1988-1993 Ridge Geyserville Vertical Tasting

[Randy Caparoso]

Bucko, I couldn't add anything until today since I had misplaced my notes from my own last big tasting of Ridge Zins. In Feb. of '98 I was lucky enough to have hosted a tasting with about a dozen Hawaii Zin fanatics (we have them here, too) in the company of Paul Draper of various cuvees going back to 1964! Looks like we didn't do the exact same things you did -- we did 34 of them in all -- but here's the order of my personal favorites (everyone had various preferences):

1990 Geyserville - Stunning quality; sweet, juicy blackberry verging on blueberry; dense, plump, smoky oaked, long, intense, big yet perfectly scaled.

1995 Pagani - Sweet, luscious blackberry concentration; lots of spicey blackberry fruit on front of palate, becoming bigger, lusher, meatier, and more succulent as the seconds ticked by.

1990 Lytton Springs - Tight but intense and concentrated; blue and black fruit aroms; plump, juicy, voluptuous feel with zesty, revved up quality.

1995 Geyserville - Framboise like concentration in the nose; sweet, smoky, soy-like aromas and blackberryish richness on the palate; direct, but round, concentrated, with full tannins bolstering wall-to-wall flavors.

1988 Beatty Ranch - Sweet, concentrated aromas bof blackberries backed by sweet oak; liqueur like textured and intensity on the palate; zesty, rich, long finish.

1973 Geyserville - Richly oaked, but also pretty berry bouquet; round, full, smoothly textured; flavors still fleshy and full

1974 Monte Bello - Unusual tropical fruit (mango) mingling with sweet berries and buttery/creamy oak; round, soft, smooth and supple on the palate; balanced, moderately intense quality.

1986 Park-Muscatine - Slightly closed, toasty aroma, unveiling a vanillin/smoky richness and rounded raspberry flavor; fleshy, soft, plump quality on the palate with moderate tannin, silky texture and long, gentle finish.

1994 Lytton Springs - Slightly gamey edged, sweet nose; medium full, round, a little tight but densely structured; entering a tight period.

1991 Lytton Springs -- sweetlyoaked blackberry aroma; zesty, medium full, quite oaky and a little tight on the palate; but broad and rich in the feel.

1989 Geyserville - Leathery brett tones to smoky, sweet berry aromas; plump, smoky flavors on the palate; finishes a tad lean.

1970 Occidental Late Harvest - Browning color; low key, sweet tarry nose with smoky, caramelized tones that follow in long, smooth finish; a bit tired, but carrying 16.5% alcohol (and .5% residual sugar) quite well.

1977 Geyserville/Late Harvest Trentadue Ranch - Smoky, moderate bouquet followed by sweet, long caramelized flavors; lacks freshness, but touch of residual sugar carries interesting fruitiness to balance super-high alcohol.

Those are the ones I found to be attractive. The rest were not so exciting. For instance, the 1964 Monte Bello was quite old -- herby, with burnt leaf nose, soft, simple -- and a lot of the mid-'80s Geyservilles were quite lean and tough (more than just dumb -- just plain "stupid" since they should have been drunk younger).

And as you might surmise, my conclusion is that Ridge certainly makes great to merely good Zins in any given year, and that certain years ('90 & '95) are certainly greater than others. Finally, I would say that Ridge Zins -- and Zins in general, for that matter -- generally are best drunk within 10-12 years in the best years, and within 5 years in average years.

Interesting, no?