I've been excavating the cellar for old wines that need to be enjoyed (if possible) or tossed (if necessary). Most of my posts have been on my Facebook page, but this one (and the last) needs to go here. There's too much of a good story to waste this on Facebook.
I became a fan of wines from Ridge back in the 1980s, when I was starting to really learn about wines. And I loved Zinfandel quite a bit. It was a time when Zinfandel was finally being recognized as a grape of potentially great wines. But, as the years progressed, Zinfandel makers made ever bigger fruit bombs. The wines got riper, jammier, more alcoholic, and frankly, they lost what had drawn me to them in the first place. A bright, mildly tannic wine that went great with anything from roasted chicken to BBQ to steak. The fruit and alcohol bombs lost this... Sadly.
But let me come back to Ridge. They never went over the top. With any of their wines. Always, balance, sense of place, a subtle touch with richness.
I loved their wines (still do).
Back in the 1980s, they were also a bargain - great price for incredible quality. I don't have data at hand, but I seem to recall the Lytton Springs Zin being on the order of $10-12 a bottle. And, as a grad student, that was what I could barely afford. I skimped elsewhere, but I drank well.
Then, 1990 happened. It was a good year in California for wines, and Ridge excelled beyond anything they'd ever done before. I remember that wine. It was rich, ripe, but also had acidity and tannin, it was everything they'd ever done before, multiplied by ten. It was so freaking good.
Unfortunately, for me, it was recognized as such by the Wine Spectator upon release, and they gave it points in the 90s (somewhere in the basement is the copy, but I'm not about to dig for it). What happened next was horrifying to me. The price went up, as you might expect. Ridge wines that had been $10 went to $30 a bottle.
It was devastating for me, but I was very happy for Ridge.
[Side note: Paul Drapper (PD in the label above) said in 02/92, "Lovely now, it will develop further over the next fiver or six years." It's now, what 24 years later?]
Somehow, I still managed to put away a fair amount of 1990 Zinfandel. Perhaps two cases. And I've enjoyed it occasionally over the years. But, here's the thing.
I've known there were still some lurking in the cellar, but hadn't seen any for some time. Like years. Digging in the cellar tonight, I found a 1990 Zin in a mixed box of all sorts of odd old bottles. And I thought, "OK, why not?"
With trepidation, I removed the foil. Then carefully started the corkscrew. It went into the cork easily, too easily. Uh-oh. Soft cork. After threading the screw into the cork completely, I ever so gently started to extract the cork. It started moving easily. Uh-oh. It was wet to the top. Uh-oh. The cork slid partly out easily, and then, broke. Uh-oh. I got the last piece out, and, frankly, was prepared to taste vinegar.
After pouring out a sample, I sniffed. SKUNK. Uh-oh.
All right, give it some time. Swirl, blow off the top, swirl, give it some air to come back to life...
And it opened up, and was, actually quite nice. Not the great wine that you would have tasted back in, say the mid to late 90s or so, but quite nice. Still great color (not a hint of garnet, which usually comes with age). Definitely on the light side as far as taste and power goes, but delicious. The tannins were pretty much absent (and were clinging to the side of the bottle, I see). I didn't get any prune that so often comes with too old wines, especially those that were made too ripe. Rather, diminished (really, given the age) flavors of black cherries, a touch of cedar, some brambly blackberry. All diminished, but still there. I was floored.
Shows that Ridge really has had it's act together for decades.
No comments:
Post a Comment