Ridge Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon "Monte Bello" 2019

" 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."

"This has a densely packed core of vivid red and black currant and mulberry fruit, which is encased for now in a mix of charcoal, cast iron, singed mesquite and apple wood. Shows terrific drive, though, and everything is in proportion, with an echo of violet hinting at some inner purity. This will just need time to unwind. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2024 through 2040 (JM)."

" The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Bello is a more Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 8% Petit Verdot, and the balance Cabernet Franc, all hitting 13.7% alcohol. As usual, it was aged in new American oak. It shows the higher Cabernet component and is deep purple-hued and tight and closed, with a primordial vibe to its dark blue and black fruit, smoked tobacco, vanilla bean, graphite, and cedarwood aromatics. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has terrific overall balance, building, ripe tannins, a good sense of freshness, and outstanding length. It reminds me slightly of the 2018 with its more elegant, streamlined profile, but I expect this to build with bottle age, and it should have 2-3 decades of overall longevity (JD)."

" 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."

"There's a prominent mineral streak of graphite, wet clay and lava rock on the nose of this bottling, which also includes 11% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot. Further investigation reveals aromas of blackberry, dried oregano, pepper and dried meat, and the palate falls in line, as leathery tannins frame baked berry, cocoa dust and roasted meat flavors."

"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!"