Ridge Vineyards is the producer of some of our favorite wines. We’ve enjoyed them since the 1980’s getting their shipments in Florida and coming out to visit initially at their first estate – Monte Bello in Cupertino.

Today Ridge has three estates – Monte Bello, Lytton Springs, and the newest in Paso Robles. Ridge’s Lytton Springs estate outside Healdsburg is closest to us and among its offerings is a private tasting of their Monte Bello vintages, which is their flagship wine. We decided to try it a few weeks ago with our family in tow.

The tasting includes a back house tour through the full wine making facility and the mind boggling, huge barrel room. This is not the “how do you make the wine tour” you have been on before possibly too many times. It had more to do with capacity, holding tank variances, barrel stacking and, in the case of Ridge, how crews can jump from one of their 3 winemaking facilities to another without missing a beat. I found it very interesting.

Each of the wines we were tasting came from the Monte Bello Estate in the Santa Cruz Mountains – a distinctly different climate and rock structure than that of Lytton Springs.

Starting off with the 2016 Monte Bello Chardonnay we were all surprised by it. While it had hints of fruits it also had a slight sulpheric nose and taste. Very different and quite good! This chardonnay was a perfect example of how the soil and rock the vines grow in affect the flavor of the fruit.

The reds were soooo delicious! Several in our party found a new favorite in the 2018 Klein Cabernet Sauvignon. We stayed too long listening to Ridge stories and we all left with more bottles than we should have!

I’d recommend heading to Geyserville following your tasting to enjoy the best pizza in this part of California at Diavola. It’s a great lunch and / or dinner destination.

Salud!