Ridge - East Bench Zinfandel, 2017
To celebrate the arrival of my Italian passport we decided to crack open a bottle from the cellar (aka the boxes under the stairs where the posher wine lives). This bottle also has some more personal resonance too, one from the mighty US producer Ridge Vineyards.
The personal resonance derives from the fact it was one of the first wines I tasted when starting my WSET Level 2 course, which I took last year. Each session we would taste a selection of six wines and in the intro week this was one of them. It’s apt also because my Level 3 course kicks off next week on Mon 5 Sep; I’ll blog about that a bit more once the course gets going.
Anyway, the Ridge stuck in my mind not just for its quality (more of that below) but also because of its label. Of course branding isn’t everything but I had an image of their labelling stuck in my mind from the previous edition (7th) of the World Atlas of Wine, it’s just a simple font in two colours on a cream label - clean but modern. And like many new world wines you know exactly what the wine is and how it was made, because it tells you in lovely detail. As much as I do like the detective work and knowledge necessary to decipher an old world french label (you just have to know that Cornas is made from syrah in the Northern Rhone or you’re stuck!), having the detail up front is great. Note that the most recent (8th) edition of the World Atlas of Wine doesn’t have label samples in it.
Anyway, back to the East Bench!
This is a 100% Zin produced from vines that are c20 years old. It's perhaps a lesser brother of Ridge’s slightly more famous (?), Geyserville wine, which is usually c70% Zin.
More details on the Ridge website: https://www.ridgewine.com/vineyards/east-bench/
On the nose it was fruity and complex, with the almost jammy notes of Zin coming right through: figs, raspberry, and a hint of blackcurrant and herbaceousness. On the palate that fruit character resolved more into blackberry, with more fig and black fruits, with some good tannic structure that was just enough and not overbearing from the touch of american oak it gets in maturation. Great long finish.
One of the cheaper offerings in the Ridge stable, and very much recommended. I’ll try and remember to blog the Geyserville I have as a comparison, when we open it.
I used to drink a fair amount of Ridge (and other zins) when I lived in San Francisco. It's been a long time since I tasted a zin. I could probably get some in Paris, but I don't get up there as often as I used to. And the price might shock me.
ReplyDeleteOh lovely! Might be easier to get a Primitivo near you - could be that some of the local supermarkets have a good Italian selection. Though saying that the non-French wine selection in any supermarket is often sparse, and that's being generous! The East Bench cost me £40, so €45ish and I prob paid a bit over the odds.
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