2015 Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Estate
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Tasting notes
A wine that always delivers, year in, year out, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate (81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc) reveals the hallmark vibrant purple color of just about all of the Ridge Cabernets as well as a perfumed bouquet of cassis, vanilla bean, leaf pencil, and white flowers. Medium to full-bodied, incredibly silky, and balanced, it just glides over the palate and has no hard edges. It’s going to evolve gracefully on its balance and purity.
Critic scores
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
As youâd expect, this blend of 81 per cent cabernet sauvignon and 16 per cent merlot, the rest petit verdot and cabernet franc, is really a statement of cabernet sauvignon with blackcurrant, redcurrant, forest-bark, cedar and tobacco aromas. The palate has powerful cabernet tannins, bolstered with cedary oak punch. The fruit is fresh and tightly wound for now. Needs time. Try this from 2022.
Wonderful cassis definiton here – so sweet and succulent, yet with impressively firm structure then an aftertaste of sweet vanilla oak. Absolutely prototypical for top Californian Cabernet. (RH)
Coming all from the estate Monte Bello Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate checks in as a blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, and the balance Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. I suspect it's as good as many vintages of Monte Bello in the past and offers a gorgeous perfume of vanilla-tinged blackberries, blueberries, incense, cedar pencil, and bay leaf. Deep, medium to full-bodied, incredibly polished and perfectly balanced, with ultra-fine tannin, it's a knockout bottle of Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon that will keep for two decades and be drinkable for all of it.
About the producer
Best known for its iconic Monte Bello, Ridge Vineyards makes some of California’s finest wines – particularly Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. Long a pioneer of sustainable farming and minimal-intervention winemaking, Ridge makes an extensive range from Sonoma County and the Santa Cruz Mountains.