Bordeaux Blend

Purple in color.  This is drinking quite well now.  Pretty classic right bank but perhaps still a skosh more room to develop.  The nose is nice with cherries, some cassis, cigar box and chocolate shavings.  On the palate, this has nice cherries, not super ripe, but nothing green.  Undertones of tobacco and damp earth.  Good balance.  Drank over two nights and while different just as good on each night.  Will work with most foods.  Really everything you could want from this wine at this point.  

Monte Bello is one of the great wines of California.  87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, and 4% Cabernet Franc.  Though 2011 was a difficult vintage in most of California, Ridge hit a home run (again) with Monte Bello.  It might be drinking a bit earlier than other vintages, but it is a fantastic wine.  Purple in color.  The nose has cassis, cigar box, plums and char.  Very nice.  On the palate, this has a wonderful texture that is lush and full bodied but not over the top.  Plenty of cassis and plum fruit with underlying earthiness and slight char.  Good finish.  Works with medium and heav

Pop and pour.  Purple with ruby swirls, still looking bright.  The nose is nice.  Cassis, dried currents, tobacco and dust.  On the palate, this took some time to open and then was singing.  At peak or perhaps just a bit past, this won't last as long as the 01 or the 94, but it has plenty of great drinking left.  Layers of cassis, dried fruits and dry earth.  Good balance.  Very food friendly.  A lot in common with and older Bordeaux but still has some energy and sunshine screaming California.  

This is a "Right Bank" styled wine.  There were some concerns over opening at age 26.  The cork looked in great shape.  The wine was decanted for sediment.  There was a lot on the side of the bottle and in the wine.  Ruby in color.  The nose is older but nice.  Cigar box, cherries, dried cherries, slight old leather and slight black cherries.  On the palate, this took a bit to open up and then it drank beautifully.  Complex and layered.  Cherries, dried tobacco, dry earth.  No tannins.  Good and in balance acidity.  Nice finish.  Not an OMG wine, but a very good wine that would compare favo

Purple in color.  The nose has cassis, tobacco, it is slightly dusty and cedar.  On the palate, this still has some tannins left and plenty of fruit but is fully mature.  Cassis with some black olives.  This seems like a good bottle.  There is a nice complexity to it.  Very smooth.  Very food friendly.  Blind, i think most people would guess mature Bordeaux.  Of course, with a wine of this pedigree, there is always a lot of anticipation, but I think this is probably the wine producers were trying to  make back in 1997.  It succeeds at that if a very different wine from most 1997's.  

76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 3% Petite Verdot, 2% Malbec.  Purple in color, slight ruby at the rim.  The nose is dusty and warm with cassis and spice.  Soft texture.  Good acidity.  Nice cassis fruit with an underlying earthiness.  Some plums on the finish.  Nicely layered, it unwinds in the glass.  It seems open but then keeps on opening more.  Still some upside here.  

Older wines can be a crap shoot.  At the same time, it's always a privilege to get to try them and to accept what they have to offer.  This was not a perfect bottle but it was quite good.  The color is great.  Mostly deep ruby/purple with a bit of lightening at the rim but not really bricking.  The nose is very nice if showing a bit of an oxidized note.  Slightly meaty with some cassis and tobacco.  A bit of funk.  In short - old Bordeaux.  On the palate, there is some cassis and cherry fruit.  The acidity is pronounced at this point but not intolerable (depending on your tastes).  Food cer

This carries the Euro label of IGP or what used to be called Vin De Pays (VdP).  It is grown in the Provence are of France on an Island in the Rhone River.  It is a Bordeaux blend of grapes though certainly has a unique personality that is quite different.  Ruby in color, clear and bright.  The nose is dusty and earthy with some cherry fruit.  With air, some cloves emerge.  It is light bodied with tart cherries and cranberries.  Slight tannins.  A bit of anise on the finish.  At $9, this is a very nice value.  Food friendly for a wide variety of foods.  Very much a European styled wine but

Old bottle are always fun.  Sometimes they work out, other times, not so much.  This bottle had a very low fill.  Below the shoulders and near the top of the label.  The cork was removed using a Durand.  It virtually exploded as it escaped the bottle.  very little integrity.  The bottle was decanted for sediment and pieces of cork, checked right away, but allowed to breathe for a while.  It turned out the wine continued to improve in the decanter for at least 30 minutes as it blew off the bottle stink and gained some strength.  Ruby/brown in color.  The nose has some mushrooms, some fresh m

Ruby in color.  The nose is a bit old.  Lighter with cherries, tobacco, dried fruits. bell pepper and slight celery.  On the palate, this is tart and dried cherries.  A bit of a bell pepper streak.  Still drinking ok but getting a bit long in the tooth.  Probably better ten years ago.