Ridge Monte Bello 2004

Professional Ratings

• 94 Wine & Spirits
  Ridge grows one of the most distinctive cabernets in California at its Monte Bello estate. This vintage represents a selection of 38 percent of the crop, which itself had been naturally restricted by lower than average rainfall, particularly in winter. Ridge doesn't irrigate these vines-nor do they inoculate the juice to start fermentation, which yielded a modest 13.2 percent alcohol in 2004. The fractured limestone in the soil provided just enough moisture to grow this elegant cabernet, with flavors of wild black cherries and black currants. It feels balanced and firm, dense while weightless, a beauty that will mature for two decades from the vintage, perhaps longer.
• 94 Wine Spectator
• 91 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  The 2004 Monte Bello (76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc) reveals a similar dark ruby/purple color, but it is not as thick looking as the 2003 or 2005. A lighter, more elegant example of Monte Bello, the finesse-styled 2004 does not possess the power one normally sees in this wine. It offers pure fruit, a pretty, St.-Julien-like style, notes of cedar, spice box, herbs, background oak, and red as well as black currants, and silky tannin. It is capable of lasting 15-20 years.