Ridge Vineyards
Monte Bello
Santa Cruz Mountains
2013

The producer

In 1962, four Stanford Research Engineers (Dave Bennion, Hew Crane, Charlie Rosen, and Howard Ziedler) acquired the vineyard land at Santa Cruz Mountains which were to become Ridge Vineyards. In those early years they experimented with production of small quantities of wine, including the first vintages of flagship wine Monte Bello (1961 and 1962).

By 1968 production had increased to just under three thousand cases per year, and in 1969, Paul Draper joined the partnership (Draper was also a Stanford graduate but in philosophy and more significantly he was an experienced winemaker). The arrival of Draper at Ridge is really when the estate’s ascent to greatness starts; he initiated full restoration of winery facilities begun the acquisition process of the finest vineyard land.

The wine

One of Ridge Vineyards' most famous wines is Monte Bello, a Cabernet Sauvignon-based wine that is considered to be one of the top wines in California. Monte Bello is made from grapes grown in the Monte Bello vineyard, which is located at an elevation of 2,600 feet in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

The Monte Bello vineyard has a unique microclimate, with cool breezes from the Pacific Ocean and warm sunshine during the day. The soil in the vineyard is a mix of decomposed limestone and clay, which contributes to the wine's complexity and structure.

Monte Bello is typically aged in oak barrels for up to two years before being bottled and released. The wine is known for its rich, concentrated flavors of blackberry, cassis, and dark chocolate, as well as its firm tannins and long finish. It is a wine that can age for decades and is often compared to the top wines of Bordeaux in terms of quality and aging potential.

 2013 Monte Bello Release from Ridge Vineyards

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.