nyt thanksgiving wines

originally posted by Thor:
Who distributes the Dashe wines?
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They're available because they're at, of all places, the Star Market/S&S (how do they get away with not changing the signage?) on Mt. Auburn, and I think Commonwealth carries them. No?
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It's Classic. Though l'Enfant Terrible hasn't been on this market- right now the Book's only listing their Dry Creek and Todd Brothers vineyards (while non-spoof, decidedly different in style from l'ET).

Matteo- FYI, we were thinking of bringing in some Dry Creek for Tday. If you manage to go upstream from Donna and wrangle some l'ET into the state, lemme know for personal consumption- I've got a bottle or two left kicking around which I'll probably kill over the holidays and I wouldn't mind seeing if it aged like the Cru Beaujolais it tastes like.
 
Seth, cool man. Of course i was alluding to the two bottles that we have shared, great stuff! I havent had any of their other wines though i hope to one day. It was a lark, hopefully some can come up here but i havent looked into it yet. Ill let you know if there is every any traction.

good to see you last night!
 
Thanks, Seth. As ever, I'm distant from what's going on in distributorland.

I do love me some Todd Bros., but one has to like zin being zin, which some don't. Before leaving for Europe, I had the opportunity to learn that the '99s in my cellar are not yet old enough. The '98 DCV was pretty darn good, though.
 
I would compare it favorably and stylistically to the Ridge zins that Mike Dashe made. I think it's more like Lytton than Geyserville, for certain. I wouldn't compare it to the recent Lyttons; for one thing, it's a lot more consistent and less soupy, there's little "Draper wood perfume," and though it's not 100% unwooded, it's far below my tolerance for zin (higher, perhaps, than most varieties), and far less wooded now than it was when I started buying it. But it's dark-fruited, tannic, and very much about structure for a good chunk of its life. I haven't yet had a mature one, but my experience with it only goes back to '98 or so. (Maybe '99? I'm not entirely positive when I started drinking the wine.)

A cynic might say it's what we think Ridge zin tastes like, despite frequent evidence to the contrary. But I don't want to upset Mr. Bree.
 
originally posted by Thor:
I would compare it favorably and stylistically to the Ridge zins that Mike Dashe made. I think it's more like Lytton than Geyserville, for certain. I wouldn't compare it to the recent Lyttons; for one thing, it's a lot more consistent and less soupy, there's little "Draper wood perfume," and though it's not 100% unwooded, it's far below my tolerance for zin (higher, perhaps, than most varieties), and far less wooded now than it was when I started buying it. But it's dark-fruited, tannic, and very much about structure for a good chunk of its life. I haven't yet had a mature one, but my experience with it only goes back to '98 or so. (Maybe '99? I'm not entirely positive when I started drinking the wine.)

A cynic might say it's what we think Ridge zin tastes like, despite frequent evidence to the contrary. But I don't want to upset Mr. Bree.
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Have the Ridge Zins fallen off then? Are they still worth trying or are they now just dense, woody, and fruity bombs at this point?
 
Cool. When do you think the turning point for the Ridge wines took place? I think the most recent vintage (07) that i have had has shown a particular return to form. I've got some experience with older stuff but was wondering what you or others think about it.
 
Have the Ridge Zins fallen off then? Are they still worth trying or are they now just dense, woody, and fruity bombs at this point?
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In order: maybe/probably/who knows. Yes. Not "just," but sometimes, though "dense" is not usually the problem.

When do you think the turning point for the Ridge wines took place?
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Depending on who you ask, sometime between about 1994 and last year.

For me, they ceased to be buy-before-tasting wines starting in about 2000. They became buy-with-suspicion wines after this drop-in tasting, and I began to form theories after this tasting. But it must be said that others have been identifying a clear decline for far longer than I have, and for similar reasons: too much wood, too much alcohol, etc.

I think the most recent vintage (07) that i have had has shown a particular return to form.
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I haven't tasted those yet, so I will look for them upon my return to the States.
 
originally posted by Matteo Mollo:
I think the most recent vintage (07) that i have had has shown a particular return to form. I've got some experience with older stuff but was wondering what you or others think about it.
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Yes, no less an authority than Old TomHill has said that '07 is a home run for Ridge Zins. I haven't tasted them yet, but have high hopes. I also have some reservations about new millenium Ridge wines, but am giving them time to see what comes of them.

Mark Lipton
 
With due respect to the slasher, Tom is an easygoing assessor, aside from his harsh words for the Smoot-Hawley. But I hope he's right. Not that I need more zin. I have a truly shocking number of bottles of it.
 
originally posted by MLipton:
originally posted by Matteo Mollo:
I think the most recent vintage (07) that i have had has shown a particular return to form. I've got some experience with older stuff but was wondering what you or others think about it.
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Yes, no less an authority than Old TomHill has said that '07 is a home run for Ridge Zins. I haven't tasted them yet, but have high hopes. I also have some reservations about new millenium Ridge wines, but am giving them time to see what comes of them.
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I've found myself liking the Lytton Springs more and the Geyserville less over the past few vintages, whereas for the 90s vintages it was the other way around. But that's based on complexity and tasting them fairly young, which is pretty high impact in the case of Lytton Springs. It's possible that Geyerserville would be both more to the taste of many on this board, and that it just needs time to develop.
 
I retasted the 2007 Ridge Lytton Springs tonight and reaffirmed that i think they have done a good thing with the vintage as a whole. It was classic young Ridge, viscous, brambly and holding a nice rustic edge that i associate with Lytton Springs rather then Geyserville. I think this will be fun to see in 10 years.
 
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