130 likes | 251 Views
Exceptional single-vineyard wines since 1962. Historical. timeline. Dr. William Short, owner of the Torre vineyard adjacent to the Perrone property, replants several blocks of cabernet and one of chardonnay-the first on the ridge.
E N D
Historical timeline Dr. William Short, owner of the Torre vineyard adjacent to the Perrone property, replants several blocks of cabernet and one of chardonnay-the first on the ridge. Ridge produces its first Geyserville, from vines planted in 1882 in Sonoma County. The partners re-bond the winery and make their first Ridge Monte Bello. Ridge buys the Lytton Springs winery and its old vineyards. Ridge produces the first Lytton Springs from vines planted in 1902. Ridge celebrates 50 year anniversary 1949 1964 1969 2006 1885 1959 1976 Three scientists fromStanford University’sResearch Institute(SRI) and their families form a partnership and buy Dr. short’s property. One of them, David Bennion, makes a half barrel of cabernet from the ten year old vines. Dr. OseaPerrone of San Francisco buys 180 acres on Monte Bello ridge, plants vines, builds a stone winery. 30 year repeat of the Judgment of Paris. The 1971 and 2000 Monte Bello cabernets win first place in both the original vintage wine and new vintage wine categories in London and California. Paul Draperjoins RidgeVineyards aswinemaker. 1966 1972 1991 2012 1962 They produce their first zinfandel from 19th century vines on the Pichetti ranch. Judgment ofParis
With a Doctor it begins 1885 Dr. Osea Perrone from SanFrancisco buys 180 acres on MonteBello Ridge. 1886 He plants vineyards and begins construction on the stone andredwood Monte Bello Winery. 1892 Construction completed on the Montebello Winery and the first wine under the Monte Bello label is produced.
With Scientists it continues 1959 Three scientists from StanfordUniversity’s Research Institute (SRI)purchase the property and make asmall amount of wine from the tenyear old Cabernet vines in the smallwinery on the property. 1962 The new owners form a part-nership that becomes Ridge Vine-yards. They re-bond the winery. 1969 Paul Draper joins Ridge Vine-yards as winemaker.
With Commitment it succeeds 1976 Judgment of Paris, Ridgeplaces fifth. 2006 The 1971 and 2000 MonteBello cabernets win first place in both the original vintage wine andnew vintage wine categories at the“Judgment of Paris 30th AnniversaryWine Tasting” which is held simulta- neously in London and California. 2012 Ridge celebrates it’s 50 yearanniversary
Organic & Sustainable in the vineyard The majority of our vineyards are certified organic, fully certified by 2013.Compost: We compost all of our grape stems and pomaceCover Crops: Soil-building legumes and grass mixes that add nitrogen andorganic matter; insectary plantings; erosion control Insects: Instead of spray to control vine-damaging insects we use benefi-cial insects.
Winemaking pre-industrial Pre-industrial winemaking begins with respect for the natural process thattransforms fresh grapes into wine, and the 19th Century model ofminimum intervention. When you have great vineyards that produce high quality grapes of dis-tinctive individual character, this is not only an environmentally and so-cially responsible approach, it’s also the best way to consistently make finewine.
Location Our Wineries Monte Bello is located inthe Santa Cruz Mountainsin Cupertino. Lytton Springs is locat-ed in Sonoma County inHealdsburg.
Monte Bello Santa Cruz Mountains Situated a mere 15 miles from the Pacific Ocean, sits high atop the SantaCruz Mountains AVA,California’s coolest caber-net producing area. It is underlain by decom-posing limestone, mak-ing the soil compositionat Monte Bello a uniqueand important contributorto the wine’s distinctivecharacter.
Lytton Springs Sonoma County Lytton Springs is home to 100 plus-year-old zin-fandel vines interplantedwith petite sirah, cari-gnane, a small amount ofmataro (mourvèdre), andgrenache. For more than three de- cades the field blend from this site has produced thequintessential example ofDry Creek Valley zinfan-del.
Fall Releases from 2011
Spring Releases from 2012
Our Team winemaking Paul Draper, every-one knows him John Olney, hemakes our wine atLytton Springs David Gates, our Eric Baugher, the vineyard guru guy making wine at Monte Bello