2004 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello **

Monte Bello is my favorite winery/vineyard. It's one of those rare vineyards where the soil, climate, cultivation, history, and lore of the place produces a unique wine. No two vintages of Monte Bello taste the same, and each vintage evolves in the cellar. I have tasted Monte Bello cabernets from 1976, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2004, and I am constantly amazed by the wine's ability to age gracefully. These wines require patience. They rarely if ever show their true selves early.

According to the professional wine critics, 2004 was a very good vintage for California cabernets, merlots, and blends. Wine Spectator loved the fully extracted and massively endowed wines produced in Napa. By contrast, the 2004 Monte Bello is a pinnacle of restraint. This vintage was released less than a year ago and is still an infant. When I first opened and decanted the 2004 I was struck by how woodsy and agressive it was. After 30 minutes the wine was still locked down. After four hours it was still closed, but had started to release a little fruit. After eight, the wine had sprung to life -- it was as fully available as it would be for me. I retasted it over the course of 24 hours to follow the wine's progress, but it had clearly peaked. By lunch time the next day, the one remaining glass had shed its fruit and gone a little lean. It was still delicious, but it had gained a sharp edge on the finish.

For me, there are no easy tasting notes of Monte Bello, because the wines are too complex, they evolve too much over time, and they are too infantile early on to accurately judge without a huge fudge factor built into the rating system. You can't just say, "The nose offers aromas of licorice and sweet smoky new oak intermixed with jammy black fruits ... and minerals." (Parker's review for the 100 point 1995 Ch. Margaux.) Obviously, a wine with licorice and sweet smoky new oak intermixed with jammy black fruits and minerals is going to taste un-freaking-believably delicious, but Monte Bello is just not that easy to pin down, and that does not detract from its appeal. Quite the contrary - It makes Monte Bello unqiue. It reminds you that a truly singular and delicious wine made using mostly new American oak can be more fascinating than an uninspired and standard, but delicious, "100 point" wine.

It comes down to this: Monte Bello is a true expression of its terroir.

2004 Ridge Monte Bello Sta. Cruz Mountains - $125 - Deep purple, near opacity; some rusty fingers with excellent viscosity. A gorgeous perfume emanates from the decanter: cedar, evergreen, fresh meat and leather, and abundant charcoal smoke. At first blush this is a refined cuvee, and not at all forthcoming. On the nose - spice menagerie, but deeply fragrant blue flowers too (not quite violet, but may resolve into violet with age). Charred meats, berry medley of sweetly ripe raspberries, currants, and blackberries. For all its richness and balance, the wine is not astringent at all, and no single fruit asserts itself overtly. Texturally, the 2004 Monte Bello is deceptively light, with a light spicy rush on the close, but the acidity is really hidden and overall the wine gives the impression of extreme restraint, civility, with a very soft, but extended finish. A 20 year wine.