Ridge Vineyards

In bordeaux, in burgundy, or in california, most fine producers use the same techniques as others in their region. Ridge is an exception, differing fundamentally from most california makers. These differences go back to prohibition, which severed california's connection with its winemaking past. The post-prohibition generation turned to the agricultural universities to learn how to make wine. Chemists re-invented winemaking technologically, independent of traditional techniques developed over centuries in europe_and later pre-prohibition california_which were based on empirically acquired knowledge. Though born in the sixties to this new world of california winemaking, ridge turned to the natural rather than the technological. The approach is straightforward: find the most intense and flavorful grapes, guide the natural process, draw all the fruit's richness into the wine. Ridge wines are fermented using wine yeasts naturally present in the vineyard. Red wines are fermented in small-capacity fermentors to assure full extraction and intensity. The juice is drawn off, gently aerated, and pumped over a floating cap of grape skins. Once pressed, all wines complete a natural secondary (malolactic) fermentation. Chardonnay is whole-cluster pressed, barrel fermented, and held on its lees for an average of eleven months. In november, as malolactics move toward completion, we assemble each zinfandel from small lots kept separate according to varietal and vineyard parcel, choosing those that best accentuate the distinctive character of each site. The wines are then racked, unfiltered, to air-dried american oak. Almost all the thirty-some small, separate lots of monte bello go to new, air-dried oak barrels (approximately 95% american, 5% french) for malolactic. In early february they are blind-tasted, and a first selection is made. Assemblage is usually complete by may. Decisions on when to pick, when to press, when to rack, what varietals and what parcels to include and_finally_when to bottle, are based on taste. To retain the nuances that increase complexity, we handle the grapes and wine as gently as possible. As with raising a child, there are no recipes, only attention and sensitivity.