Ridge Monte Bello 2013

Professional Ratings

• 100 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  The 2013 Monte Bello is a very special vintage for this great wine. Amazingly, it has yet to shut down, unfurling in the glass to reveal a bouquet of black raspberries, cassis, rich espresso roast, cigar wrapper, subtle black truffle and burning embers that has already integrated its 100% new oak remarkably completely. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, powerful and multidimensional, with a lavishly textural attack that segues into a stunningly layered, richly structured mid-palate endowed with incredible depth and concentration underpinned by succulent acids. The finish is long, vibrant and beautifully delineated. The 2013 is a blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Petit Verdot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 5% Merlot, and it attained 13.6% natural alcohol. Analytically, this ranks as one of the most tannic vintages of Monte Bello ever produced, but the tannins are of such high quality and cloaked in such a wealth of fruit that Ridge forwent their habitual egg white fining this year—beginning a trend that has continued since. This profound Monte Bello will begin to blossom as it reaches age ten and should prove practically immortal.
• 100 Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
  One of the greatest achievements in the history of wine. I have tasted nearly every vintage of the Ridge Monte Bello, which was first produced in 1962 (unfortunately, I did not taste the first offering). For a young wine, the 2013 Ridge Monte Bello is already talking to me in ways that few wines have in a lifetime of tasting (over 200,000 wines). The nose is amazingly aromatic, showing fragrant spices, sweet earth, delicate red currants, and enticing forest floor. Make no mistake; this is a wine of destiny. Could this be one of the world's most extraordinary wines? Too strong a statement? Perhaps, but this one certainly has my attention. Not ready to drink yet, this baby will require two decades of time before it shows its finest moment. Let's meet in 20 years and toast Monte Bello! (Tasted: September 16, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
• 100 Decanter
  A Monte Bello for the ages, the 2013's brooding bouquet unfolds to reveal notes of black raspberry, juicy blackcurrant, burning embers and deep-pitched, rich soil tones. On the palate the wine is simply stunning, with a beautifully three-dimensional, refined tannic chassis. Analytically, this is the most tannic Monte Bello of the millenium, but that structure is clothed with a wealth of fruit—so much so that Ridge forwent their habitual egg white fining this year. Watch this profound wine begin to blossom after a decade in the cellar.
• 94 Wine & Spirits
  Monte Bello’s aging regimen—16 months in new American oak—is apparent in the 2013’s pungent aroma of dill. At first, the fruit feels muted by the oak, but there’s a fineness to the tannins that gives the impression of a very serious cabernet terroir (in this case, a cool mountain ridge rising to 2,600 feet, where a wealth of mature vines dating to the 1970s and 1980s are rooted in limestone-rich substrata). With air, the fruit picks up vigor, that dill character merging with flavors of maitake mushroom and pine. Like most vintages of Monte Bello, its mountain-grown fruit is more about umami than red or purple berry flavors. And if some vintages of Monte Bello can feel almost racy, this one is supple and gentle, yet not at all heavy—an aristocratic cabernet that is standoffish right now, girded by new wood. This will reward the patient; keep it for ten years or more before uncorking it at a holiday celebration with roast beef.
• 91 Wine Spectator
  Well-constructed, with firm tannins and acidity framed by a tight core of dusty blackberry and wild berry, showing cedary oak and woody touches. Slowly eases into a dusty black licorice and anise center. Best to let this aerate or cellar. Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Best from 2021 through 2031.