2014 Torre Cabernet Sauvignon

Torre, where Ridge began in 1959, is the heart of the Monte Bello estate. Located at 2300′, it contains twenty-eight blocks, on limestone sub-soils. This year’s Historic Vineyard selection comes from LeVasseur Terrace and Barn Block—the vineyard’s highest point. The wine was slow to ferment; ten days brought full extraction, and fermentation continued in new american oak through spring. Significant tannins required lengthy barrel aging. This Torre, redolent of mountain character, is a beautiful wine. It will develop over the next fifteen years.

In 1903, the Torre family homesteaded the land which comprises our middle vineyard (2300’). They planted vines and built a small winery, but once Prohibition was enacted in 1920, the vineyards were abandoned and the property passed through several owners. William Short acquired the acreage in the 1940s, re-planted cabernet on a number of the old parcels and for the first time, a few acres of chardonnay as well. He sold to the Ridge founding partners in 1959. They made a half-barrel of Monte Bello Cabernet that year. Its exceptional quality convinced them to restore the Torre winery, and to make wine. This year’s historic vineyard cabernet is from two small parcels on Monte Bello Estate’s Torre Ranch; Le Vasseur Terraces and Le Vasseur Barn Block.

Rainfall: 11.8 inches (40% of normal)
Bloom: Mid-June
Weather: Very dry December & January; most of the rain fell February through April. Overall above average temperatures at Monte Bello.

Harvest Dates: 12 September
Grapes: Average brix 26.0˚
Fermentation: Destemmed and whole berry; 100% automated berry sorted; floating cap, daily pump-overs; natural primary and natural secondary (malolactic). Pressed at ten days.
Barrels: 100% new air-dried american oak.
Aging: Twenty-one months in barrel

Hand-harvested, estate-grown grapes, destemmed whole berry fermented on the native yeasts; 0.81 g/l calcium carbonate added during primary fermentation; full malolactic on the naturally occurring bacteria; 4.5% water addition; oak from barrel aging; minimum effective sulfur for this wine (25 ppm initially at crush, 74 ppm over the course of aging); pad filtered at bottling. In keeping with our philosophy of minimal intervention, this is the sum of our actions.

Vinous Media (August 2017): 94 Points. “The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Torre is quite deep, with distinctly dark tonalities of fruit that fill out the wine’s pliant mid-palate and frame. Graphite, smoke, cured meat, black cherry and plum infuse this deep, powerful Cabernet Sauvignon. The Torre is a super-classic Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet with tons of savory overtones and real feeling of mountain structure. Stylistically, the Torre is a bit riper in flavor profile than the other 2014 Ridge Cabernets because of the site’s south-facing orientation and limestone sub-soils. What a wine!” – Antonio Galloni

Average Rating: 91.8

No. of Tasting Notes: 9

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