2005 Ridge Geyserville 40th Vintage

Congratulations to Ridge on reaching this milestone. After all the hard work they have put in over the years, the least I could do was celebrate it by drinking it.



Sara and I drank this on a whim one night a few weeks ago. I bought a few bottles from Nabil and I was planning on holding them for awhile, but after we drank the first bottle, we ended up drinking all of them over the next few weeks. It was just so good.

Like all of the Ridge wines I can afford, this is mostly Zinfandel (77%) with other varietals mixed in for structure and taste. It is a full-bodied, rich wine but it's not think and syrupy or overdone. I've found two types of Zinfandel--the mineral, peppery type and the velvitier, more dark-fruit driven type. This is of the later type, with hints of blueberry.

I love Ridge, and I'm going to go visit their winery as soon as I get a free moment. After all, they're just down the road now.

2003 Ridge Zinfandel Essence

I picked up a half bottle of the 2003 Ridge Zinfandel Essence at Whole Foods for $30. It caught my eye as I was wasting time at the deli counter waiting for the man to slice my corned beef. (They have awesome corned beef.) It interested me because it was 100% Zinfandel. All their other zins are mostly zin, with small percentages of other varietals thrown in. So I figured this must be their best grapes.

What I did not realize until later was that it was also very sweet. A late harvest zin. Basically a dessert wine. It wasn't like Port, but it was definitely headed in that direction. So I had it with a piece of cake that Sara had made earlier in the day.

The wine was awesome. It is good that it comes in half bottles, because of the sweetness. We set out to drink, not to have an after-dinner dessert sip.

The wine itself, beyond the sugary goodness, was incredibly new world and full of fruit. That's about it. Ben liked it, and he usually doesn't go in for California wines.

2004 Ridge Geyserville Zinfandel

What can I say? When it rains it pours. I just can't get enough of Ridge. Our Morton's expedition offered another chance to get some Ridge Zin. They Geyserville was like (Lytton Springs)++. It was richer and had a tiny hint of vanilla in the finish (at least when paired with the steak). Retail on this wine should be less than $35. It's opulent.

2004 Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel

Sara and I went to Restaurant Zoe for dinner on Saturday. Their food is some of the best I've had in the Seattle area, and I highly recommend it. The seared crispy skin chicken breast was the moistest chicken I've ever tasted; the wild boar bolognese is just awesome for being both a fairly exotic (by American standards) meat and really tasty in with the fresh arugula-based noodles. Their risotto is no slouch either.

They also have a great wine list.

Their list contains many of my favorite wineries (I first tasted Dellile here). However, neither of us felt like drinking an entire bottle of wine (or paying for it) so we ordered a half bottle of the 2004 Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel. I had just been discussing Ridge with a coworker on Friday, so it had been rattling around in the back of my head. My former roommate had a membership to Ridge's wine club and I was always excited when that box arrived.

Ridge does Zin. They PWN California Zin. Ridge is the Gold Standard by which I am compelled to measure American Zinfandels. The Lytton Springs Zin is one of their cheaper wines, typically selling in the $20 range (or $42 for a half-bottle at a fancy-schmancy downtown restaurant). The wine is a deep, dark purple (almost black in the mood lighting). It's got a great loamy-earthy taste and full of blackberries and other dark fruit. You can drink it with pizza (which a quick web search confirms many people seem to be doing) or you can drink it with wild boar and chicken. Or you can just drink it. Upon the first taste, Sara was exclaimed something--and I forget the exact wording--but it was basically excitement about all the things going on with this wine.

But some. Let it sit for a few years. Then drink it. I know after this little reminder, I'll be stocking up on some of their wines.