Ridge Wines

[Marlyne K]

Have a few bottles of Lytton Springs and Geyserville from the late '90's through the '09. Used to get info as to when they might be in their prime (or over the hill), but don't have it now, and wondered about what I might expect when we open the bottles. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[TomHill]

Have a few bottles of Lytton Springs and Geyserville from the late '90's through the '09. Used to get info as to when they might be in their prime (or over the hill), but don't have it now, and wondered about what I might expect when we open the bottles. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Marlyne,
If you go to the Ridge WebSite (http://www.RidgeWine.com), you can dig up the info from their labels there.
They have recommended drinking windows and they're usually on the conservative side. You may have to
poke around a bit to find the older ones, but it should all be there.
Tom

Dohhh......whatta doofus. As Mark suggests.....just look at the btl labels themselves.
Tom

[Mark Lipton]

Paul Draper's notes should be on the back label on those bottles. Unlike most winemakers' notes, these are both worth reading and useful. At the end of his notes, he adds his own advice about when to open, which -- as Tom notes -- tends to be on the conservative side. If you treat them as "do not open before" dates, you can't go too wrong (I don't think that I've ever had a Ridge Geyserville or Lytton Springs that I thought was too old).

Mark Lipton

[Sam Platt]

We just tasted the 2002 Lytton Springs alongside the 2002 Monte Bello this past Saturday evening. It's not exactly apples to apples, but I thought the Lytton was starting to fade compared to the Monte Bello. The nose was quite muted on the Lytton and the fruit had faded. The Monte Bello had a killer nose. It was smooth and well integrated with plenty of fruit still showing. That was the first time we had tasted that vintage of either wine.

PS: Both wines were double decanted about 4 hours before drinking.

[Marlyne K]

Thank you all so much! I did what I should have in the beginning: read the labels. Mr. Draper does, indeed, advise as to cellaring, and wines I thought should have been drunk a while back sound like they're still at or near peak.
I do have a few others in my storage unit to ask about, though; hope you'll still be available to give advice on those when I bring them up.
Thank you again.

[TomHill]

We just tasted the 2002 Lytton Springs alongside the 2002 Monte Bello this past Saturday evening. It's not exactly apples to apples, but I thought the Lytton was starting to fade compared to the Monte Bello. The nose was quite muted on the Lytton and the fruit had faded. The Monte Bello had a killer nose. It was smooth and well integrated with plenty of fruit still showing. That was the first time we had tasted that vintage of either wine.

PS: Both wines were double decanted about 4 hours before drinking.

The Ridge recommended drink by date on the LyttonSprings was 2004-2010. So would guess it was starting to fade a bit.
Tom

[Sam Platt]

The Ridge recommended drink by date on the LyttonSprings was 2004-2010. So would guess it was starting to fade a bit.

Are you suggesting that there may be a flaw in my "wait ten years before tasting a well made Zin or Cab blend" system Tom? Labels-shmabels! Anybody can read the directions. It takes a fool to go with his gut.

Lesson learned.

[Bill Spohn]

<sigh>

Guess I'd better open my 93 then.

No rush on my mid 90s Geyservilles, had one recently.

[Ted Richards]

<sigh>

No rush on my mid 90s Geyservilles, had one recently.

My mid-90s Lyttons are holding up nicely, too.

[David M. Bueker]

'97 Lytton a few weeks ago was stellar!

[Jon Leifer]

have been drinking Ridge zins since the early 1980's..Occasionally one gets lost in my cellar(I am a tad disorganized in that regard) and gets drunk later rather than sooner but I can't remember any of them, including all those drunk with >10 yrs on them, being over the hill..they age quite nicely

[Patrick Martin]

A bottle of the '91 Ridge Lytton Springs recently was fantastic and going strong...

[Lior Yogev]

Hi,

My oldest Geyserville was 2002, opened about half a year ago and was well beyond its peak, but it could be a case of a bad bottle (cork wasn't great). Anyway I'm not sure whether the Geyservilles are intended for more than a few (say 5?) years of aging and I think that their bite is part of their charm.

Lior

[David M. Bueker]

Sounds like your 2002 was off. My last taste of the 2002 was in early 2012, and there was a long way to go.

[Patrick Martin]

I was at a huge Ridge Lytton Spring & Geyserville vertical in 2010... Every vintage from 1991-2002 of both wines was present, and none of them were over the hill. Everyone in the room agreed about that. A majority preferred Geyserville overall. All of these wines were bought on release and stored at 55-degrees, so they were pristine bottles.

I can see why some prefer these wines on the younger side and part of their charm is they can be enjoyed while relatively young (but not always: two bottles of the 2007 Geyserville consumed in Dec 2009 were totally closed down), but overall I think they age wonderfully for 15+ years, especially Geyserville. Personally, I like my Lytton Springs best between 10-15 years old, but I had a 1999 Lytton Springs last year that was young and fairly bruising and likely to hold and improve for years. I like Geyserville with even more age on it.

[TomHill]

Not that I'd know anything about aging Ridge Zins........but....
Paul/jJohn/Eric's drinking windows are usually pretty good, if a bit conservative. But they age so well, I feel,
because of their balance. Out beyond the drinking window, they never seem to fall off a cliff like some.
They just seem to fade away into the sunset...quietly/gently/elegantly. They bring back fond memories of
their glory days...but in the end you know you should of drunk it up earlier.
Tom

[Marlyne K]

I don't know if I should ask this here, or write to the magazines, but ... I get Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast, and notice that they hardly EVER mention Ridge wines. Personally, I met the Geyserville back in the mid-90's, and have loved them (and purchased them annually) ever since. I have yet to be disappointed in one and it seems, from this discussion, other people agree with me. Is it politics ???

[TomHill]

I don't know if I should ask this here, or write to the magazines, but ... I get Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast, and notice that they hardly EVER mention Ridge wines. Personally, I met the Geyserville back in the mid-90's, and have loved them (and purchased them annually) ever since. I have yet to be disappointed in one and it seems, from this discussion, other people agree with me. Is it politics ???

Well...just guessing here, Marlyne. I think the WS and the WE mostly review wines that are sent to them by the wineries especially for them to review. They make
little effort to go out and solicit samples on their own. I think the term is "lazy". But the Parker/WA sends Galloni out to Calif specifically to review the wines and he makes
an effort to try the Ridges. I think the term is "non-lazy". That Ridge (probably) does not send samples of their wines to WS/WE says (probably) something about how
they regard those publications (probably).
You'll notice that WE doesn't review SQN (the WS/Laube does). Probably because Manfred doesn't think WE is worth the samples...they're small potatoes.
Tom

[Sam Platt]

Sounds like your 2002 was off. My last taste of the 2002 was in early 2012, and there was a long way to go.

May have been. I have no other '02 Lyttons to compare it to. It definitely was not as fresh (for lack of a better term) as other older Lyttons I have tasted in the past. Perhaps the Monte Bello was an unfair side-by-side tasting partner as well.

[Tom Troiano]

FWIW, I had '87 and '95 Geyserville recently (last 6 months) that were both delicious.

[Marlyne K]

Opened a bottle of '97 Geyserville for a birthday celebration last Sept (might open the last one we own for this Sept...?) and it was wonderful. Guess I'll just continue to let the others rest a while longer.