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2019 Ridge Vineyards "Monte Bello" Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon

2019 Ridge Vineyards "Monte Bello" Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon

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99JS
98DC
98VN
97RP
95JD
95WE
95WS
$239.95

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San Francisco: 2

99

James Suckling

Reviewed September 2022
This is a very powerful Monte Bello with currants and blackberry, black licorice and smoked meat. Mint. Some sesame seed, too. It's full-bodied with incredible darkness and saltiness like volcanic salt. Umami. Grilled seaweed. Flavorful and captivating. It goes on for minutes.

Professional Reviews

98

Decanter

Review Date: 11/2022
Opens with soaring red raspberry and vivid cassis flavours. Even more precise and pure-tasting than its brother, the Estate Cabernet, Monte Bello has exquisite choreography and building on the palate. Still terribly young, has an immense structure. With time, its finish will no doubt lengthen if one can endure the agony of waiting. This is the wine that has established Ridge as a California 'First Growth'. Because of the vineyard’s cool mountain site exposed to the Pacific, Monte Bello always has a dramatic freshness—drinking it, you feel as though you’re in the mountains yourself. The first Monte Bello vines were planted in 1886, but the vineyard fell into near ruin during and post-Prohibition. A mere 3.25ha (eight acres) were replanted in 1949 and were the source of the first Monte Bello in 1962. Since then, other historic blocks have also been replanted. The 2019 is 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 8% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc. (KM)

98

Vinous

Review Date: 05/2022
The 2019 Monte Bello is a wild, exotic wine. Huge, soaring aromatics meld into a core of heady, exotically ripe fruit. Not a shy wine by any means, the 2019 is atypically opulent, and yet all of the classic Monte Bello structure is there, underneath all of that fruit. The 2019 needs time in bottle to shed its baby fat, but there is a lot to look forward to. I imagine it will always be a pretty exuberant wine. Inky red fruit, blood orange, espresso, sweet American oak, cedar and pipe tobacco leave a lasting impression. In a word: magnificent! (AG)

97

Wine Advocate

Review Date: 04/2024
The 2019 Monte Bello includes 9% Merlot, 8% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc. It has a poised, graceful nose of fresh sage and lilac with savory, meaty aromas in the background. The palate is medium-bodied but with admirable stuffing and concentration, leading to a springboard finish of pencil lead, gravel and pleasing, refreshing acidity. The standard élevage in new American oak is still years away from fully integrating, as evidenced in the herbal, upright but pleasant posture of the finish. This is a confidently elegant, high-toned iteration of this iconic wine that should drink and develop beautifully over the next three decades. (ML)

Notes

97 points Erin Brooks for Wine Advocate: "Medium ruby in color, the 2019 Monte Bello is bursting with pure, expressive perfume! Red and black currants are layered with wafts of rose petals, charcuterie, fresh thyme and tobacco, graphite, vanilla and cedar. Medium-bodied, it's the definition of weightless intensity, with concentrated layers of floral perfume and spice, a silky, mouthwatering frame, and a very long, ethereal finish that calls you back to the glass for another sip. Delicate, complex and very easy to drink, it's an especially elegant expression of Monte Bello!" (03/2023)

Details

TypeRed Wine
VarietalCabernet Sauvignon and Blends
OriginSanta Cruz Mountains, California, United States
Bottle Size750 mL
SKU1619381
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