The first two wines paired brilliantly with Chef Alan Kerr’s red wine braised short ribs, caramelized onion and roasted root veggies.
1999 Ridge Dry Creek Valley Syrah Lytton Estate ATP, 92% Syrah, 7% Grenache, 1% Viognier, 14.8% alc.: Deep, dark color, with pretty Draper perfume over deep black fruit on the nose; very smooth in the mouth, yet quite dense at the same time, with flavors of lavender, violet, black plum and blackberry. The American oak still isn’t completely integrated, but neither is it at all intrusive. Rich and delicious, with the structure to age for another 5-10 years easily (Kerr says 20, and he may be right). Alan remarked that this is still “unbelievably spicy and youthful.”
2000 Ridge Dry Creek Valley Syrah Lytton Estate ATP, 99% Syrah, 1% Viognier, 14.4% alc.: Clean dark color, but not giving much on the nose; similar in flavor profile to the ’99, with lavender, violet and black plum along with shades of tar and coffee, being more accessible, if a little less complex. Alan adds an impression of black pepper, observing that it’s “obviously from a tighter year, with less oak than the ’99, but the structure is still there. The 2000 has fruit, the ’99 has fruit and then some!” Indeed, it is more fruit driven than the previous vintage, and has the tannin-acid backbone for at least another five years in the cellar.
Mr. Kerr threw the next selection in the mix to see how it compared with the older models, and it performed admirably.
2003 Ridge Dry Creek Valley Syrah Lytton Estate, 91% Syrah, 9% Viognier, 14.8% alc.: Inky color, nearly opaque, and obviously the youngest wine of the three in every way; just a trace of Draper perfume over deep, dark black fruit on the nose. Big black plum and blackberry on the palate, shaded with subtle lavender, a hint of violet and some American oak. Not as smooth as the first two, but full bodied, with big structure and solid depth, and while quite approachable, I’d wait on this for some years, perhaps as much as 10 years or longer.
-From More Holiday Hijinx with Mr. Ridge (& Ravenswood too!)
Reporting from Day-twah,
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