2009 Torre Merlot

In 1903, the Torre family homesteaded the land which comprises our middle vineyard (2300′). They planted vines and built a small winery, but, with Prohibition, closed. William Short acquired the acreage in the 1940s, planted cabernet and chardonnay in 1949, and sold to Ridge’s founding partners in 1959. They made a half-barrel of cabernet that year. Its exceptional quality convinced them to restore the Torre winery, and make wine. In 1975, a small amount of merlot— from a parcel planted in 1968 on the contiguous Perrone land—was included in the MonteBello. The merlot proved an excellent complement. Three more parcels were planted in the late 1980s, this time on the Torre Ranch. One of these, the “Bowl,” was selected for the Historic Vineyard Series. This excellent merlot is enjoyable now, and will develop fully over the next
seven or eight years.

Rainfall: 28 inches (below average)
Bloom: Late May
Weather: Cool spring, warm summer and fall, short growing season.

Harvest Dates: 29 September
Grapes: Average brix 24.0˚
Fermentation: Destemmed/ whole berry. Natural primary and natural secondary (malolactic). Pressed at seven days.
Barrels: 55% new, 45% one and two years old. 100% air dried american oak.
Aging: 20 months in barrel

All estate-grown Monte Bello vineyard grapes, hand harvested. Destemmed whole-berry fermented on the native yeasts, followed by full malolactic on the naturally occurring bacteria. Minimum effective sulfur (30 ppm initially at crush, 95 ppm over the course of aging); unfined. Pad filtered at bottling. In keeping with our philosophy of minimal intervention, this is the sum of our actions.

Average Rating: 91.9

No. of Tasting Notes: 30

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