahead of one of the great French
wines. Thirty years later these same
vintages were again tasted in a Re-enactment of the 1976 tasting and this time
the 1971 Monte Bello finished as the overall first with the Stag’s Leap
finishing second. The Monte Bello
continues to be a standout wine today
although we did not taste it on our visit, but mainly because the Monet Bello
tasting is $10 in itself, and there are lots of other good wines here to taste.
The original vineyards went through ownership transitions
and in the 1940’s some of the original vineyards were replanted in Cabernet and
in the early 60’s the winery was re-bonded and began producing a limited amount
of Cabernet for the public. In 1964
Zinfandel was produced on the property and in 1966 the first Ridge Geyserville Zin
was produced. The Ridge Geyserville Zin
is one of the most recognizable Zinfandels produced today. In 1969 Paul Draper became a partner and has
been a major force in the winery ever since.
Paul Draper has probably won every major winemaker award out there at
one time or another over the past 40 years.
Ridge now produces wine mainly from the original Monte Bello property,
the Geyserville property and the Lytton Spring estate which was added in the
early 90’s. Zin and Cabernet make up
most of the production but there is also some Grenache, Syrah, Carignane and
Petite Sirah and just a small amount of Chardonnay.
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| Another picture from Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains |
We visited the Lytton Springs Tasting Room located in the
Dry Creek Valley. I had visited the
Cupertino/Santa Cruz Mountain Tasting room many years back and remember it was somewhat
of an adventure getting to it with it being way up a winding road. I think a trip is due back there. The Lytton Springs Tasting room is a pretty
easy visit. We visited on a Saturday and
were pretty much the only ones in the tasting room. There were five of us and our host provided
us great service. There are two standard
tasting available, the Single Vineyard at $5.00 (yes, a deal) and the Estate
Flight at $10.00 (or $20 if you taste the Monte Bello). Now Ridge makes a lot of wines. I counted eight different Zinfandels for sale
on their website but I think on this day they were pouring maybe five. We chose the Estate Flight but we tasted wine
from both Flights. The $5.00 Single Vineyard Flight includes a Zin based blend
from The Mazzoni Ranch in Alexander Valley, a Buchignani Vineyard Zin, again
from the Alexander Valley and a Paso Robles Zin from the Dusi Ranch as well as
a Lytton Estate Syrah/Grenache Blend.
The $10.00 Estate Tasting included the Geyserville Zin, the Lytton
Spring Zin and a Lytton Springs Grenache and a Lytton Springs Petite Sirah. I think our two favorites were the Buchignani
and Dusi Zins but all the wines were good.
I think you could have your own private Zinfandel tasting with just
these Ridge Zins and really take the time to study their subtle differences. It was not a side by side tasting that we had
but this certainly would be the way to do this.
Our host even had some bonus tastes for us which we refused. We were already very satisfied with our
tastes and certainly after seven or eight wines it would not have made sense
for us to taste the 2007 Monte Bello Cabernet that was available, again for
that extra $10.00 fee.
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| Our Paso Roble Zin we purchased |
The tasting room is a wide open stand-up bar but with
lots of space to be able to handle a large crowd and there were several staff
members available. Our host had many
years of experience in the business and was a good match for a winery with such
pedigree. The wines, in comparison to
many that you find in the Dry Creek and Alexander Valley are very reasonably
priced. The two highest priced wines on
the list (other than the Monte Bello Cab) were the Geyserville and Lytton
Springs Zins at $37.00 each with other ranging from $28.00 to $32.00. The Monte Bello Cab is $160.00, but again it
is one of the more storied wines in California.
The winery sits at the top of a slight grade so has a
very nice view for several miles. There
is ample outside seating for picnics. Ridge which is just off Lytton Springs
Road is in a little quieter area even though it is maybe just 2 miles from the
busy Dry Creek Road. I personally am up
for another visit there very soon because I think every wine on their list
could use a better study from us.
What we liked- A historic winery but without the
flash
What we bought- A Dusi Ranch (Paso Robles) Zinfandel
Vitals-
Ridge Vineyards- Lytton Springs
50 Lytton Springs Road
Healdsburg, CA
95448
(707) 433-7721
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