1997 Geyserville

This producer has recently purchased a number of small stainless steel fermenters, consistent with its current approach of picking parcels more precisely. The Monte Bello cabernet is normally harvested quite late, but 1998 was especially exaggerated. "In '97 we started on September 15," reports Paul Draper, "while in '98 we didn't begin picking the lower blocks until October 23." Ridge dropped crop during mid-summer, then eliminated berries that showed signs of rot following rain in August. Draper describes the very young '98 as tannic (perhaps as much as '95, the most tannic recent vintage for Ridge), deeply colored and potentially strong: 18 of 33 parcels had made the first cut for the grand vin at the end of February. On my recent visit, the 1997 Ridge zinfandels showed impressively; they are clearly more successful than the '96s.