The Performers

That Friday: 
A Meeting of Geezers 
(20 plus vintages of Ridge Geyserville)

That Saturday: 
Up the Creek with the 
Gang of Pour 
(60 or so bottlings from the 
York Creek Vineyard on 
Spring Mountain)

That Sunday: 
The Full Monte 
(20 vintages of Ridge Monte Bello)

Introduction Friday Saturday
  Sunday Epilogue Extra Stuff

I N T R O D U C T I O N

By George Heritier
Photos by Kim Adams & Allan Bree unless otherwise indicated


Our Left Coast Correspondent Allan Bree aka califusa (left) has a knack for staging memorable wine events.

First, there was Pagani Madness, a comprehensive tasting of every Ridge Zinfandel from the Pagani Vineyard known to mankind at that time. Then, there was the Road to Jimsomare, featuring 10 bottle verticals of both Ridge Jimsomare Cabernet Sauvignon AND Zinfandel. That was followed by A Walk Through Park Muscatine ~ Wines from the Lost Vineyards, a complete vertical survey of Ridge ATP Zinfandel from a site since replanted to Cabernet Sauvignon.

Bree must have spent many a late night lost in deep rumination during the ensuing years, because only an obsessed, Zin-soaked mind such as his could have plotted the series of events that he proposed some months ago, events that would not simply be a follow-up to those past affairs, but in fact all but eclipse them.

Imagine, if you will, a Friday evening in late spring, spent with 20 friends and virtual associates, sampling a comprehensive if not quite complete lineup of Ridge Geyserville ranging back to the vintages of the mid-70s. Surely that would be enough to sate the most jaded palate of any fan of Mr. Ridge, right? Not Allan Bree, because he seconded that emotion with another tasting for even more attendees the following afternoon, of various Ridge York Creek bottlings, running the gamut from Petite Sirah, through Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Zinfandel, some of them again dating back to the ‘70s. Now surely, THAT would stretch the endurance of even the most diehard fanatic, but still califusa was not finished. For he would stage his Grande Finale, his piece d’ resistance on the very next afternoon with consecutive vintages of Ridge’s flagship wine, Monte Bello, dating from the current 1999 model back through the ’84, and including the declassified ’82 and ’83 Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignons.

The Gang of Pour from left: Allan Bree, George (this taster) Heritier, 
Kim Adams & Alan Kerr.  Photo by Benjamin Luebbers ©

It was a dizzying proposal, almost lunatic in its scope, so of course, Alan Kerr, Kim Adams and this taster bought right in and booked our flights without hesitation.

The rest is history.

B A C K  T O  T H E  T O P 

Introduction Friday Saturday
  Sunday Epilogue Extra Stuff

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