Name: Ridge Monte Bello 2014 750ml
Brand: Ridge
SKU: 892472
Price: 225.95 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 96.4 (5 reviews)

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Winery

Ridge

Shop all from Ridge

Varietal

Cabernet Sauvignon

By far and away the most recognized and widely grown red wine grape varietal in the world is the Cabernet Sauvignon. First cultivated in the 18th century in France, this wonderful cross of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc grapes has long since been the most important varietal for red wines across the globe. Now grown everywhere from its native France to the furthest reaches of the New World, Cabernet Sauvignon is adored and prized by wineries for its hardiness and resistance to rot, as well as its large and sharp flavors and wonderful capability for fine aging Indeed, many of the finest wines of history and the modern age would be simply unimaginable without Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, with the famed wineries of Bordeaux and other important regions using it as the primary grape in their oak aged produce. High tannin levels, acidity and powerful flavors are the characteristics most commonly associated with this varietal, however, when blended and slowly aged, it is capable of a world of flavors and aromas unmatched by any other grape.

Country

United States

Of all the New World wine countries, perhaps the one which has demonstrated the most flair for producing high quality wines - using a combination of traditional and forward-thinking contemporary methods - has been the United States of America. For the past couple of centuries, the United States has set about transforming much of its suitable land into vast vineyards, capable of supporting a wide variety of world-class grape varietals which thrive on both the Atlantic and the Pacific coastlines. Of course, we immediately think of sun-drenched California in regards to American wines, with its enormous vineyards responsible for the New World's finest examples of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot based wines, but many other states have taken to viticulture in a big way, with impressive results. Oregon, Washington State and New York have all developed sophisticated and technologically advanced wine cultures of their own, and the output of U.S wineries is increasing each year as more and more people are converted to their produce.

Region

California

California as a wine producing region has grown in size and importance considerably over the past couple of centuries, and today is the proud producer of more than ninety percent of the United States' wines. Indeed, if California was a country, it would be the fourth largest producer of wine in the world, with a vast range of vineyards covering almost half a million acres. The secret to California's success as a wine region has a lot to do with the high quality of its soils, and the fact that it has an extensive Pacific coastline which perfectly tempers the blazing sunshine it experiences all year round. The winds coming off the ocean cool the vines, and the natural valleys and mountainsides which make up most of the state's wine regions make for ideal areas in which to cultivate a variety of high quality grapes.

Appellation

Santa Cruz County

JS 98pts

James Suckling

Unique aromas of blackberry, black currant, dark chocolate and walnut. Full body, very powerful and tannic. Incredible depth and power. Precise and so focused. Muscular. Great structure. This needs at least six to eight years to come together.

WA 97pts

Wine Advocate

A worthy successor to the profound 2013 and the fruit of the earliest harvest on record at this address, the 2014 Monte Bello is still quite youthfully expressive, wafting from the glass with an exuberant bouquet of minty dark berries, plums, black cherries, cigar box and a nicely integrated framing of new oak. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, deep and intense, with a rich chassis of structuring tannins, which are currently largely concealed in a succulent core of fruit, and bright balancing acids. In profile, it's structurally more open-knit and giving than the massive 2013, and I suspect it will reach its plateau sooner, but it should enjoy over three decades of longevity. The blend is 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, and it attained 13.5% natural alcohol. "The drought had a positive effect on concentration," observed winemaker Eric Baugher when we corresponded shortly after harvest, adding that "the wines are opaque in color, with rich tannins and marvellous fruit." Four years later, that remains an accurate characterization of the 2014 Monte Bello.

JD 97pts

Jeb Dunnuck

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Bello checks in as 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot and the rest Cabernet Franc. A much deeper, richer wine compared to the Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, it offers incredible notes of crème de cassis, vanilla bean, tobacco leaf, and scorched earth. Rich, full-bodied, and concentrated, with moderate acidity and ripe yet present tannin, it's going to drink nicely with just short-term cellaring yet shine for two decades or more. It doesn't have the overt concentration and structure of the 2012 and 2013, but has sensational purity, balance, and elegance.

VM 96pts

Vinous Media

The 2014 Monte Bello is going to need at least a decade to show everything it has. Deceptively medium in body and super-classic in its mid-weight structure, the 2014 offers notable brightness and intensity in an understated style, even by Ridge standards. Today, the 2014 is intensely linear, focused and vibrant. Petit Verdot is the variety that suffered most in the drought, so its presence in the blend is minimal.

WS 94pts

Wine Spectator

This shows the very expressive aromatic profile of the 2014 vintage, with a range of sage, mint and spice notes leading off, followed by a dense core of black and red currant fruit and a long, smoldering finish. Approachable for its aromatic range, but there's absolutely no rush here. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.—Non-blind Ridge Monte Bello vertical (June 2019). Best from 2023 through 2040. 5,000 cases made.

Winery Notes

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.