1978 Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet

This vintage provided the first significant crop from the recent replanting of Cabernet Sauvignon at the Jimsomare vineyard. This ranch had produced fine Cabernet prior to Prohibition and won a gold medal at the Paris Exposition of the 1890’s. The warm fall of 1978 fully matured these young vines and produced ten barrels of this heavy, rich wine which clearly is not in the claret style that we normally attempt. It will need four or five years of bottle age to soften further.

Begun in 1959, Ridge was one of the first of today’s chateau-size California wineries, that is, those that limit production in order to attempt the highest quality. All our wines are aged in small oak cooperage with the majority receiving no cellar treatment other than racking. Located above 2300 feet on Monte Bello Ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains, we overlook San Francisco Bay.

Average Rating: 86

No. of Tasting Notes: 2

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