This is a very powerful Monte Bello with currants and blackberry, black licorice and smoked meat. Mint. Some sesame seed, too. It's full-bodied with incredible darkness and saltiness like volcanic salt. Umami. Grilled seaweed. Flavorful and captivating. It goes on for minutes.

Opens with soaring red raspberry and vivid cassis flavours. Even more precise and pure-tasting than its brother, the Estate Cabernet, Monte Bello has exquisite choreography and building on the palate. Still terribly young, has an immense structure. With time, its finish will no doubt lengthen if one can endure the agony of waiting. This is the wine that has established Ridge as a California 'First Growth'. Because of the vineyard’s cool mountain site exposed to the Pacific, Monte Bello always has a dramatic freshness—drinking it, you feel as though you’re in the mountains yourself. The first Monte Bello vines were planted in 1886, but the vineyard fell into near ruin during and post-Prohibition. A mere 3.25ha (eight acres) were replanted in 1949 and were the source of the first Monte Bello in 1962. Since then, other historic blocks have also been replanted. The 2019 is 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 8% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc.

Medium ruby in color, the 2019 Monte Bello is bursting with pure, expressive perfume! Red and black currants are layered with wafts of rose petals, charcuterie, fresh thyme and tobacco, graphite, vanilla and cedar. Medium-bodied, it's the definition of weightless intensity, with concentrated layers of floral perfume and spice, a silky, mouthwatering frame, and a very long, ethereal finish that calls you back to the glass for another sip. Delicate, complex and very easy to drink, it's an especially elegant expression of Monte Bello!

Rich and smoky on the nose, this famed estate Cabernet Sauvignon is enhanced with 9% Merlot, 8% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc,. Aromas of roasted plum, mesquite, sandalwood and frankincense show on the nose. Impressively polished tannins consume the palate, where roasted berry, black plum and toasted coffee flavors linger long. Drink now–2039.

The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Bello is based on 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot that was raised in mostly new American oak. It reminds me of the 2016 with its beautifully balanced, seamless style, and it has a riveting perfume of pure crème de cassis, sweet tobacco, lead pencil shavings, and violet-laced aromas and flavors. Medium to full-bodied, flawlessly balanced, and absolutely seamless, it's a gorgeous Mont Bello that's surprisingly already accessible, yet it won't hit full maturity for 7-8 years but will have 30+ years of longevity.

A strapping, muscular Cabernet, with mouthwatering notes of licorice snap, rye and apple wood framing the burly core of red and black currant paste flavors. A long, grippy cast iron accent drives the finish along, with echoes of sweet bay leaf and tobacco. This is distinctive and built to last. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Best from 2028 through 2040. 2,600 cases made.