You may recall that a couple of days before our visit to Ridge Lytton Springs, Joel Peterson of Once & Future Wines had opened a bottle for us of the Ravenswood Belloni Zinfandel from 1993. Much to our surprise, Shauna shared barrel samples with us of the 2024 Belloni Zinfandel. Quite the coincidence! Even in barrel, the sample had mint, chocolate and eucalyptus accents.
We then made our way upstairs to sit down with David and Shauna (in photograph) to taste through several more wines:
2022 Blasi Zinfandel – 97% Zinfandel, 3% Petite Sirah, Chalk Hill AVA. Jim Metcalfe owns the vineyard. Gary Blasi has been farming it for decades based on a handshake agreement. Notes of strawberry and raspberry. Gentle but powerful with balanced tannins.
2020 Demostene Ranch – 54% Zinfandel, 46% Carignane, Alexander Valley AVA.The vines are over 100 years old. Espresso, Tootsie Roll candy on the nares. Robust tannins from the Carignane.
2020 Buchignani Ranch Zinfandel – 92% Zinfandel, 8% Carignane, Alexander Valley AVA. The vines were planted in the 1940s and 1950s. Intense tannins, needs some age.
2022 Paso Robles Zinfandel – Benito Dusi Vineyard – 95% Zinfandel,5% Petite Sirah, Paso Robles AVA. Our hosts could not have realized how happy we would be to see and taste this wine. As we have previously reported, the Dusi family is currently celebrating 100 years of winegrowing in Paso Robles. We have been big fans of the Dusi vineyards for many years. This is the only Zinfandel that Ridge obtains from the Central Coast and they have been since the 1967 vintage. Big fruit and malleable cherry disposition, medium body with a long lovely finish.
2022 Mancini Ranch – 61% Carignane, 32% Zinfandel, 7% Alicante Bouschet, Russian River Valley AVA. The 15 acres were planted between 1922 and 1924. Raspberry and dried fruit notes followed by chocolate from the richness of the Carignane.
2022 Pagani Ranch Zinfandel – 82% Zinfandel, 9% Alicante Bouschet, 5% Petite Sirah, 4% Mataro, Sonoma Valley AVA. Majority planted 90 to 120 years ago. Milk chocolate bouquet with pomegranate, honey comb, hibiscus and orange blossom polish.
2022 Pagani Ranch – Norma’s Block – 78% Zinfandel, 7% Petite Sirah, 7% Alicante Bouschet, 4% Grand Noir, 4% Lenoir. Primarily from vineyard blocks planted in the 1880s. Next to these blocks is a block comprised of Alicante Bouschet, Grand Noir and Lenoir – unusual to have these in their own block instead of interplanted. Brimming with semi-dark chocolate on the taste buds, deep and rich.
2023 Geyserville – 70% Zinfandel, 18% Carignane, 9% Petite Sirah, 3% Alicante Bouschet, Alexander Valley AVA. The grapes come from three adjoining vineyards. Ridge has been making it since 1966. Sweet cocoa and persimmon on the palate.
2022 Lytton Springs – 67% Zinfandel, 19% Petite Sirah, 11% Carignane, 3% Alicante Bouschet. From the winery property in the Dry Creek Valley. The 50th anniversary bottling of Ridge making wine from this property. Brawny version with blue-black fruit and violets and lavender in the air.
Ridge makes a lot of excellent wines; we only tasted a sample of them specific to our “historic vineyard” agenda. Ridge takes what they call a “pre-industrial” approach to winemaking, with minimal intervention and native yeasts along with the least intrusive modern equipment, letting the vineyards’ characteristics shine through, many of which are certified organic and farmed using regenerative practices. There is a lot more information about this on their website. We encourage you to check it out.
As our tasting in the office was wrapping up, Shauna asked about our personal wine preferences. We explained that, while we will always love red wines, based on pairing with our meals we probably drink reds, whites and rosés in fairly equal measure. At that point she suggested we try the 2024 Lytton Estate Rosé down in the tasting room. So, the four of us went downstairs to do that. 40% Grenache, 29% Zinfandel, 14% Cinsaut, 10% Counoise, 7% Mataro. 100-year-old Grenache vines, taking seven passes to harvest, starting at 18% Brix up to 23%. Natural acidity with strawberry and watermelon on the tongue. It also made a great palate cleanser after tasting all of those wines upstairs.
David took the opportunity to show us the building’s unique architecture, built of rice straw bales as insulation for the post and beam construction and then covered by vineyard clay. It is also mainly solar-powered, another testament to Ridge’s commitment to the environment.
Near the end of our visit, Shauna thanked us for doing this. Her remark was actually rather humbling for us. The thanks should not be to us, but to her, David, all the wonderful people we visited with on this self-made tour of historic vineyards, as well as everyone else who is doing their part to preserve them.
Please be sure to check out the Ridge Vineyards website for all the delicious wines that Ridge makes:
Ridge Vineyards | Exceptional Single-Vineyard Wines Since 1962
or pay them a visit, either at Lytton Springs or at Monte Bello (or, rumor has it, soon to be in Paso Robles), especially since they were recently named the Most Admired Wine Brand in North America by Drinks International!
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.
