2022 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello, Santa Cruz Mountains, USA (750ml)

WINEMAKER'S NOTES:

Saturated ruby color. Intense aromas of blackberry, black currant, fennel, dry chaparral, tobacco leaf, crushed stone, and toasted oak. On the palate, rich mountain bramble and cassis, polished tannins, and full bodied. Natural firm acidity leads to a long finish showing limestone minerality.

Blend: 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc

TASTING NOTES:

Aged in 100% new oak, the 2022 Monte Bello blends 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc, selected from 18 of 21 lots by blind tasting. After assemblage, the wine spent 21 more months in barrel. The vineyard starts at 1,600 feet and goes up to 2,700 feet at top, and is spread out across 4 different ranches, Klein, Rousten, Torre and Perrone, the wines getting more tightknit and ageable as the vines move up the mountain. By the end of harvest, Monte Bello is split into 55 different blocks, which are then picked and fermented separately. Year after year, this is a “wow” wine, herbal, lightly spiced in oak, with a lovely creamy, velvety texture and a backbone of well-resolved tannin supporting a medium-bodied, balanced spirit of mountain garrigue. These wines typically age 20-25 years or more.

-Jeb Dunnuck, 98 pts.

A fruit-driven example of Monte Bello coming from the warm 2022 vintage. There are layers of blackcurrants, black cherries, cedar, licorice, olive brine and spices on the nose. The palate is full-bodied with a seamless mouthfeel, fine tannins and bright acidity. Much to love for early drinking, but will age well. Drink or hold.

- James Suckling, 97 pts. 

The limestone soils, and the short distance to the Pacific Ocean as well as the seriously high elevation, (ranging from 1600-2700ft) means that the Santa Cruz Mountains, produce a very different Cabernet than much of California. The 2022, drought vintage, a third straight year, meant tannic, tiny fruit on the Montebello estate. The wine was fully destemmed and only pumped over half as often as a typical vintage for Montebello. Its a tightly wound iteration in its youth with 100% new American oak for 20 months. Expressive on the nose, with taut black fruits, fresh pine needles and mineral notes of wet clay and roasted herbs. The palate is fresh and medium weight, (13.8%abv) with so much lively freshness in its youthful exuberance. Salty ocean notes open the palate chasing taut eary season blackberries and plum skins. The palate opens overtime revealing dried mint, and alpine meadow herbs that buoy the fruit expression and carry this masterfully made wine toward its zenith, but... don't touch it for another 10 years for the best result.

- Decanter, 97 pts. 

The 2022 Monte Bello is a rich and distinctly firm iteration of this classic cuvée, evoking a hypothetical blend between the textural power of the 2017 and the bracing structure of the 2015. The nose displays a classically deep and resonant bouquet of red and black fruits, vanilla pod, dark chocolate, cigar wrapper and dried herbs, with balsamic overtones and admirable oak integration. The palate combines lush generosity with an eminently sturdy core, concluding with a stern, bracing finish of firm tannins, pleasantly complemented by gentle succulence. It will take time to view the full potential here, but it certainly delivers the tried-and-true profile long-time fans will expect. This vintage is a blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc.

- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 96 pts. 

The 2022 Monte Bello feels like a cooler-vintage wine, defying all expectations of the torrid growing season. Juicy, fresh and very old school, the 2022 sashays with true elegance as it unfurls into classic layers of cedar box, tobacco, grilled herbs, tart cherry and crushed rocks. A return to a more typical percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in this vintage can be felt in the wine's upright build and darker aromatic shadings. Winemaker John Olney chose to keep the 2022 in barrel for 21 months, a little longer than usual, in an effort to tame its fierce young tannins. That prescription worked out swimmingly. The 2022 is a very serious, structured wine, but its textural polish is beyond reproach. It's a Monte Bello that whispers rather than shouts. Time is very much on your side.

- Vinous, 96 pts. 

Shows a spirited persona, with pronounced notes of roasted vanilla and apple wood leading the way for compact flavors of dark plum, blackberry and black cherry compote. There’s a prominent, slightly rigid spine, but energy and freshness, too, with violet and iris accents emerging through the finish. A strong effort for the vintage. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.

- Wine Spectator, 93 pts. 

This classic Cab-based blend from the top of the appellation, which also includes 10% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc, is ripe and exuberant on the nose, with boysenberry jam and dried purple flower flavors. The palate doesn't exhibit the usual tension, presenting a suave set of blackberry, pepper and mint flavors on a softer frame.

- Wine Enthusiast, 91 pts.