2014 MONTE BELLO, Ridge. Santa Cruz Mountains, California

Monte Bello is a single homogenous estate high up in the Santa Cruz mountains, south of San Francisco – and one of the most spectacular vineyards in the world. Poor limestone soils and a cool climate make for low yields and intense (but not over-blown) wine. The vineyard is currently being certified as fully organic.

75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot; aged in new American oak for 17 months

Paul Draper’s Ridge is perhaps the most respected winery in California. Even more so now that the three separate estates (Montebello, Geyserville and Lytton Springs) have their own wineries and so operate like a French ‘Domaine’ rather than a bigger operation

At its peak around 2028.

Despite the surprising use of American oak, this is the most Bordeaux-like of all New World Cabernets. Very serious wine that needs many years to show at its best.

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“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.” 97/100 William Kelley, The WineAdvocate, in 2018.