For the final stop of our self-made Historic Vineyards tour, we took another of Historic Vineyard Society’s Emily Rasmussen’s suggestions and went to the Ridge Vineyards Lytton Springs property in the Dry Creek Valley, a visit that was long overdue.
In an earlier article in this series, we mentioned the three Rs of Zinfandel – the three wineries that really served to put Zinfandel on the wine world map – Ravenswood, Ridge and Rosenblum. In that article, we visited with Joel Peterson, now owner/winemaker of Once & Future Wines but previously the founder of Ravenswood, who had brought to our tasting a bottle of the Ravenswood 1993 Belloni Vineyard Zinfandel.
Now we were connecting with the other two Rs – Rosenblum Cellars and Ridge.
Kent and Kathy Rosenblum moved to Alameda from Minnesota in 1970. A veterinarian by profession, Kent started making wines at home in 1972, eventually going commercial in 1978. Operating in Alameda, just across the bay from San Francisco, Kent’s Rosenblum Cellars wines set a very high standard, especially elevating what people thought about Zinfandel. Unexpectedly receiving the proverbial “offer they couldn’t refuse”, Kent and Kathy sold Rosenblum Cellars in 2008 to Diageo.
Instead of retiring, Kent and daughter Shauna started Rock Wall Wine Company, also in Alameda. Shauna’s interest in winemaking goes back to early childhood. As a young adult, she chose her own route, with advanced studies in Ceramics and Sculpture at the San Francisco Art Institute. The chemistry courses she took for her studies reconnected her to the art of winemaking, and she completed the Master’s Executive Winemaking Program at UC Davis, re-entering the winemaking world. She is now an artist at making delicious wines!
Sadly, Kent passed away in 2018, much too soon and a huge loss to all of us. His daughter Shauna has masterfully carried on with the mission, first with Rock Wall Wine Company and now as winemaker at Ridge Vineyards’ Lytton Springs property.
The property that would become Ridge Vineyards headquarters on Monte Bello Ridge in Cupertino has a winegrowing history that actually goes back to 1885. The property was replanted in 1949 and was purchased by three Stanford University’s Research Institute scientists in 1959. The first Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello wine was produced in 1962. In 1969, legendary winemaker Paul Draper joins the team and the rest, as they say, is history.
Ridge Vineyards acquired the Lytton Springs property in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley in 1991 but had been making wine from this vineyard since 1972. The vineyard was first planted in 1901. Average annual production between the two vineyards is about 90,000 cases.
We hadn’t seen Shauna in several years and were very excited to meet with her along with David Gates, Ridge’s Senior Vice President of Vineyard Operations. David has been with Ridge since 1989. Leaving the family farm in Minnesota for the warmer California winters, he attended UC Davis and attained both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in viticulture. He manages Ridge’s three vineyards (Monte Bello, Lytton Springs, as well as Whitton Ranch in Geyserville) as well as working with all the other growers from whom Ridge sources grapes. David is also part of the Historic Vineyard Society management team and was very gracious in replying to our email about exploring wine from historic vineyards.
While Ridge makes a wide variety of excellent wines, Shauna and David had specifically tailored our visit to taste wines from some of the historic properties they use.
When people think of wine from historic vineyards, they often think about only red wines. But we were initially presented with a tasting of Ridge’s 2023 Historic Vines Blanc. A blend of Palomino, Muscadelle, Semillon, Chenin Blanc and Burger, this is from Mancini Ranch (Russian River Valley) and Pagani Ranch (Sonoma Valley), both of which have blocks of white grapes that were planted in 1922. With lemon and lime notes and medium acidity, the blend generated a lingering mouthfeel.
Then it was time to visit the barrel room.
Shauna explained that the barrels are put into place as permanent fixtures until they reach an age where they are no longer useful, usually about 10 years. The way they are stacked enables the best use of space, but it creates unique challenges for winemaking. Barrels are cleaned using what might be described as a giant dentist’s tool to rinse and remove water at the same time. And winery workers who need access to the barrels wear straps akin to a Cirque du Soleil aerial artist. Quite the sight!
We had the opportunity to taste a few barrel samples: 2024 Lone Oak Chardonnay, Russian River Valley AVA, 2024 East Bench Zinfandel, 100% Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley AVA, and 2024 Lytton Springs Blend of primarily Zinfandel and also Petite Sirah and Carignane, in neutral American Oak, to be bottled June 2026.
Admittedly, we did not take too many notes during this part, as we were busy chatting with Shauna and David, but the wine quality is clearly high.
Some notes we did take though was on this surprise barrel sample…
To be continued
Ridge Vineyards | Exceptional Single-Vineyard Wines Since 1962
Michael and Karen Perlis have been pursuing their passion for wine for more than 30 years. They have had the good fortune of having numerous mentors to show them the way and after a couple of decades of learning about wine, attending events, visiting wineries and vineyards, and tasting as much wine as they possibly could, they had the amazing luck to meet Eve Bushman. Michael and Karen do their best to bring as much information as possible about wine to Eve’s Wine 101 faithful readers.
