Happy Harry’s Direct Offer No. 22

Monte Bello is first and foremost a wine of place. That place – high atop the Santa Cruz Mountains underlain by decomposing limestone and Franciscan rock – produces a wine unlike any other. It is Ridge’s belief that this vineyard with its very low-yielding vines (less than two tons per acre) is capable of creating a wine of great significance, depth, complexity and aging potential – but only if they take care in sustaining it.

The Monte Bello vineyard, located only 15 miles from the Pacific Ocean, is part of the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA, California’s coolest cabernet producing area. It is their practice to let this unique vineyard site create the wine rather than try to steer it toward a particular style in the cellar. They accomplish this through a combination of natural, low-tech, hands-off winemaking techniques: keeping all grape varieties and all parcels separate, fermenting in small fermentors using only natural yeasts, and transferring the separate lots into air-dried American oak barrels to undergo full, natural malolactic fermentation.

Monte Bello has often been called America’s First Growth, as it is the finest domestic example of a classic Bordeaux blend in which cabernet sauvignon predominates. Exhaustive tasting of test blends during the assemblage process determines how much, if any, merlot, petit verdot, or cabernet franc will be included in the finished wine. Each grape variety makes a contribution to the flavor and structure of the wine — with cabernet sauvignon often showing cassis and adding tannin, merlot giving plum character and a bit of softness, petit verdot contributing dark color and earthiness, and cabernet franc adding fragrance and a hint of spice. Each vintage is different, but year after year Monte Bello proves to be a consistently outstanding wine with great structure, complexity, and balance. And, in terms of ageability, it has been known to lay down for several decades with elegance and ease.

The following two wines would be a great complement to any upcoming holiday table or else gifts for that wine enthusiast in your life.