Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Bello 2015 750ml

Name: Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Bello 2015 750ml
Brand: Ridge
SKU: 883632
Price: 289.79 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 100 (6 reviews)

size

750ml

country

United States

region

California

appellation

Santa Cruz County

subappellation

Santa Cruz Mountains

6 Ratings

See 6 Professional Reviews

100

Additional vintages

2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2003 2002 2001 1997

100

Rated 100 by James Suckling

Stunning depth, power, purity and elegance. The blackcurrants and plums are fresh and intense on the nose with blueberries and gently herbal notes, too. The palate has a keenly articulated array of vibrant tannins that hold long, fresh and pure. It invokes a sense of wonderment at the finish. So long and so pure. This blend of 77 per cent cabernet sauvignon, 11 per cent merlot, seven per cent petit verdot and five percent cabernet franc, is just at the start of a wonderful journey. Try from 2021. ... More details

Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Bello 2015 750ml

100

Rated 100 by James Suckling

Rated 98 by Vinous Media

One of the highlights in this tasting, the 2015 Monte Bello will soon take its place among the greatest Monte Bellos ever made. Powerful, deep and explosive, the 2015 possesses magnificent concentration and richness in every dimension. Even with all of its raciness, the 2015 has terrific aromatic presence and regal tannins. The 2015 is a bit less showy than it has been in the past, but it was also just bottled two weeks before this tasting. Readers who own it will be absolutely thrilled.

Rated 98 by Jeb Dunnuck

A blend of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Bello is unquestionably going to be one of monumental vintages of this wine. Deep, incredibly concentrated, and powerful, yet also textured and perfectly balanced, this beauty gives up a huge nose of cassis, plums, spice box, graphite, and vanilla bean. With full-bodied richness on the palate, it starts out tight and firm yet blossoms with time in the glass (I followed this bottle for multiple days) and has an awesome mid-palate, building yet perfectly ripe tannins, and a rock star finish. It's about as classic a Monte Bello as they come and will require 4-6 years of bottle age (or more) and shine for three decades or more.

Rated 95 by Wine Advocate

At this early stage, the 2015 Monte Bello is all about potential. I followed a bottle over several days and only witnessed improvement. The wine unfurls in the glass with a rich bouquet of cassis, ripe plums, espresso roast, black tea and baking chocolate, lavishly framed by minty, spicy new oak—which is often at its most prominent at exactly this stage, when the wine is shutting down after bottling. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with rich, velvety tannins and beautifully succulent, even tangy acidity that lends amazing lift on the finish. The most obvious analogy is the 2005 vintage, though it also evokes a more elegant version of the 1995 Monte Bello. It's a blend of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Franc that attained 13.5% natural alcohol. Since the wine appears to be shutting down, I'd recommend forgetting it until its tenth birthday. Given its structure and balance, it should enjoy remarkable longevity.

Rated 94 by Wine Enthusiast

One of America's most iconic wines, this classic mountaintop blend of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Franc opens with aromas of dark berry, black pepper, lilac, baked earth and toasty oak. The wood spice carries throughout the palate, decorating the savory black-olive, charred meat and leather flavors, which are framed by sandy, polished tannins. Drink 2023–2045. (Cellar Selection)

Rated 93 by Wine Spectator

Ripe, with waves of dark currant, fig and blackberry fruit flavors cruising through. Delivers ample cut on the back end, where charcoal and graphite notes check in, along with tobacco, menthol and sage details. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.—Non-blind Ridge Monte Bello vertical (June 2019). Best from 2023 through 2040. 4,400 cases made.

WNR

Winery

The Monte Bello (originally Monte Bello Cabernet; until 1975, 100% cabernet) is the wine that introduced Ridge to the world, and the world to Ridge. It is a blend of bordeaux varietals. Cabernet sauvignon still predominates; exhaustive tasting of test blends during assemblage determines how much ”if any” merlot, petit verdot, or cabernet franc will be included in the finished wine. Almost every vintage (an unbroken chain from `62 on) has something substantive to recommend it. Every decade has its high points. Taste and opinions differ. But the just-concluded decade of the nineties has been outstanding. Generalization does a disservice to the individual wines. There's structure, there's complexity, there's balance. And they develop for a long, long time.

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Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Bello 2015 750ml

SKU 883632

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Long-term Pre-Arrival

$1738.74

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$289.79

/750ml bottle

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Professional Ratings

100

Rated 100 by James Suckling

Rated 98 by Vinous Media

Rated 98 by Jeb Dunnuck

Rated 95 by Wine Advocate

Rated 94 by Wine Enthusiast

Rated 93 by Wine Spectator

Winery

Product Details

size

750ml

country

United States

region

California

appellation

Santa Cruz County

subappellation

Santa Cruz Mountains

Additional vintages

2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2003 2002 2001 1997

Overview

Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon

For most of us, when we look for red wines in a wine store or supermarket, the name Cabernet Sauvignon stands out as a mark of quality and reliability. The same can be said for the way those who cultivate the grapevines see them, too, as part of the reason Cabernet Sauvignon varietal grapes have had so much success all over the world is due to their hardiness against frost, reliability in regards to yield and quality, and great resistance to rot. As such, Cabernet Sauvignon is a winemaker's dream of a grape, consistently delivering excellence alongside a few pleasant surprises. Despite the fact that the grape on its own in a young wine can often be a bit overpowering, too astringent and challenging for many tastes, it is the perfect grape varietal for blending and aging in oak. Such a truth has been displayed for centuries now in some of the finest wineries on earth, for whom Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are the grape which adds the punch to their world-beating blended wines.

Region: California

California has long been the New World's most important and prodigious wine producing regions, with a history which stretches back to the 18th century and the Spanish pioneers who settled here. Today, California produces vast quantities of wine, and if it were a country, it would be the fourth largest producer of wine on earth. Despite experiencing many problems in the mid 20th century, including a very serious blight which almost crippled the state's wine industry, the ideal terroir and excellent climate ensured that Californian wines soon became the envy of the New World once again. California produces a vast range of wines, and utilizes a long list of fine grape varietals, with many wineries and their produce more closely resembling those of France and other Old World countries in regards to character, practices and flavors

Country: United States

Whilst there are several strains of native grape varietals in the United States, it was the introduction of the European species which prompted the country to begin producing wines on a large scale. Over the past few centuries, experimentation and cross-breeding has produced great successes in regards to the quality and suitability of the fruit grown in states such as California, Oregon, Washington and New York, and the past few decades have seen New World wines from the United States reach much higher standards. Arguably the finest United States wines have always come out of California, where the climate and terrroir is most suitable for fine wine production. The masterful blending of classic grape varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, amongst others including Syrah and Chardonnay, have had world beating results in recent years, prompting many to suggest that there has never been a better time for buying and drinking United States wines.

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